Bacon on the beech: Mughli, Rusholme Manchester.

I had my first taste of proper curry in 1989 when I came to Manchester as a student and I've been addicted to the stuff ever since. We probably visit Indian restaurants more than any others; for me it's the ultimate comfort food.
I used to live near to Rusholme, so would visit the curry mile very regularly. In those days of the early 90's our restaurant of choice was the Hanaan, but we would try and go to as many different ones as possible. More recently better Indian restaurants have been available elsewhere so we've been neglecting Rusholme a bit, plus there seems to be more hookah bars than eateries these days. However I'd heard brilliant reports about Mughli, first in the Daily Telegraph, then in Manchester Confidential and more recently the GoodGobble and Hungry Hoss blogs amongst others. So we knew the food was going to be good!

I love Rusholme, it's always buzzing and Sunday night was especially busy. For me it's like going on holiday abroad, I like to sit in the window and watch the world go by.

I have been to Mughli before, but a long time ago, it's changed quite a bit since my last visit. They've modernised it, the interior is fun and different. We were greeted warmly (I'd booked via twitter, so they knew we were coming).

Straight into the food; the papadums were crisp and fresh, and the dips good and more of a choice than the usual run of the mill. After much advice from people in the know (thanks to Goodgobble), we also got a portion of Far Far (colourful mumbai snacks served with a sweet red pepper dip, £2.50). These were a bit like those crispy maize snacks but came with an addictive spicy dip.

Mustn't fill up too much on these though, we were ordering big! For starters proper we decided on a Bombay Basket (spinach & cheese tikki, onion bhajias, chicken samosa, vegetable samosa & railway chicken, £8.50). This is great as you get loads of the starters all in one handy basket. Especially good for greedy and indecisive people like us, although we were sharing with our friend Ms. Arroz. Neither could I resist a portion of Mughlai Lamb Chops (£6.00) these were especially nice, very juicy, flavoursome and succulent. At this point I declared that I 'felt sorry for vegetarians as they could never realise the supreme joy of gnawing on a chop like this', apologies if you're a veggie but I had sank a couple of beers at the time.

The bombay basket was all tasty, especially of note were the samosas which were beautifully flavoured.

We also shared a Kati Roll which is new on the summer menu. I really enjoyed these, reminding me of an old favourite, the Abduls Chicken Kebabs which I so enjoyed when I used to live there and cost just £2 in those days.

The service throughout was absolutely superb, really quick and efficient, we may have received 'special attention' as they know I'm a blogger, but the amount of waiters milling about ready to take your order was impressive. Plus they helpfully talked us through all the choices we had and what we liked etc. We finally decided on a Lahori Karahi (inspired from ‘butt’ karahi in Lahore tender lamb on the bone in a dry sauce finished with yoghurt, green chilli & black pepper, £9.00).

This was to be our spiciest dish, and the lamb was superb. Our milder dish was the Butter chicken (in a butter & cream ‘makhani’ sauce, £9.00). This was actually hotter than expected but no less enjoyable for it.

Instead of standard pilau rice we ordered a Biryani. This came in like a pie dish with a bread like topping. It was beautifully rich in flavour.

The breads were less doughy and thick than you often get elsewhere, I loved the Peter’s bread (garlic oil, chilli flakes & fresh coriander £3.50). All this was washed down with copious amounts of Becks beer. I think it'd be good if they added a few better beers on tap, then it would be my most perfect curry house ever. (If we're talking clean, cold lagers Pilsner Urquell and Warsteiner would be my choices). Mrs B was driving, so she had the mango lassi which she declared the best she's ever had, this made up for the absolutely awful one she had recently at Asian Fusion.

I can't remember ever having better Indian food than at Mughli. I know I often give positive reviews, but there was nothing to criticise here, everything here was totally faultless, the food was absolutely superb and different, the service was totally perfect and the atmosphere was extremely enjoyable.
So Mughli is now my favourite Indian restaurant bar none. If you know of any better please let me know! Until then, I'll be visiting this place a lot more often.