Punjab by Night; All Photos: Sarah Irving

To the south of Manchester city centre lies Rusholme, home to the original Curry Mile. the combination of a large South Asian community and lots of hungry students has given rise to a range of curry restaurants which attract an estimated 65,000 diners per week to this stretch of Wilmslow Road.

But the city has many other great places to eat South Asian food, and some of Britain’s best pubs, so don’t limit yourself.

It’s tough work to pick out the best of Curry Mile, but someone’s gotta do it. For glitz try the Shere Khan, the Hanaan or the Mughli.

Night Lights of Rusholme

The Sangam is friendly and has great food, but the smaller Punjab is worth a special mention for its amiable staff and wide-ranging menu. It’s the only restaurant on the strip to serve dosas (huge, crispy South Indian pancakes with various fillings) alongside the usual bhunas, baltis and dansaks. It also has famously good vegetarian choices, with rare delicacies such as tinda (baby gourds).

On the off chance that you’re not stuffed, skip the run-of-the-mill desserts offered by even the best curry houses, and head to the Sanam Sweethouse for fragrant Indian sweets.

Avoid the many mediocre watering holes around Rusholme and head for the Albert (5 Walmer Street), a traditional South Manchester Irish pub. It’s a snug, slightly tatty place with photographs of Irish literary greats on the walls. The Whitworth, overlooking Whitworth Park, isn’t a bad place, although it helps if you like Guns ‘n Roses.

Sanam Sweet House

Further on the bus out of town is Withington where Moon Restaurant is dependably good, but the Red Lion pub is the main draw.

This seventeenth century coaching inn (which hosted Withington’s ‘court leet,’ a leftover of the area’s medieval privileges, until 1841) has plenty of cozy seating inside, but if the weather’s up to it, search out the benches overlooking the bowling green at the back, preferably with a pint of Marston’s Pedigree.

Forget the overpriced, shiny restaurants of Manchester’s ‘regenerated’ city centre and head into the Northern Quarter for huge portions of authentic South Asian food and ridiculously low prices.

Hanaan

Set up to serve workers from the neighbourhood’s textile wholesalers, gems like Kabana (Back Turner Street) and This ‘N’ That (3 Soap Street, off Thomas Street) serve up regularly-changing menus of meat and vegetarian dishes and the famous ‘rice + three’ offers – rice and three curries, usually for less than a fiver. Most are only open until mid/late afternoon, so if you’re combining with a pint, you’re looking at a boozy lunch or an early start.

In contrast to the scrubbed-down basics of the curry houses, the up-and-coming Northern Quarter’s bars are bohemian and trendy.

But in amongst some of the more vacuous newcomers nestle Dry Bar, a classic venue of 1980s/90s Madchester, and live music stalwart Night & Day (both on Oldham Street).

Cord (8 Dorsey Street) has fat leather armchairs and an interesting range of bottled beers, and Odd (30-32 Thomas Street) is the place to head for trashy glitz and strange spirits.

The palatial Nawaab looms over the main Stockport Road in Levenshulme. A converted cinema, it seats hundreds, but at the weekend you may still have to wait in the bar to get a seat for the buffet, with its vast array of dishes.

Catering to its Muslim fan base, the Nawaab is alcohol-free, but for a great pint head back towards Manchester city centre and turn right down to 170 Barlow Road. On the corner near Levenshulme Library is the Blue Bell, a genuine community pub. Landlord Mark Dunn runs gardening competitions for the local kids and offers the side room to residents’ and campaign groups.

This is a Sam Smith’s pub and, luckily for anyone drinking there, it serves a wide range of the traditional Tadcaster Brewery’s excellent beers, ranging from lager, through a range of real ales, to dark porters and the wonderful Oatmeal Stout. In true Sam Smith’s tradition, they are all at bargain prices.

Curry-lovers on a diet should head for Chorlton.

At 489-491 Barlow Moor Road, Asian Fusion’s contemporary take on Indian food includes ’sizzler’ dishes, spicy but without the drowning of ghee that piles calories onto many curries.

Leftovers from Asian Fusion

20 minutes walk east takes you to Coriander, which also serves excellent low-fat, fresh, additive-free Bangladeshi food, with especially good vegetarian choices.

Next door to Asian Fusion is the Azad Manzil, a more traditional option, established in 1964.

Chorlton has a bewildering array of places to drink, including old school pubs such as the Trevor and the Beech – good for pints in plastic cups to drink on the Green in good weather. The Bar on Wilbraham Road is always lively.

Marble on a Sunny Day

But for really outstanding beer, head to the Marble at 57 Manchester Road. This unassuming little pub serves a range of beers from the Marble Brewery, a microbrewery in East Manchester whose main pub, the Marble Arch, isn’t on this list solely because of its desolate location on the fringes of several industrial estates.

It’s worth a visit, though, for its splendid Victorian tiling – and superb organic, vegan beers. Marble Chorlton standards include Lagonda IPA, Manchester Bitter and Ginger Marble (yes, it does taste of ginger), but there are often seasonal and festival specials.

Community Connection

Whether your travels are taking you outside “the Venice of the North” (AKA Manchester) or not, you’ll want to check into Matador’s UK focus page. From transportation to sight seeing and volunteering and where to eat and drink, we’ve consolidated our resources for your perusal.

Paintings by Ahmad Nawash at Darat al Funin This and all photos are by the author.

Many travellers visiting Middle Eastern countries such as Jordan will be in search of authentic cultural experiences. To most, that means Bedouin tents, crumbling Crusader castles or bustling souqs.

>Exhibition at The National Museum of Fine Art

The Jordanian capital, Amman, boasts ancient architecture such as a Roman amphitheatre and a museum with some of the earliest sculptures in the world. But it is also strikingly modern, with buildings that give an Arab twist to elegant modernist architecture, a series of galleries which provide the Western visitor with an introduction to the vibrant world of Arabic contemporary art, and cafes and bars in which to encounter the city’s bohemians.

The most official of the art venues is the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts on Muntazah Circle, a half-hour walk through the leafy Luweibdeh neighbourhood from busy Downtown.

In the scorching (45 degree-plus) heat of Amman in the summer, the National Gallery is, apart from anything else, a welcome cool, white space, but the exhibitions are also compelling. The downstairs galleries display a rotating selection from the permanent collection, which when I visited included a sinister textile piece resembling human hearts suspended in a glass case, and a vast printed work reflecting the bloody and conflictual politics of the region.

Upstairs, temporary exhibits showcase modern artists from across the Arab world, working in a range of media and dispelling the notion that Islamic material culture stops with classical patterned tiles or Ottoman miniatures.

The garden in the large square outside, planted with scented shrubs and shady trees, is also home to several large modern sculptures.

Sculpture at Darat al Funun

Heading back towards the city centre, Darat al-Funun stands on the steep slope overlooking the honking mayhem of the Downtown area. Despite this, it’s another haven of cool and calm in Amman. This ‘Little House of the Arts’ is formed of three 1920s villas, one of them with the blue-roofed veranda typical of the city’s Circassian population – the first main community to re-establish themselves in the nineteenth century after the city had been reduced to a village for hundreds of years.

As well as a paved, shady courtyard which serves as a cafe and the remains of an early medieval church, Darat al-Funun is home to some of the edgier contemporary art to be seen in Amman’s galleries.

The sometimes bitter and violent paintings, stark photography or politicised video installations contrast with the calm white walls and elegantly patterned floor tiles, while outside modern sculptures set on the outer walls or amongst the mimosa trees have views of the city as their backdrop.

Gallery at Darat al Funun

The gallery also hosts artists’ workshops and a regular series of talks and films (many of them in foreign languages), details of which are listed on its website.

After all that art viewing, even the most dedicated buff will be in need of a long, cool drink. You might just be in the mood to head across Downtown to Jebel Amman and the Rainbow Street area, which has been restored to include street murals and small squares and open spaces amongst the quiet cream stone houses.

This newly-upscale area has attracted a range of trendy international restaurants, shi-shi art galleries and institutions like the Wild Jordan Cafe, an NGO-linked centre which hosts gigs and readings, as well as promoting fairly traded traditional local crafts brought up-to-date for contemporary buyers.

The cafe area at Darat al Funun

The thirsty gallery-goer in the Rainbow neighbourhood might first head for the lusciously-named Mango Street (unfortunately named after a prominent business dynasty, not the fruit). Here, Books@Cafe is still the place for visitors to track down a bohemian, literary crowd, a wide range of books and periodicals in English or Arabic, free wifi, and cosmopolitan cuisine.

Its 70s-loud decor has sprawled out from the original space to a series of rooms and terraces, offering (depending on the time of day) lush breakfasts, good pasta, pizza or contemporary Arabic food, nargilah, and a well-stocked alcoholic and non-alcoholic bar. It’s also a great place to watch Amman’s affluent, arty young professionals, and to realise how deeply uncool your own sweaty traveller’s garb really is.

Community Connection

If you’re thinking of a trip to the Middle East, MatadorNetwork’s Middle East Focus Page is a great place to start getting ideas of where and how to go.

Number Six on BNT’s Photo Essay: 10 Sacred Mountains Around The World is Mount Nebo in Jordan, so preview the highest point of the city there.

MatadorTrips features In Jordan, Forget Lonely Planet. Bring a Bible for a less contemporary take on the ancient city.

Photo and Feature Photo of a woman enjoying her first Jerusalem felafel: nicasaurusrex

Perhaps a little off-putting for vegetarians, this joke does have a point.

Anyone privileged to share a meal in a Palestinian home will not be allowed the leave the table until they’re stuffed. Despite the fragile Palestinian economy and the Israeli checkpoints which prevent most Palestinians from getting around, most West Bank cities present numerous opportunities to sample the culinary side of Palestinian culture.

Starting the day usually involves a pick-and-mix breakfast incorporating pita bread, hummus, labneh (thick yogurt widely used as a dip or spread), olives, olive oil with za’atar (dried thyme with sesame seeds and sumac) and sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. More luxurious versions might include fried eggs, grilled hallum cheese (like Cypriot halloumi) and fuul, a hot or cold dish of beans cooked with lemon juice, garlic and olive oil.

If you’re eating on the hoof, lunch will probably mean felafel or shawirma. You’ll find cafes or stands selling these in all cities, most towns and in street markets, especially those by checkpoints where people may have a long wait ahead of them.

Photo of fried eggplant in a Jerusalem restaurant
with felafel and hummus in the background. Photo: jbcurio

If your image of felafel is the dried-up, greasy brown ball often presented as a veggie option in Western restaurants, think again. Freshly-made felafel from Efteem on Manger Square in Bethlehem or the cafes in and around Hebron’s souq are plump, fragrant chickpea rounds, the inside green with fresh parsley, the outside fried golden crisp, served with garnishes – fried eggplant, hot sauce, yogurt, pickles and fresh salads.

Travellers can be confident about eating salads here: standards of food hygiene are good, and in ten years of working and travelling in the West Bank I’ve never managed to get a stomach upset.

Photo of a felafel stand at Huwarra checkpoint: Author

Less vegetarian-friendly fast food includes shawirma – slivers of meat cooked on a vertical spit and sliced off to order. In the West Bank, you may be lucky enough to find this served in markouk, vast tasty rounds of very thin bread cooked over a big metal dome.

Busy cities like East Jerusalem and Ramallah also have street vendors selling skewers of lamb kebab hot off the grill. Both are also home to an excess of chicken-and-chip joints, only worth visiting if you’re a homesick KFC fan.

In Ramallah, which has a cosmopolitan feel stemming from nearby Bir Zeit University and the numerous NGO, press and diplomatic staff, there are also cafes offering less traditional options. Perhaps most worth visiting is Stars & Bucks, sitting several storeys above Manara Square and with some great views of the city. It’s a good place to explore dishes like manakeesh, a flat bread topped with various combinations of cheese, vegetables and za’atar. Like many Palestinian cafes it also does a great range of non-alcoholic drinks – milkshakes, smoothies, frappes and fancy teas and coffees.

For those with a sweet-tooth, Palestinian food is heaven. Whether you’re visiting a family or attending an NGO briefing, sweet tea with fresh mint or thick, sweet black Turkish coffee will almost certainly be served.

If you’re lucky, you’ll also get baklava or other traditional pastries and biscuits. You can buy great sweet and savoury pastries at bakeries in Nablus, Ramallah and on Salah Eddin Street in East Jerusalem.

If you’re very lucky – or if you’re in the souqs of Nablus or Jerusalem – you’ll encounter Kanafeh.

Photo of kanefah being sold (it’s in the big, round pan):
Tracy Hunter

Especially associated with Nablus, this sweet, hot, stretchy cheese baked under crispy vermicelli and doused in hot sugar syrup is filling, tooth-destroying and delicious. The best place for it is the al-Aqsa Cafe in Nablus, where it’s made in metre-wide trays which empty almost before they hit the serving counter.

During evening meals in traditional Palestinian restaurants, or lavish meals for guests in family homes, the country’s cuisine really shines. Such meals generally start with a selection of starters similar to those at breakfast, as well as mouttabal and baba ganoush (dips made with roasted eggplant), imam bayildi (eggplant stewed with tomatoes), kibbeh (balls of cracked wheat stuffed with meat) and a vast array of other dishes.

Photo of a Ramallah market stand: Author

Just as you think you’ve eaten a creditable quantity and can relax before a small coffee, the main course arrives. This might be grilled meats (often lamb, or shish tawouk – tender cubes of marinated chicken). But if possible, go for traditional dishes you might not find elsewhere, such as mussakhan (chicken, onions and sumac baked on flat bread), maklouba (rice with lamb, nuts and vegetables), bamiah (okra, often stewed slowly with lamb) or qidreh (spiced rice with lamb).

Vegetarians, look out for mujuddarah – a rice, lentil and caramelised onion dish which is much more exciting than it sounds.

Unsurprisingly, dessert is rare; most people head straight for coffee and, perhaps, a nargila (a tall water and tobacco pipe).

The best restaurants to experience this kind of meal include the Citadel in Beit Sahour, the al-Saraya or the Yasmeen Hotel in Nablus, or the Philadelphia on Azzahra Street in East Jerusalem (an institution which dates back to the era of Jordanian control and has photos of 1950s celebrity diners on the wall).

For a contemporary take on Palestinian cooking, the Askadinya in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood does innovative things with traditional ingredients. The delicious results mean that booking is often essential.

And, lest you thought that Palestinians always want local cuisine when they go out, there are other cultural options. Bethlehem boasts a reasonable Mexican (the Mariachi at the Grand Hotel), although the burritos, made with markouk bread, take a little getting used to. Ramallah has decent pizzas at Pronto or La Strada, and an interesting Chinese restaurant.

The majority religion in Palestine is Islam, which accounts for the wonderful range of fresh juices, mint lemonade and other non-alcoholic drinks you’ll find.

Photo of a man enjoying a Taybeh: Author

But the significant Christian minority means that in Bethlehem, Ramallah and East Jerusalem you can find alcohol. The best beer is Taybeh, a mellow, rich golden lager named after the small village outside Ramallah where it’s brewed to German purity laws.

The monks of Cremisan in Bethlehem have been making wine for centuries – it’s found in numerous restaurants and shops in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Some hotels and restaurants in these three cities also sell imported spirits and, for the brave, jet-fuel local arak.

Community Connection

Traveling to the Middle East? Our Middle East Focus Page has all Matador articles about the area centralized for your perusing pleasure.

Thinking about celebrating Oktoberfest in Palestine? Carlo Alcos tells you all about it on MatadorTrips.