Royal Nawaab Preview

It's fair to say that the heyday peaks of all you can eat buffets has quietened down somewhat in the last few years.  I remember the time when the city centre had half a dozen Chinese buffets, as many Indian buffets, and a score of generic ones.  The combined figure is now easily countable on one hand.  But the flagship Pakistani/Indian buffet restaurant in Manchester has for years been Nawaab over in Levenshulme.  It's remained a regional favourite for almost 25 years, during which time it's become Manchester's go to destination for anyone in search of an Asian buffet.

But a couple of years ago, work started to circulate that another Nawaab would be opening its doors in the long-vacant Stockport Pyramid.  Those rumours turned out to be true, and the project became the construction of what's now the biggest Asian buffet in the whole of Europe, reportedly costing a mind-blowing £15m to refit from its Co-op days.  We were keen to see how such an astronomical figure could be spent on a single venue, so gladly headed down after receiving a press invitation.

Once inside the grandeur of the foyer entrance starts to make that figure understandable.  It was akin to a hotel on Jumeirah Beach in Dubai.  The venue spans several floors, with not only the buffet, but also a number of conferencing and event spaces, catering for parties of up to 800 people.  So the size and scale spans way beyond the buffet itself.

We entered the dining room and were instantly wowed by the sheer vastness of things, but before putting a single thing onto our plates we first walked around all the food stations to see exactly what was on offer.  It's a pro trip to avoid missing out on anything that you really fancy due to premature overfilling.

The amount of silver domes and cooking stations instantly conveys how much variety there is on offer at Royal Nawaab.  There's literally dozens of curries, a huge selection of starters, salads, dips, breads, desserts, and even a small selection of Chinese and Italian goodies, all of which are Halal.

We decided to be posh and started with some poppadoms and chutneys, as you would in an a la carte place.  We felt whilst bewildered by surrounding tables putting multiple courses on a single plate and seemingly forgetting that you can return as many times as you like.  To each their own I guess. The poddadoms were super fresh and crunchy, with the obligatory dips; mango chutney, red onion and raita, which were all equally as enjoyable

Our next little pre starter snack was a pair of excellent Pani Puri/Gol Guppas; puffed balls, hollowed out and filled with a menagerie of vegetables, served with a small pot of tamarind based sauce which you pour into the ball itself, and then eat in one bite, hopefully without making a mess of yourself.

It pained me to see not too many customers getting involved in this course as it's a true flavour explosion.  They don't know what they are missing.  Following this lovely little wakener for the taste buds, we were ready to get properly stuck in. Our carafe of Mango Lassi was also superb.  Full of flavour, the right sweetness and super thick, just as it should be.

Onto the next course, and for starters we got a couple of plates of mixed goodies, in fact, we got 4 plates between 2 of us.  Feel free to judge all you like, as you'll do exactly the same when you visit.

Seekh Kebabs are a Nawaab classic, freshly skewered and grilled over the bespoke charcoal conveyor grill, which was a feast to watch, but also absolutely delicious.  Perfectly spiced with a lovely texture, super juicy, and just what you hope for when ordering the dish.

Other delights were some perfectly tandoor cooked Chicken Tikka, a lovely deep fried Lahori Fish in a well-seasoned batter, meaty and punchily spiced Lamb Chapli Kebabs, some delicate and perfectly deep-fried Onion Pakoras, a couple of Chilli Pakoras, and some expertly folded Veg Samosas which were compact in size but loaded with filling and had superb pastry.

But despite all the above, Nawaab's lamb chops were an absolute highlight.  Cooked freshly over the grill, they are the sole reason why many people visit so tend to disappear pretty quickly, but at least that means that you'll always get them served super fresh.

Whilst surveying the silver domes, we noticed a certain Mr Mahboob, the big boss of Royal Nawaab, in the kitchen getting personally involved in the cooking action, despite wearing a very dapper suit!  It's great to see him keeping a close eye on things first hand, making sure that the quality is retained.

Onto the mains and we paired a perfectly scented Chicken Biryani with a hearty helping of Butter Chicken.  Forget the usual buffet hiccups of having to fish out the protein from an ocean of sauce.  Here there was a plentiful amount of chicken, in a superbly rich spiced butter sauce.  Wonderful.

Lamb Handi was a variation of both protein and gravy from the Butter Chicken. A deeply rich tomato-based sauce with medium spice levels yet maximum flavour, filled with chunks of lamb which quite simply fell apart following hours of slow cooking and love.  Devine and an absolute classic.

And for our third and final curry, we chose the Lamb Charsi Karahi, which is an another classic Pakistani dish. Very subtly spiced, cooked on the bone to release all that flavour into the gravy, with super-tender lamb and a hit of black pepper.  We paired this up with a chapati to keep things super traditional.  Absolutely wonderful, and a dish which you just never see in dining rooms.

We added a plate of lovely mixed breads to capture all that lovely sauce, and enjoyed every single bite.  But with just 3 different curries down, we'd hit the food wall and could do no more, despite wating to try another half dozen of the options on offer.  We sat and took a little break before desserts, and pondered the work and coordination that must be required to pull off such an operation.

All those dishes, keeping all the serving stations topped up, ensuring that all the tables keep moving, plus a clearly high level of detail throughout, even down to the bespoke cutlery.  The scale and still consistent quality of Royal Nawaab is quite simply staggering, and the whole setup is absolutely remarkable in terms of operation. We were hugely impressed, way beyond the food itself.

So onto the last stage and we just had to get a couple of Gulab Jamun.  Cottage cheese mixed with eggs, semolina, flour, spices and rose water, rolled into balls before being deep fried and soaked in syrup.  Super sweet, and classic for good reason. Halwa was another favourite which Nawaab offer in several varieties and are a slightly more savoury option; made with fresh grated carrot, prepared with milk, sugar, cream and garnished with nuts.  Another outstanding dish amongst the huge choice of desserts on offer.

We ended with Jalebi; another classic Asian sweet treat, which is deep fried swirls of batter soaked in syrup to give them that trademark orange hue, not to mention a ton of sweet indulgence.

As we signalled the end of our meal to the team who'd looked after us so well for the entire evening, it was insisted that we also try a slice of cake before leaving, so we marched on.  I'm not entirely sure what the cake was to be honest, but it was delicious.  Layers of syrup-soaked sponge, filled with soft meringue carrying with flavours of chocolate, coconut and fruit.  It was a gesture which summed up the fantastic hospitality delivered by Nawaab's staff all evening.

And that really was the end!  We could do no more despite purposely skipping lunch in anticipation, so headed off following a warm departure from the team who were exceptional all evening.

Despite our strong effort, we didn’t touch anywhere near the whole range of dishes and you'd need to visit a handful of times to do so.  On that basis, we will be back before too long to cross off more from that expansive menu.

** Our experience was gratefully comped **