CORIANDER, with its restaurants in Chorlton and Withington, is very fine.
This is a proper neighbourhood restaurant group that is doing it right - or mostly right - providing great food to an appreciative audience who lap up their nuanced Indian sub-continental food.
The combination had clearly a zillion other unstated ingredients but was so good it could have formed a centrepiece for a feast in Shangri-la.
The newest Coriander restaurant, called amusingly, Chorlton Central ('All change for Chorlton Central') has a sparse interior, that is coolly efficient rather than welcoming.
Fortunately you hardly spot the interior behind all the people. The place never seems to have a quiet time, populated wall to wall by the perfect model of a south Manchester crowd, urbane, chatty, pleasant and generally polite.
Simple interior and a man eating with concentration and enthusiasm - good lad
Not that there aren't occasional issues.
"Honestly Chorlton," said my eldest son back from Leeds University on our recent visit. "It's very different from Headingley in Leeds isn't it? In Chorlton everybody has to have some cause. Did you see the woman on the bike outside?"
"Nope. What about her?"
"She was leaving and putting on a hi-vis jacket. On the back she'd written with a felt-tip 'One Less Car'. Can't just get on her bike can she? Has to be part of a protest, has to be angry about something."
He had a point, but nobody in Coriander was on a soap-box on the occasion of our visit, or if they were, they were being quiet about it. A shame really as I like a good debate.
I also like good food and this is what Coriander provides.
If you find a better lamb tikka starter at £4.90 then I'll be very surprised. The lamb was infused with mint and yoghurt and then grilled. The combination had clearly a zillion other unstated ingredients but was so good it could have formed a centrepiece for a feast in Shangri-la. The key was the skilful balance. We used a spoon to make sure we didn't miss a smidgin of it, scraping the plate so hard it lost its enamel.
The lovely starters, clockwise, chicken, lamb, prawn
The other starters were almost up there with the lamb tikka, especially the king prawn (£6.90) which was apparently 'tossed' with garlic and mustard. Tossed or not it was a little stunner, the mustard and garlic were a welcome extra but it was the mollusc that came through, blasting our mouths with seaside and rockpools.
There was nothing wrong with the chicken pakura starter at £3.90 either although an interesting oddity is the mulligatawny soup at £3.20, a creamy lentil delight a long way from a can of Heinz.
The mains (top picture) were also an absolute delight with the best being the 'Bengal style' venison (£9.90) with mint, coriander, potatoes, cloves. It was astonishingly zingy, fresh, with a lift in the flavours that left the mouth buzzing. The spuds were particularly good as was the meat. Another scrape the enamel off the plate fave.
You're looking lovely today, deer
The duck jalali (£8.90) and the supreme lamb (£7.90) almost matched the venison. The lamb in a lovely mix of cumin, masala, mustard (good, strong presence) was given extra punch with garlic, a lump of which I caught and happily munched on for a few moments. The duck was hotter than the other dishes and was given a boost with ginger.
The rice (£2.30) was boiled and boiled perfectly. A bum note was a side of tarka dhal (£4.90) which was too loose, but then the naan was a glory, shredded and fresh as can be.
The wine list is functional at best although Coriander lists both organic and inorganic wines - it knows its audience. Best to stick with the beers - their grittier character generally goes better with curry. I had the Sam Smith's pale ale and it worked a treat.
Sam's Smith Ale in a bottle, good for curry
Service was all over the show. Waiters milled about in the relatively small space standing on each other's feet. One had a terrible issue with smiling, another said, "Are you having the boiled rice, man?" followed by "And is it the duck for you, mate?" which was sort of endearingly informal.
We were also promised free poppadoms and they never arrived. As if to underline this, the bill had 'NO PAPA' written on the top which sounded sad and the opening line of a sentimental American sitcom.
(Actually forget sad and think terrifying. On the menu poppadoms were spelt 'papadooms'. Yikes. Zombie fathers on the attack at the end of the world.)
Try this place.
Coriander generally provides excellent food at decent prices. Its food is cultured and clever.
When we get a selection of quality neighbourhood restaurants in our suburbs we'll know that British food has really turned a corner. Coriander is part of this heartening process.
You can follow Jonathan Schofield on Twitter here @JonathSchofield or connect via Google+
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Coriander, 485 Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton, M21 8AG. 0161 881 0340.
Rating: 13.5/20
Food: 7.5/10 (Lamb tikka 8, chicken pakura 7.5, prawn 7.5, venison 8, supreme lamb 7.5, duck 7.5, tarka dhal 5, naan 7.5, rice 8)
Service: 2.5/5
Ambience: 3.5/5
