We’d had a nice morning visiting a nearby historic house - the home of mid-19th century author Elizabeth Gaskell. And now it was time for lunch. Rusholme was just 5 minutes drive away and we did some food shopping in the Middle Eastern shops. Now, we could have decided to stick to that theme and have lunch at Jaffa (our go-to place on Wilmslow Road). But we just fancied Indian. There’s not too many South Asian places there now – it’s more Kebab Kilometre than Curry Mile these days, but Bardez looked the business. It’s owned by a couple of guys who originate from Goa – so part of the “new wave” of Indian restaurants actually owned by Indians, rather than Bangladeshis.
Only one of us wanted a starter. Seekh kebab is my go-to starter in a new South Asian Place. This is a good version – moist meat, well seasoned with an assertive use of chilli. Aloo gobi is another “to try” dish in a new restaurant. And, yes, it’s another good version. Good sized pieces of potato and cauliflower, cooked through but still retaining a bit of bite. Nice clingy, well spiced, sauce. The server warned that Chicken Malabar was very spicy. It wasn’t. Not bland though, it’s a nice flavoursome gravy but I would happily eaten it with more chilli.
