Rusholme famously has a mile of mediocre curry houses, except for the occasional gem like this one. In my opinion the better places are run by the most recently arrived immigrants and it’s best to swerve the more longstanding restaurants. Thanks to the war in Iraq, the local curry scene has been enlivened by this great little spot..
Kurdish Restaurant (Elementary A), 4 Grandale St, Manchester M14 5NS
This café-style place is down a side street off the main drag away from the posher curry houses. It seems to double as a social club which is always a good sign.
As soon as we sat down a small complementary bowl of chicken and lentil soup arrived. It wasn’t great to look at but it was very tasty (B+).
Our first main was Lamb Quzy (also spelt Quozi or Kozi), a famous Iraqi dish where traditionally a whole lamb is stuffed with a mix of spices, nuts, currants, vegetables and more minced lamb and roasted (recipe here) and served on a bed of rice. Obviously it had been scaled down here but was still delicious (A) and the rice was good too (B+).
It came with another two soups, chickpea (B) and lamb with (A) for the grand total of £6.
Also the ‘Kurdish Kebab’ was effectively a very delicate keema kebab (B+) and came with grilled marinated liver (A).
With a large salad of red onion, lettuce, lemons and marinated red cabbage (B), three naans made on the premises (B), two cups of salted yogurt (B) and four cups of strong black tea the total bill came to £17, which given the quality of the food was an absolute bargain.
I’ve been to the Kurdish area in western Iran and if anything the food in this restaurant is better. A solid recommendation.