Where to eat on Curry Mile in Rusholme
Creative TouristIn the 1970s and 80s Curry Mile was a boomtown, full of enterprising immigrants from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh catering to the nation’s bottomless hunger for chicken tikka masala. Now, according to Haz, owner of Mughli, it’s fractured into three unofficial areas: the traditional curry mile, closest to town; what he calls the “shisha mile,” full of middle eastern cafes; and a leftover nether-here-nor-there bit catering mainly to students. But, where to eat on Curry Mile?
Some of the restaurants are still on the classic curry mile schedule – busy 7-10pm and quiet until 1 am, when buses full of liquored up, hungry students on their way back from the city centre start pulling in, and frantic until 3 am. But the economic decline of the last few years has ushered in a time of transition on Wilmslow Road. Basically, Haz explains, traders are realising that serving up the same old grub in the same old way isn’t enough these days, and they have to change with the times, or go under.
With that in mind, here are some of the best restaurants, cafes and shisha bars on Curry Mile – and rest assured, these are all forward-thinking places to eat, well worth a special visit.
