There were 3 of us this time so we ordered 3 dishes with some Thai Jasmine rice and Thai sticky rice. The first dish was Spicy Green Papaya Salad or Somtam with seafood (£7.95) was nice not so hot I think it’s good for people who try Thai food or hot food for the first time but as a Thai person I think Somtam at Chaophraya Restaurant was tastier because it was stronger favour. This dish has 4 favours hot, sour, salty and a little bit sweet.

This dish is Thai Minced Salad or Laab or Larb (£6.95). There are 4 choices of meats that you can choice from chicken, pork, beef and duck, we asked for duck. This spicy Thai salad ingredients are minced meat, grill rice powder, chili powder, spring onion, red onion and Thai parsley (this one looks like grass) or mint. It should have 3 favours in this dish hot from the chili power, sour from lime juice and salty from fish sauce and also should smell nice from mint or the parsley. This dish was lovely.

Now come to Pla Gung or King Prawn Salad (£7.50) the dish that we were here for. Pla Gung is spicy salad with prawns toss with red onion, lime leaves, chili powder and lemongrass, this salad is sweet , hot and salty. The prawns were fresh but there were only 5 prawns and lots of red onion. It was nice, my friends liked it but for me I don’t like sweet food much. Try Thai made really nice Thai sticky rice, well cooked not too dry not too soft, they steamed the rice unlike Chaophraya restaurant I think they boiled the sticky rice so it was too soft.

Try Thai has vast varity of Thai food, I would say they have more choices than Chaophraya do. They serve lots of dishes that I don’t expect to see here in Manchester such as Noodle in Red Curry Soup or Kao Soi (Thai northern style food) and Thai Mango Crispy Seabass or Pla Krapong Lard Yam Mamong. When compare the price between Try Thai and Chaophraya, Try Thai looks cheaper but the portion is smaller too. The staff at Try Thai were very friendly and welling to serve you with big smile. The atmosphere was nice and relax. Please visit my review for Chaophraya Manchester as well.

Starter price starts from £2.50 for Thai Prawn Crackers to £7.50 for Grill Mix Seafood and Veg etables.

Main course is from £5.25 for a bow of soup or £8-£10 for meat dish to £17 for seafood dish or £25 for a lobster.

Try Thai

Upper G/F – 52-54 Faulkner Street,
Manchester. M1 4FH

Tel: 0161 228 1822

Here are some of our starters or side dishes as they said in the menu, this one was deep fried prawns in breadcrumbs and chilli sauce or Ebi Katsu (6.10) they were very nice but just a little bit oily for me. The chili sauce was nice and spicy hot.

Another side dish was deep fried squids in breadcrumbs or Chili Squid (5.20) served with sweet chili sauce, was well cook (not tough) and tasty.

Our friends ordered some yakisoba and stir fried noodle and my husband had this Chicken Tama Rice (7.65), Japanese sticky rice and stir fried vegetables with chicken breast and lots of sticky sauce. This dish was a bit blend but it was quite healthy.

My food was Chicken Kutsu Curry (8.45), deep fried chicken breast in breadcrumbs served with Japanese sticky rice, Japanese style curry sauce, pickle and salad. This was very generous portion, lots of rice and 2 pieces of chicken breasts underneath, yummy!

It was a busy Friday night at Wagamama, the staff were too busy to serve maybe they need more staff. Once we finished our food, the staff asked if we wanted some desserts but we were so full so we said no. The staff wanted us to leave because there were other people waiting to get in. I think was a bit rude. Anyway, the good points about dinning at Wagamama is that the food portion is quite big and you can get free hot green tea with your main meal, good value for the money. The bad point is that food will not come at the same time.

Wagamama, Manchester Spinningfields

1 spinningfields square

hardman street

off deansgate

M3 3AP

phone : +44 (0) 161 833 9883

Isis restaurant is not in the heart of Manchester but their price is as high as other Italian restaurants in the city center. When you come to local restaurant you probable expect the price to be a little bit cheaper otherwise the food must be fresh and fabulous.  Usually when we go to an Italian restaurant we will order a garlic bread with tomato but this time we wanted to try something different so my husband ordered Grilled Duck and Pear salad from that today’s special menu and I ordered Peppered Mackerel for starters and for the main course we ordered King Prawn & Asparagus Risotto and Salsicce Casserole.

We didn’t wait long time for the starters and we were happy that the food were quick and thought maybe they wanted us to finish before 9pm.

Grilled Duck and Grilled Pear Salad (£6.50) with rocket and tangy mustard dressing, my husband thought the dressing was too tangy but I thought the dressing was quite nice.

Peppered Mackerel(£5.20) is Mackerel fillet with black pepper served  with new potato salad. The waiter offered me some fresh ground pepper and I thought didn’t it have enough pepper? After adding some salt it taste better.

The potions of these 2 starters were quite big, the taste was okay nothing so special but there was a big problem about them. The problem was that they both were stone cold like there were straight out of a fridge! no wonder we didn’t have to wait long time for the starters in this busy Isis Italian Restaurant. When you order something that says “Grilled” you expect it too be hot or warm, don’t you? Well I think at least they should be at room temperature or it should be stated in the menu that they will be served cold.

Anyway, move to the main course with fingers crossed that the food would be fresh and hot. We didn’t have to wait long time for food again even though one of the food was Risotto which needs a while to cook.

King Prawn & Asparagus Risotto (£11.95) is risotto with sauteed king prawns & asparagus and topped with Parmesan cheese. The risotto was quite nice although the prawns were so tough and the Parmesan cheese didn’t want to melt. When Risotto came I kept tasting it to see if it was hot and freshly cook or it was cooked ahead again. We must be obvious about this so a staff came to ask if everything was okay but we didn’t complain about the stone cold starters.

Sorry for the bad quality photo because my camera batteries were flat so I had to use my mobile to take the photo and where we sat were quit dark with blue light. Anyway, my food was Salsicce Casserole (£10.50) or Italian sausages cooked in tomato and bean casserole along side with soft polenta, the sausages were a bit too salty and tough but the beans were very nice cooked and tasty.

In conclusion, Isis Italian Restaurant food were average and quite big potion but the  starters were prepared ahead so they were not fresh and also very cold.  The staff were quite attentive and polite, they asked if everything okay before we paid so we told them about the problem and hope they would fix this problem. We don’t think we will dine at Isis restaurant again unless someone pays the bill haha.

Starters price is from £3.50 for a garlic bread to £7.50 for Smoked Salmon & Dill Gravlax.
Main course starts from £7.95 for a vegetarian pizza to £19.95 for a Fillet Rossini.

Isis Italian Restaurant

390-392 Bolton Road, Swinton

Manchester  M27 8UX

Tel: 0161 281 2222

I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how to pronounce “Restaurant”. Next time you go to Chaophraya Restaurant you will be able to pronounce this with ease. On to the review.

Chaophraya Restaurant Review

You may think this reveiw is one-sided because I am Thai, well you are not wrong, Thai food is my favourite, however compared to some other thai restauarants in Manchester Chaophraya Restaurant is one that delivers quality food each time I visit.  Not only is the food tasty its authentic, delicious and my most visited restaurant since moving here and I’ve never been disappointed.

This time I caught up with 4 Thai friends who came from Macclesfield and Buxton to have food and then shop. They wanted to go for a Thai buffet in China Town but I suggested Chaophraya was the place to go because the food is more authentic. We went for lunch time but end up ordering all food off the dinner menu.

In Thailand, people usually share food and we don’t eat starters and then main courses. All dishes usually will not be served a the same time which I hate about it. The food might come to table one or two at a time because they don’t have many cooks i guess. It is better here isn’t it? Anyway, we ordered 6 dishes to share whiche were…

Som Tam Gong Pao (£9) and Som Tam Talay (£9)which is spicy Thai papaya salad with dried shrimes, peanuts, snake beans and cherry tomatoes seasoning with fish sauce, lime and palm sugar. The first one is served with grilled king prawns and the later was with seafood. It was very tasty, hot enough and not too sweet.

Ka Gae Op Palow (£14) is a slowly cooked braised lamb leg with spices such as star anise and cinnamon, black pepper sauce and served with boiled vegetables. It was very tender and came off the bone easily and very yummy.

Yum Nua Yang (£9) is Thai style salad with grilled sirloin beef fillet sliced and mint sauce with a touch of sliced grapes. It was hot and sour, not sweet, the beef was done nicely and succulent, the grapes gave you a refresh. In conclusion, delicious!

The last 2 dishes were Tom Yum Gai (£6.50) and Thai Fisherman Soup (£6.50). They both are Thai hot and sour soup with lime, lemon glass, galangal and chili. The first one has chicken and mushroom and the later has seafood and basil. I think the soup was quite expensive because it came in a small bowl.

We had Tom Yum and Ka Gae Op Palow with Khao Hom Mali(£2.75), boiled Thai Jasmine rice, and ate Som Tam and Yam Nua Yang with Khao Niew(£2.95), Thai favorite sticky rice. The boiled rice was cooked nicely but the sticky rice was too soft because it was boiled instead of steam. I wanted to have some Larb Moo, Thai style hot and sour salad with minced pork, mints, lime, fishsauce, grilled rice power and chili flakes, but it is no longer available. They changed the menu recently and that was the only thing that I was disappointed!

We were quite full but we couldn’t go home without having some Thai desserts, so we decided to order 2 desserts with 5 spoons haha. The staff said Thai Pancake (£5) was a dessert to die for. It’s a green pancake stuff with Thai style custard served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The custard was not too sweet and smell of pendant leaf. It was very lovely.

The other dessert was Mango with sticky rice (£5),ripe mango served with sweet coconut sticky rice, the mango wasn’t so sweet enough and the sticky rice was too soft again.

If you want to have real Thai food, I recommend Chaophraya bar and Thai restaurant because the food here tastes the same as the food in Thailand, the restaurant decoration is in a nice Thai style, the staff are very friendly and have service mind.
.

Chaophraya Manchester

19 Chapel Walks
Off Cross Street
Manchester
M2 1HN

Tel: 0161 8328342
Fax: 0161 8319815

What did you do on New Year eve? We went to Topkapi Palace, well it wasn’t the palace in Turkey. It was a Turkish restaurant in Manchester at Deansgate (there are 2 Turkish restaurants in the area). The restaurant is divided into 2 parts, one is for dining in and the other is for taking away. The dining area is nice and cozy but a little bit out dating.

We didn’t book a table but luckily there was a table available. It was my first time having Turkish food so I didn’t really have much idea what the food would be like, would it have lots of favor or blend, I only knew kebab would be one of the food in the menu. Topkapi Palace offers 2 type of starters, Soguk Mezeler or Cold Starters and Sicak Mezeler or Hot Starters. We asked a staff that what starter was popular and she suggested Mitre Kofte (meatballs) and Sicak Meze (mixed starters) so we ordered Sicak Meze  and Muska Borek (fried triangles filo pastry with soft cheese, eggs & herbs).

Sicak Meze (6.50) was mixed of 7 hot starters such as were onion ring, borex (fried triangles filo pastry) and a meat ball, served with sour cream. The meat ball was lovely, borex were plain.

Muska Borek (3.95) was fried triangles filo pastry with soft cheese, eggs & herbs. For me, they were plain I should have ordered the meatballs.

The starters start from 95 p to 12.  Maincourse are Lamb 9.95 – 12.50, chicken 10.95 – 11.95,  seafood 12.50 – 13.95 and vegetarian 9.50 – 10.50.

My husband was Akana Kabab (10.50) or minced lamb kabab served with pitta bread, special onions, herbs and tomato sauce on top. He said lamb was cooked nicely, slightly pink and was succulent and full of favor. The stripes pitta bread were warm not toasted. Most of the main meal served with salad,  rice or chips. The portion was generous we couldn’t finish all the food.

I had Mix Tavuk (11.95), in my understanding it should be mixed of 3 chicken dishes which were Pilic Kabab, Topkapi Special Chicken and Tavuk Kebab but what I got were Pilic Kebab and Topkapi Special Chicken. Pilic Kebab is charcoal grilled marinated chicken breast, served with fried onion and green peppers on top.  Topkapi Special Chicken is charcoal grilled fillet of chicken marinated in specially prepared tomato sauce. They were a little bit blain for me but I like the fried onion and green peppers a lot.

This Turkish style chili sauce was very nice, it made my chicken taste a lot better and I really enjoyed my food. It made of chili, mint, vinegar, sugar and ketchup (if i didn’t hear it wrongly).

The staffs at Topkapi Palace were really friendly, they always smile and didn’t mind to answer our questions. We didn’t know much about Turkish food so we kept asking them many times.

Are you familiar with Turkish food? Could you please share what are your favorites Turkish dish?

Topkapi Palace

205 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3NW

Telephone : 0161 8329803

It was a mid week, we went to Wagamama at Printworks after  went shopping for Christmas presents. There are lots of tables and benches look similar to a school canteen but with nicer lights and color. When a staff handed out their menus, she informed us that foods would not be served at the same time because they wanted to keep the food hot and fresh.  Then she asked what drinks would we like, I looked at the drink menu and ordered some green tea because it was free when ordered main meal.

When another staff came to get our order, he informed us again that the foods would not come at the same time. We think they must have had some complaints about this many times so they had to make sure all customers know about this. Anyway, we ordered a bowl of noodle soup and a rice dish. The first dish that was served was my noodle, wagamama ramen (£ 7.80) which is noodle in a vegetable soup topped with grilled chicken, fish, prawn, squid, kamaboko (a Japanese processed seafood, usually  is white and pink color), wakame (seaweed) and seasonal greens, garnished with menma (preserve bamboo shoots) and spring onions. The soup was very tasty but unfortunately it wasn’t hot! The prawn and chicken were very lovely. The seasonal green was fresh watercress which I think it didn’t go well with the noodle, it would taste nicer if they cook the watercress a little bit. Even though it was quite hard using a bit wooden ladle I managed to finish most of the noodle soup.

The rice dish (came about 5 minuts later) was stir-fried rice called Kedgeree with smoked hoddock and curry flavor (£7.50) this dish was not in the main menu but in a special menu. It wasn’t totally Japanese dish but was tasty.

At wagamama you will find about 20 different noodle dishes and about 7 rice dishes, price starts from £7 to £12.50. It also offers side dishes (not starter because it might come at the same time as main dishes)  price is between £1.35 and £5.95. You can also find a kid menu there as well so it is a restaurant for everyone in the family.

I should warn you that this Wagamama at Printworks is in the basement so please don’t eat too much because we were tired walking up the stairs with full stomach hehe. Please visit my review at Wagamama Spinningfields also.

Contact details:

Wagamama, manchester printworks
1 the printworks
corporation street
manchester
M4 2BS
phone : +44 (0) 161 839 5916

When got a table we started with the Garlic Rub Bread. The main meal were 8 oz Rib Eye Steak with chips (or mash or jacket potato)(£13.50)for me and Flattened Rump Steak for my husband served with small portion of wild mushrooms and balsamic cipolini onions (£12.95). We were a little bit disappointed that the side salad wasn’t really salad, it was just a pinch of watercress. Luckily he ordered some more chips (£2.75) and French beans (£2.95) otherwise he would be still hungry after finishing his steak. I ordered some peppercorn sauce (£1.95) also, it wasn’t peppery at all I had to add lots of pepper in the sauce. The chips were crispy but too much salt. The steaks were under seasoning but well cooked. We had apple pie and custard for dessert (£5.95). The pie was freshly cooked but there wasn’t enough apple in it.

In conclusion,  the atmosphere was excellent but the food was overpriced for the portion and quality you get. The staff was very well trained, helpful and welcoming.

Starters start from £2.95, mains start from £9.95 and steaks start from £12.95.

The Grill on the Alley
5 Ridgefield Manchester M2 6EG

Tel: 0161 833 3465

Here is some information about this cute rabbit from Wikipedia, the Angora rabbit is a variety of domestic rabbit bred for its long, soft hair. The Angora is one of the oldest types of domestic rabbit, originating in Ankara, Turkey, along with the Angora cat and Angora goat. The rabbits were popular pets with French royalty in the mid 1700s, and spread to other parts of Europe by the end of the century. They first appeared in the United States in the early 1900s. They are bred largely for their long Angora wool, which may be removed by shearing, combing, or plucking (gently pulling loose wool).

I was wondering what else could be strange pets in Manchester so I looked at some pet shops and found that there were varieties of animals for sale such as lizards, snakes, tarantulas and amphibians.

This is Leopard Gecko, originally live in deserts in Pakistan, Northern India and part of Iran. They are now common pet and cheap to maintain.

Chameleon looks quite cute for me.? There are about 160 species of chameleon, like living in tropical. Some chameleon can change colors but I don’t know if this one can.

This hairy spider is Tarantula, found in tropical forrests and deserts around the world . They look dangerous but actually their bite won’t anyone. Most tarantulas eat insects but the biggest tarantula can kill birds or mice.

If I have time and space, I would like to have Otters as pets haha. Do you have any strange or weird pets? Would you like to share?

Manchester Christmas Markets 2009 are now opened from 18 Nov to 22 Dec. There are a few Christmas Markets around Manchester city. The one I visited was at Albert Square which was in front of the Town Hall. It was the biggest one here. It had a nice atmosphere beneath the twinkling lights.