 | |  | | | Shahenshah Indian Restaurant Manchester - reader comments |  "Call me a hypocrite, but everytime I do a review of a restaurant down Rusholme, I always use the words 'average', 'uninspiring', 'typical' etc, but I still keep going back. Rusholme, as 'average' as it is, really does have something special about it though, especially if you have a window seat to watch the world go by outside. Despite being starving at about 6pm, we purposely put off leaving the house until about 8, so that it would be dark whilst dining, when the neons and crowds outside make the place come alive. Anyway, as always, we were overwhelmed by choice, but chose Shahenshan despite reports of cockroaches, and despite having a very 'average' meal here a couple of years back... mainly due to the fact that they took Hi-Life.
The gent who greeted us seemed a little confused when we asked if they could fit us in with a Hi Life card. There were only about 3 tables with guests, so I didn't expect a 'no', but the manager stepped in and showed us to a table, assuring us that we would indeed be getting one meal for free.
We just ordered water, as we had just spent a weekend away, so booze wasn't very appealing. We were charged £4 for 2 x 500ml bottles of Buxton water. Quite overpriced, but not to worry.
We chose for starters a Lamb Tikka, and Chicken Pakora. Soon after ordering, we were given poppadoms and salad, despite not ordering these. The poddadoms went down a treat, but the salad served its purpose as a table decoration. It wasn't long before our starters arrived, and they were surprisingly, very good. The chicken was moist and well flavoured with spice but could have done with some kind of mint/yogurt dip, and the lamb was perfectly cooked and in a very large portion. A good start, especially when you're in a restaurant purely for its surroundings, not the good food.
The mains of King Prawn Biryani and Fish Sizzler were both well cooked, flavoursome, and very filling. Nothing special, and again as with most places in the area, very 'average', but we enjoyed everything. We've not eaten out in town for a while, so a curry is always a great welcome home.
It was great to sit in a window, watching the world go by, chatting and relaxing whilst eating a perfectly acceptable, not to mention half price meal courtesy of Hi Life, and reminded us of exactly why Rusholme has something special about it, and also why theres no great restaurants down there. Simply because there doesn't need to be in order to pull the punters in.
The bill landed, and we had been charged for the poppadoms, which is fine as you expect it these days, but also £1.50 for the unordered, uneaten salad, which was a little cheeky we thought. Oh well, we got 2 courses free through Hi Life, and just didn't leave a tip to over/compensate for the principle of the unwanted salad charge.
Overall Shahenshah is a decent curry house, great location, but again, pretty average yet enjoyable meal. 3/5 across the board." - chris handley, salford - TRUSTED REVIEWER (17/7/09 visited on a sunday evening) |
| | "My husband asked for a recommendation for a chicken dinner mild-hot, he was given the Punjabi and he declared that it was the best he'd ever had - and he would know. The vegetable samosa was also the best both of us had ever had. And we were delightfully surprised with the aubergines starters. I had the Saag Palak and requested for it to be very, very mild. Unfortunately it was not mild, it was very good, but too spicy for me. The naan was the best we have ever had also. And we are comparing this to Kahn's in London. The reason why I chose Shahenshah was because of Restaurants Of Manchester; therefore I thought I should contribute as well. For the price, we did, indeed, get value." - barbara marshall, macclesfield 14/2/09 (visited on a Sat evening) |
| | "Excellent food, superb waiter service will definitely be back to Shahenshah." - d bradshaw, manchester 3/12/08 (visited on a Fri evening) |
| | "I took my parents to Shahenshah for dinner and everything was fine until we'd finished eating, when I noticed a cockroach on my mother's shoulder. It disappeared before we called a waiter over. His response was patronising: 'Are you sure it was a cockroach and not a fly? We do have to keep on top of these things.' Said cockroach showed up a bit later and we stood on it before showing it to another waiter. After this I would've expected to be offered our meal for free, or at least an apology, but no such luck. To be fair this was about a month before they were taken to the magistrates, but leopards and spots spring to mind..." - Will, Manchester 28/8/08 (visited on a Tues) |
| | "Always friendly staff, and food is excellent at Shahenshah but would like to see the kitchen to feel reassured after the fines and infestations" - Alison, Bolton 21/8/08 (visited on a Thurs evening) |
| | "The fact the owners of Shahenshah were fined £31,000 after cockroaches and mouse droppings were found in the kitchen says it all really, doesn't it?" - Benjamin Smith, Manchester 14/8/08 (visited on a Wednesday evening) |
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