For personal reasons, this trek was due to have a two day interruption with Clive abandoned to his own devices in Bradford. For the most unacceptable of reasons the interruption has become four days.
Marg arrived in London last Wednesday with Hector’s second – blue envelope. Jag #2 is scheduled for tomorrow. Going online to postpone this for eight days proved to be frustrating, no appointments, anywhere in Scotland for the rest of June? Thereafter would put me over the twelve week period for vaccine effectiveness. I phoned, same story. With open invitations for Glaswegians to go for a vaccine, why could I not move my appointment? And so today’s lunch would be the last Curry opperchancity until Bradford on Friday.
At 12.15, I dropped Marg and luggage at Mackie Mayor and headed for Kabana – closed. OK, it’s a Bank Holiday Monday, but Rizwan didn’t say. When Kabana is closed, Al-Faisal Tandoori (69 Thomas St., Manchester, M4 1EG) is generally the fallback.
With the NHS QR check-in sorted, Lamb Karahi with Rice was duly ordered. Only – boneless – was on offer.
The Bill
£8.00 Two days ago in Sheffield, Marg paid this amount for a slice of Bread covered in avocado. Filling, that was not.
I took my seat at the far end of the room, well away from the one other diner.
Lamb Karahi
The pleasure receptors already knew that this would not be as good as the equivalent at Kabana, but let’s not spoil the moment. With the Curry arranged over the Rice, I went back up to the counter to fetch the foliage. The Lamb Karahi was naked no more.
Fabulous – I noted very early. This Curry did not have the outstanding quality of Lamb as across the road, or the distinctive smooth-roundness of Flavour. This was Spicy, Flavoursome, maybe one Spice was dominating, but still damn good.
Tomato seeds were visible in the dark brown Masala, with the Foliage added the extra dimension of Texture and Flavours was classic synergy. The Meat was soft, plentiful, but some fatty bits were present. The lack of Bones may go some way towards explaining why Kabana does it better, however this Curry still had the – Wow! -, why? It was all down to the Seasoning.
Maybe it was just as well that Kabana was closed today, I would have missed this by having exactly the same as yesterday.
The Aftermath
Six hours to get home. The train from Salford Crescent was delayed by interference on the line. The connecting train at Preston no longer existed. All trains north terminated at Carlisle, Rail Replacement bus to Glasgow. Low Level trains at Glasgow Central had ground to a halt at Rutherglen, interference on the line. Uber home. A Bank Holiday Monday, British style, and the Government wants us to stay in the UK all summer?