Phetpalin Manchester

Last Tuesday 15th April I became officially middle aged, my daughter turned 21. On this momentous occasion, she was at her home in Edinburgh and I was working hundreds of miles away, in sunny London, so any chance of celebrating we're somewhat curtailed.

Luckily this week her and her boyfriend managed to tear themselves away from Scotland's first city for a visit to England's finest one.

Apparently Edinburgh is short of Thai restaurants, (forgivable in my opinion, as it has so many fantastic pubs)  so the beautiful one decided she wanted to try Phetphalin in China Town, which I had recently heard a couple of good reports about.

After a couple of  gin and tonics at Wetherspoons, and a visit to Tesco express for wine and cider,  5 of us including Mr G, daughters boyfriend and my son staggered the short work round the corner and up the stairs to Phetpalin. First impressions were that we had gone back 22 years when I myself was celebrating my 21st in some dodgy suburban Chinese, (note - this would have never happened I hate Chinese).

 The staff however were very friendly and as most of know it's the food that counts, plus the background music was interesting, so we sat down and decided what we wanted.
 I suggested getting two of the mixed starters but my son, who is a teenager, doesn't share, though he is always happy to try everyone else's, so we ordered two specials for the four of us and a chicken satay for him.

I have to be honest I don't think starters are the best part of a Thai meal, me and Mr G usually have a soup or salad instead, these were ok, the satay was good as were the prawn toasts, but the fish cakes were a bit too rubbery and the overall impression was of lots of deep fried things with not quite enough dips.

For mains me and Mr G shared a duck curry and Tilapia in a spicy sauce, they were really lovely, especially the fish and the portions were very generous, my son had a green chicken curry, and the 21 year old and her OH shared a chicken red curry and a spicy chilli beef stir fry, we agreed the beef stir fry was the star of the show, although it was a three chilli dish so not for the faint hearted!

The bill for 5 with 10% service charge was just over £100, so not amazing value for money but because you bring your own wine it does cut the cost, and it's a really good place for a night out with family or friends.

Jaffas Rusholme

Occasionally...very occasionally, me and Mr G decide we should go teetotal for a while. 

Without admitting to actual alcoholism, this is usually a very brief state of affairs and proves challenging. One of the main reasons for this difficulty is if we are not drinking, we are scared to go out to eat for fear of being tempted by the wine menu.

On the last attempt at stealing clear of alcohol I came up with the bright idea of going to one of the curry restaurants in Rusholme that is not only unlicensed, but also forbids you bringing your own lovely liquor onto their premises.  Unfortunately when we arrived at Kebbabish, the place we had settled on, it was shut, and we were starving.

After a brief walk up WIlmslow Road we came across Jaffa, although it was nothing to look at from the outside it was very busy, plus our stomachs were rumbling, so we decided to give it a go.

Jaffa looks like a normal high street take away, the food is displayed up on a board like in your local kebbab place, and is a mix pizza and kebabs, plus a more specialist range which includes mezze, and stuffed chicken and specials. There are a number of tables at the front of the till area and a huge dining space upstairs. the customers are an eclectic mix of young people, families, and business men in suits.

We placed our orders at the and as we were hungry and everything was very cheap decided to try a few different and new things. We also, feeling very virtuous ordered two mint teas.

After a couple of minutes our food and drinks were brought over to us on plates and with proper cutlery. there was tons of food, two Lamb Shawarma - plates of spicy sliced lamb, like the best outside bits on a lamb roast served with Harissa sauce, a large plate of mixed mezze which amongst other delights included hummus, chickpeas and salad, and a lamb and cheese fatayer, which is like a sort of pizza but more of a cross between dough and pastry. Their was also a large pot of mint tea drunk out of small glasses.

The food was absolutely gorgeous, the lamb crispy and not fatty at all, the mezze interesting and fresh, and the fatayer light and mildly spiced.

In total the food and tea cost £16.75, which was amazing value given the quality, we will 
definitely be going again and might not even wait until sobriety forces the journey. 

La Olla Tapas Restaurant in Sale

I love tapas, but the tapas I love are the type I get free with my icy cold white wine in a packed local bar in Andalusia, or the ones you pay a couple of euros for in Barcalona and Seville. A few prawns with tons of salt grilled on la plancha, or a bit of Morcilla on a circle of bread, if your really lucky there may be a plate of fried octopus tentacles or some crispy aubergine drizzled with honey.

Then there are the sort of tapas that are popular here in the UK, to me these are more of a selection of Spanish style buffet dishes with a few strange not very authentic additions to the menu such as spare ribs?

These sort of tapas don't appeal to me, I dislike having loads of different bits off one plate, the mess of battered hake with some sauce from the ubiquitous meatballs and a bit of aioli. 

Also Im greedy and I eat quickly, but not as quickly as Mr G, so depending who I am with, I am either holding back, waiting for my companion to catch up, or in a race to get enough of everything I like.

Anyway that said, my friend has been telling me for ages I should try La Olla, the new Tapas restaurant in Sale, so eventually I caved in and me and Mr G headed down for their early bird menu, which consists of three tapas and a drink each for £11.95

The inside of the restaurant is very nice with a Spanish vibe, lots of candles and lovely staff all of whom appear to be Spanish, which was a nice surprise.

We ordered a bottle of house red which was very palatable, a tempranillo I think. Food wise we were worried six tapas were not enough so ordered a couple of extras.
The food came in a couple of waves which is a good idea because you can concentrate on a fewthings at a time. 

Portions were much larger that expected and really three each would have been enough. Out of the tapas on the early bird menu, the chicken in mustard sauce stood out, lovely and tangy but creamy and lots of moist chicken in there, also tasty were the cold lemony anchovies on crusty bread, reminiscent of something from my holidays in one of those crowded Spanish bars. Off the main menu we enjoyed ham and chorizo croquettes, made the proper way with béchamel sauce not mashed spuds, and Morcilla, squid and apple which was different but in a good way!

Service was great throughout the meal, with our extra bottle of house wine on top of the inclusive drinks, the bill came to just under £50. I'm still craving the real thing later in the year but I might have found the next best thing in sunny Sale.