I find the trouble with anyone recommending curry places is that they tend to think the one that they go to is the best and rarely venture anywhere else.

I've been right up and down Rusholme numerous times and have found some favourites - but if you want to avoid the generic 'curry' you've got to order the right thing as well as go to the right place - traditional Karahi Gosht at Darbar, for instance.

Most places have their cons too. (Some greatly outweigh their pros as mentioned by other reviewers). But I don't think the curry mile has had it's day in general. As for the northern quarter cafes: they are indeed great value - particularly for town centre but are they really the best places around as some claim? Probably not. Are they tasty, great value great additions to the town centre? Definitely. I'd agree that all those mentioned above are good places.

Shalimar (formerly Chandni) wasn't so great last time I went - however again it's ordering the right thing that counts. Play to a place's strengths and you'll invariably get better food. I always avoid exotic ingredients when trying out budget places because one of the reasons they're cheap is that they're not throwing out £100s worth of shellfish every evening that nobody ordered. So if you do have exotic items they may well have been recently frozen.

Similarly the 'made from base sauce' issue is usually there in all curry places - does one place's lamb bhuna, jalfrezi, karahi or balti really taste that different from the next dish? Or is it 90% base sauce and a few trimmings? In most cases it's the latter. I try to find traditional Pakistani and Indian cuisine but it's not that easy. Often you're better off going with the speciality of the house, whatever it may be. And really there's not much can beat lamb/chicken, lentils, naan and/rice in whatever fashion that comes most naturally to the chef.

I've tried various other places around and about -the Didsbury places mentioned by others, Asian fusian in Chorlton, EastZEast in the city centre. Every place seems to have somebody who thinks it's the best in the city but it's rare I find one that's really exceptional in anything other than presentation - maybe I'm looking for the wrong thing in traditional home cooking - meat on the bone etc.

They still all just serve meat or veg in a preprepared sauce tarted up with a few bits of this and that (pun not intended). Or marinaded and grilled (the quality and 'redness' of these marinades varies somewhat - I'm not a fan of food colouring). Unfortunately 'good' often means well presented these days and some people recommend curry places on matters such as décor or how loudly their plate's sizzling when it arrives.

I'd try anywhere at least once - and most places numerous times. Try and check out the menu - if they've got lamb on the bone it's a good sign. Off to Hhunter's for lunch tomorrow... See how we get on.

One more thing, outstanding value at £2.70 for a chicken kebab at Kashmir King in Whalley Range. Fresh meat, naan, good sauces - just don't bother with the lamb tikka - reheated in the back room.

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