It is the week of the Manchester Beer Festival. The majority of – The Company – arrive tomorrow in time for the late afternoon opening, Hector is down a day early. I wonder why?
Dera (433 Cheetham Hill Rd, Manchester, M8 OPF) takes a bit of effort to get to unless one throws money at a Taxi, even a single on Bus 135 from Piccadilly costs £3.00. Today I decided to walk from the Northern Quarter up Cheetham Hill to Dera. Apart from needing the exercise, I wanted to establish just how many more Curry Houses there were along the way. I have spotted some previously, today I recorded a cluster of four some five to ten minutes from Victoria Station, so not so far out then.
Somehow I missed Bukhara Manchester perhaps being distracted by – the other – Kabana which apparently is open on Saturdays. (Update – it isn’t) Across from Kabana are Chappati Corner, Apna Lahori Kebabish and Lahori Badsha, so four new Punjabi Curry Cafes for Hector to investigate. That’s Lunch sorted for this Trip.
I arrived at Dera at 16.50 ten minutes before the 17.00 opening time, so it did not take forty minutes as Google Maps suggested. Dera was in darkness, gone are the days of serving Breakfast and Lunch. A Chap opened up just on 17.00 and turned on the exterior lights but not so many inside. I followed him in, lighting the Tandoors was his first priority. I was invited to take a seat in the side room, the Menu was brought, ah, a New Menu!
Dining alone at Dera has always presented a problem, the Karahi Dishes were sold by the Kilo, even Hector could not cope with this. Latterly they took this on board, the half kilo became possible. The New Menu is more flexible, Karahi is now available by the half kilo with Boneless costing more than on-the-bone, as it logically should. I had a choice of two: Lamb Karahi (£12.95) or Zaitoon Lamb Karahi (£13.95). Zaitoon? I would ask.
With the majority of Dera still in semi-darkness, the Chap came over to serve. On asking the difference between the two versions he got stuck on telling me – Boneless. Eventually I extracted – Olive – from him. It took three attempts to communicate Zaitoon Lamb Karahi on-the-bone with a Naan (£1.25) to accompany. Who is not going to have a Naan at this price? (A Roti is £0.85.)
Water was brought, I remember the days when they used to try and charge for this.
Mein Host arrived as did the next customer, a young Polish girl. She had no idea what she wanted, apart from Beef which is not served at Dera. She chose some sort of Lamb Curry (£7.95), I note Lamb is charged at the same price as Chicken.
Mein Host brought the Curry, there was an instant – Wow! Look at this spread.
Zaitoon Lamb Karahi
Sliced Green Olives were as prominent as the sheer size of the serving. Ginger Strips were there too. I counted more than twenty decent sized pieces of Meat with only two bones, both Sucky Bones. There was surprisingly little Oil visible, perhaps it had skilfully been dabbed off. The Masala looked so inviting, this Masala oozed Quality.
The Naan was served in two pieces, a good size, way more Bread than I would manage. The priority would be the Karahi.
There are only a handful of venues where one could identify the Flavours on a blind tasting, Dera is such a place. So recognisable, so consistent, such is the Dera Masala, magnificent. The Olives added another dimension, this may well be only the third time I have had Olives in Curry. The first was at Meghna, (now Sampan, Blairgowrie) and more recently at Yadgar (Glasgow). Olives work, a surprisingly – Interesting Vegetable.
Around the halfway point I still had what would constitute a decent portion, the appetite was there, I knew I would manage this. OK, the karahi itself was flat, but I did find myself once again questioning the efficacy of the half kilo served at Glasgow’s Namak Mandi in a standard karahi. So much Meat, and every piece was a joy to eat, so much for avoiding a Lamb overdose. This Lamb was cooked to perfection, there was enough Masala to keep scooping up with the delightfully Light and Fluffy Naan. That the Naan was Plain was deliberate The Meat I ate with a fork, the large spoon was discarded. Large spoon? With whom was I sharing?
Mein Host came over to check on my progress:
Do you need anything?
This is wonderful – was my immediate reply. What more could I ask for?
Having had a minimal lunch and no Starter, finishing this half kilo proved to be a remarkably simple – task – and a decidedly pleasant one. Behold the empty karahi.
The Bill
£15.20 A mass of Curry and sensibly priced Bread.
The Aftermath
I waited whilst a customer had his Takeaway assembled before engaging Mein Host. He had recognised me and had been discussing my presence with his colleague and that today’s meal would be written up. He said something along the lines of:
He likes authentic Curry – to his colleague.
Have a good year – was his parting comment.
It looks as though I shall be making the effort to go up Cheetham Hill more regularly, but will I get up as far as Dera? Of course!
As I sat down very late this evening to write this post at the Ancoats Travelodge, the Huawei pinged, it was Curryspondent Bill. Hector is closer to securing an invite to do a shift in the kitchen of a Curry House. #Lessons to be learned.