As a child I grew up in South Manchester and often visited the Tatton Cinema in Gatley. Today It has been developed into a Coop store and retail shops.
However, just around the side of the building stands a hidden gem serving authentic vegan food from the regions of India.
It’s what you would call a relaxed atmospheric culinary establishment. Neither a traditional restaurant or cafe, somewhere in between. But the welcome and smiles of the staff are delightful.
Before we had even sat down, menus you were placed in front of seats, and as we sat we were confronted by a delightful young girl called Pharita. In her natural dialect and soft tone she began trying to explain to our party of four something about Carley?? We had absolutely no idea what she was trying to tell us, but her enthusiasm was infectious.
So I asked her to explain again slowly, before the manager came over to explain.
The Bhaji Pala each month serves Thali from a different region. Thali is a little like tapas, a selection of dishes served with flat bread and consisting of rice, vegetables, pickles, salad and a dessert. In effect this would be a complete meal.
It certainly sounded intriguing and peaked my wife’s and my own interest to order it.
My wife and our friends also had mango lassi, a sort of yoghurt drink that I’ve consumed when having a hot spicy dish to cool my mouth. However on this occasion we asked them to tone the spice down.
This month’s Thali was Rhajistan.
We were told to start the meal by eating the two balls at the top of the plate first as these were our starters and then working our way round anti clockwise finishing off with the liquid at the end.
Overall the flavours were amazing and not too spicy thankfully. I wasn’t too keen on the pickled carrots or the fluid, but that was my personal taste.
Our friends had traditional starters and mains.
This was actually our second visit .. we previously visited around three months previously. The food was good then too!
It was a lovely relaxed evening and definitely a place to try if you love Indian food. You can book a table and look at their menu on the Bhaji Pala website.
