We welcome Zouk to Manchester

Originally published in Manchester Is Ace

Over the weekend of Friday, February 6 and Saturday, February 7, a new Indian restaurant opened in Manchester. So what's new about that, I hear you ask, when Manchester is full of curry houses? Well, a good question indeed, especially after my last two blog posts which noted THREE curry restaurants on the curry mile that have been fined for a truly disgusting lack of food hygiene.

Firstly, Zouk Tea Bar and Grill is in a great location with no other curry restaurants around. Secondly, it's a sleek and sharp modern curry restaurant - and there aren't many of these in Manchester. And thirdly, there is an open kitchen and I can tell you it looked absolutely spotless.

So are you on board now?

Zouk is based in the Quadrangle building on Chester Street, which is just off Oxford Road. Last week I wrote that I went to the opening of Rice, which is next door and I was really glad to see these units filling up after most of them have been empty for almost three years now.

Zouk Tea Bar and Grill is impressive from the outset with a double height ceiling, and balconied upstairs bit. With booth seats throughout the 200-cover area, a rather hip shade of grey on the walls and cool lighting, it couldn't be further in design and ambiance from the rather-dated curry mile. Its website claims that the owner and his sons wanted to create a next-generation restaurant that fused Lahore cuisine with healthy eating and a stylish setting - and they certainly have achieved this.

There was an open kitchen buffet, with a queue of people eager to pile their plates up. We tried a couple of dishes, but I don't know their exact names. A lamb curry was a truly melt-in-the-mouth experience with a strong flavour of fresh tomatoes, while the spicy lamp chops were eye-wateringly hot but not particularly tender. A chicken curry also had a full fresh flavour, which I'm keen to try more of very soon.