Shahenshah 135 Wilmslow Road, Rusholme, Manchester M14 5AW

The Shahenshah is a largish comfortable Indian restaurant in the Manchester district of Rusholme which is famous for curry houses.

Myself and a friend visited Shahensha at about 3 in the afternoon on Saturday.

Shahensha has a large menu though it seems to specialise in Punjabi food.
I had a Mushroom Pakora for starter and my friend had a portion of Veg Samosa. these were average unremarkable starters. I would have liked a little more spice in mine but at least it was freshly fried and not microwaved.

I had a main dish called Haleem and my friend had a main dish called Punjabi Lamb Special. we both gave the food 7.5 out of 10. Mine was very tasty though perhaps a little watery. I know that Haleem is a slow cooked dish with plenty of liquid but there seemed to be a fraction too much water and it could have done with a bit more of a tomato flavour. The curry was not greasy however and it seemed to contain a decent amount of fresh spices and some vegetable.

My friend's Punjabi Special was meant to contain chilli garlic and ginger. He says that it was a nice curry though the ginger and garlic could have been more pronounced.

Staff were friendly and attentive. while English was not always that good, I felt that staff made a reasonable effort.

Over all this is a reasonable place to eat without being absolutely mind blowing. the menu has lots of differently named dishes that I suspect may be relatively similar. this seemed a good safe place to eat, but while looking for the correct address for the Shahenshah I found the following manchester Evening News article describing how the restaurant was shut down for hygiene reasons in April 2008. I do not know if it is owned by the same people now. look at http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1062930__filthy_curry_house_fined__

Before reading this I thought there are better and worse places in Rusholme to eat. many kitchens are I suspect not as clean as they might be but the fact that the owners didn't even bother to show up in court concerns me and means I cannot really recommend the Shahensha unless it has changed hands.


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