CityLife

This & That

This & That

This & That
City centre
March 2010

(Casual dining review)

Overall: 4/5

Legendary Northern Quarter curry house This & That opened an arm last year in the city centre and lunch-hour corporates have gone wild.

By 1pm, a caterpillar of suits with bulging white shirts writhes out of the restaurant’s bare white door, eager for a plateful.

It seems bizarre, all these professionals down a back street, desperate to enter what looks like a soup kitchen.

But I soon see why they come. The walls may be decorated by little more than stains and the food may be slopped on to plates like at school, but the queue moves fast and the meal deals cost dinner money prices.

I reach the food counter undecided whether to go for the £4.60 rice, veg and two meats deal or the £5 rice, veg and three meats deal. I opt for the former and add a 70p naan.

The naan sweats an oily film but the meat is lovely.

You choose from a range of chicken and lamb curries set at a counter in front of an open-plan kitchen.

The lamb is tender and not fatty at all. The curries start off mild but you can vary the strength – adding as much kick as you like from a complementary bowl of green chillies on the side.

The food is heavy but full of flavour.

I leave the chillies to a group of ladies with whom I am sat around a table (you share tables here too, commune-style).

They finish their heaped plates and look like they might pass out. “I ate here last week and fell asleep at my desk an hour later,” says one.

This & That is perfect for a quick lunch-break feast. Just don’t expect the afternoon to be particularly productive.

This & That, 5-7 Butter Lane, Deansgate, Manchester, M3 2PD.