Manchester Trip : Bardez – Indian Street Food and Grill (Rusholme)

One bus journey from the city centre later, we arrived at Bardez in Rusholme. This is an Indian restaurant that has managed to secure a Google review rating of 4.8, something that’s really quite impressive. Our table was ready for us on arrival, which was handy as I was hungry, and everything looked modern, clean and well presented. I also noticed that the operators are from Goz and have the surname D’Souza, and although I doubt that Liam knew that when booking, perhaps he was naturally drawn to the restaurant.

Back to the food. They didn’t serve poppadoms in the traditional manner, but suggested one bowl of mini versions between six of us. I think we had to up the order to four of them, of which one stayed miraculously close to me for proceedings. Unfortunately, as I was distracted, we have another blog post with an absence of useful photos (although I remembered the food and beer), although I suspect that we’ll all cope with that and my two loyal blog readers will have to use their power of imagination.

I normally go for mango lassi as my drink of choice (craft beer isn’t a huge thing in Indian cuisine, although that situation is getting better, so until then mango lassi is something of a liquid soulmate for me) , but beer seemed to be the order of the day here. I went for the Bardez house beer and this mysterious brew wasn’t listed on Untappd, which, let’s be honest, basically means it doesn’t exist. However, it was crisp and light, so it met its objectives as being a complement to the food. The Chicken Chetinaad curry was rich in taste and the peshwari naan had a pleasant taste. Although they didn’t serve my favourite coconut rice, the basmati rice was light and fluffy. The portion size of the whole arrangement was decent, so I left full which always feels like a desirable state of affairs.

Łukasz, bless his cotton socks, is one of those people who could find a reason to smile during a zombie apocalypse. Seriously, the guy radiates sunshine like he’s swallowed a lightbulb and it can get a bit much. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely quality… in small doses. But sometimes, you just want to wallow in your own grumpiness without someone bouncing around like a hyperactive Tigger, but there we go…. Anyway, as per usual, I’ve developed a convenient case of amnesia when it comes to everyone else’s opinions on their meals. My brain is like a sieve when it comes to remembering anything beyond my own immediate needs (mostly food-related, if I’m honest). But there were no complaints from Richard, no hurled plates, and no dramatic walkouts, so I’m going to assume everyone was content so let’s chalk that up as a win.

There is another Bardez in Didsbury and the whole operation felt slick and well managed. The service was timely, personable and the order was entirely accurate which meant that not even Richard had anything to complain about.  Definitely recommended as a location and I can see why they’ve secured such positive reviews.