A restaurant in Manchester is serving up a bottomless curry buffet throughout Ramadan and it sounds absolutely epic.
From today, 23 March, Zouk Tea Bar & Grill on Oxford Road is bringing back its brilliant all-you-can-eat Indian buffet – serving up unlimited quantities of customer favourites including the likes of chicken sindhi biryani, dall makhani and tarka dall curries alongside assorted naan breads, roti, and basmati rice.
Served throughout the month of Ramadan, there are an impressive amount of dishes on offer – and all for the price of £25pp for adults or £12.50 per child (under 12), with under 5’s eating free.
image: Zouk
image: Zouk
Add to the list a huge quantity of chicken tikka and seekh kebabs, a whole stuffed lamb raan, chicken 65, vegetable samosas, and more curries of lamb and potatoes, spinach and chicken, and it’s easy to see why Zouk’s bottomless buffet continues to be such a hit year-on-year.
It doesn’t stop there, either. There is a mouthwatering selection of desserts included in the buffet too, with choices like mango and raspberry Mumbai mess, chocolate brownies and fresh fruit alongside traditional favourite gulab jamon.
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Each day the menu will vary slightly but it will always include a wide selection of salads, starters, curries, chutneys, accompaniments, desserts, and roasted lamb.
This year Zouk has created two sittings for the halal buffet, following requests from customers to keep it running for longer each evening. There will be one sitting at Iftar (sunset) each day and a second sitting an hour later.
Booking is advised and when customers go onto Zouk’s website they can book at Iftar or later in the evening for the additional buffet sitting on their chosen date.
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Image: Zouk
Customers are advised to note that the timings do change slightly throughout the month of Ramadan, due to the variation in BST and the arrival of lighter evenings.
Owner Tayub Amjad said: “Everyone is welcome to join us at this special time and we have created a secondsitting of the buffet an hour after Iftar.
Tayub added: “By offering two sittings, we can accommodate families who wish to pray together at home before coming out to eat and also customers who may not be fasting or participating in Ramadan personally but who wish to experience the fabulous buffet with friends and family and learn more about Ramadan.
“All diners joining us will be helping us to support the homeless in Manchester, as we will make a donation from every cover charge to local homeless Charities.”
Mains: Chicken Handi, Lamb & Potato, Dall Makhana, Vegetable Pilau Rice, Assorted Fresh Naan Bread, Chutney & Raita, Carvery, Roasted Lamb Raan, Chef Special Rice
Desserts: A selection of freshly made desserts
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Drinks: Mango Lassi, water
Feature image – Zouk
Eats
Crown and Kettle set to take over another former Northern Quarter bar
Danny Jones
The team behind beloved Ancoats pub The Crown and Kettle have announced that they are set to take over another former bar and restaurant location in nearby Northern Quarter.
We were gutted to see the old place go, but at least we can’t think of many better to take over the unit.
The historic watering hole on the corner of Oldham Road and Great Ancoats Street is said to have stood in that spot since the 18th century, but now the present owners have confirmed they’ll be taking on a third venue, having also opened The Rat and Pigeon back in June 2024.
Many of you may have been to one or multiple of its previous iterations of the site in question over the years, but most recently, it was the Calcio sports bar – and soon it’ll become ‘The Badger’.
Revealing the news online last week, Crown and Kettle wrote: “We’re delighted to announce that our new pub, The Badger, arrives on Dale Street this spring!
“Once home to Calcio, Allotment & Nickelbys, this beautiful old building first served as The Haunch of Venison public house back in the early 1800s. Over the past few months, we’ve been hard at work, quietly bringing it back to life & returning it to its roots as a community pub.
“With The Badger, we’ve set out to create the kind of place we love most, warm, welcoming, full of character, with all the charm of a great countryside pub in the heart of the city.
“Expect cosy corners, traditional pub foods, fine ales & the warmest of welcomes. Made for regulars. Open to all. Worth returning to. We can’t wait to welcome you to your new city centre local. GET SET(T)…” Oh, very good indeed.
We visited Calcio many times over the past couple of years, both for work and pleasure in our own free time; it was a great place to watch the footy, enjoy some matchday scran and roll back the years with retro videogames.
As mentioned, though, not only did it used to be one of multiple Allotment vegan and vegetarian eateries in Greater Manchester – thankfully, their presence still remains in multiple buildings – but it has a past long before that which many people bring up on social media.
Insert, “I remember when…’ post.
While we might not know much about what they have in store for this next chapter, knowing how much we love their current city centre favourites, we’re very excited.
As it stands, we’re also yet to hear anything about a more precise opening date, but at least we know it’s coming sometime soon, and we have every faith they’re going to smash it.
Georgina Pellant -
23rd March 2023 
