Category: Eating & Drinking

Places to go for eating out and having a drink

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Free Tapas here

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Well it is nearly Christmas

They say there is no such thing as a free lunch (we actually tell clients this frequently!), but last Friday night we had the next best thing…

Free Tapas

We called into Casa De Moor, in Heaton Moor, Stockport, actually we were almost waiting on the doorstep, having seen that they were opening at 7pm on Thursday we dived round, only to find that they weren’t ready. (they had posted on Facebook around 4:30 but, hell I’m not really a Facebook person)

So at about 7pm +.005 we arrived, and we weren’t the first, there was already a buzz, we had a friendly greeting asked if we could “just have a drink” and given the go ahead I got a pint of Peroni (at £4.95 top end for the area!), JD however managed to cadge a free glass of prosseco (or two) and I went and sat at a table towards the front.

JD, meanwhile was checking out the menu’s, seems they do everything from imaginative breakfasts to, lunch, dinner and disco into the night. We didn’t really get to examine the menus, so we judge from what we had, which was very good and no doubt Casa De Moor will make t’other end of the Moor look to it’s laurels

Next thing were staff descending on us with complimentary Tapas, Meatballs, Chorizo and Cheese kebabs, Kebas with Feta, olive and Tomato. Then came Paella and Patas Bravas. All in all a really tasty start to an evening, and along with several “locals” we knew (we should stay at home more!) it contributed to an extremely pleasant way to spend a couple of hours of the early evening

Nowt as good as Free Tapas

Nosing around (as you do) we noticed that further along from the bar is a built in booth with sound  mixer equipment, and they apparently have a resident DJ, with music on Friday and Saturday nights. The Downside of this however is that from some point or other on Friday and Saturday they become “strictly over 21”, which seems to me cutting out a large chunk of the audience who would most appreciate a DJ.

Upstairs they have more tables and a separate Dance Floor area

I don’t suppose the Free Tapas will be on every night but we can hope.

Casa De Moor is at 60, Heaton Moor Road Stockport SK4 4NZ and can be contacted on: 0161 432 9999

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Put your card behind the bar ? in the 21st Century?

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We went into one of our favourite local watering holes on Tuesday Night; ordered our usual lock_down“round” and normally it is put onto a “tab” for payment at the end of the visit, however on this occasion Jools was asked to “put her card behind the Bar”. This apparently was a new policy because the establishment has been having an “unpaid bill” problem and decided this was the best way to solve it.

We were assured that there was no reflection on us, that is a policy and everyone would have to do so if they wanted a tab! (there was only one other table in the place at his time, however, subsequently some ladies came in ordered food and drink, and went and sat at a table without paying, so presumably they got a tab!)
Now I remember this being common in wine bars etc. in the 1980’s & 90’s (yes I am that old!), but hang on, this is a another millennium.  Jool’s initial reaction was to simply leave and go elsewhere, but we did reflect that this was a place we frequent and like, (and good places in the “sticks” seem to be getting fewer and further), so after making our feelings known I lodged a card, being mine, it wasn’t worth a lot anyway.
The more we thought about this policy, the more we considered that it was not so much a bad idea as an appalling one, from our view, but even more so from the viewpoint of the establishment, which was, by taking a payment card off customers, making itself liable not just for anything that happened whilst the card was in their possession, but also for anything that went wrong afterwards. Just think if payments were subsequently wrongly deducted, or if the user suffered identity theft the first reaction would be “the card never leaves my sight.., er wait a minute last week when I went to **** they took the card behind the bar”
Our reaction has been that we now pay for stuff here at the point of purchase, meaning that where in the past we might go back and order more, now we don’t. It certainly makes us feel a lot less “warm and cuddly” about the place, we are clearly not “valued regulars” but potential “hit and runners”!  (Trade figures suggest that people on a tab spend 30% – 50% more than those “paying as they go along”)
Discussing this with people since, most have reacted more strongly than we did, one colleague said “nobody other than me gets their hands on my card” and when I consider this I note that, when he is taking card sale from customers he won’t handle their card, getting them to put it into the machine themselves. (this is probably overkill but we see his thinking).
The staff at our local bank branches were insistent  that you should  “never do this”, as it was breaking the terms of your agreement with your card issuer.
barclaycards_view
Talking to Barclaycard they state clearly that  you should never part with your card, and this seems to be the view across all the Card issuers.
The Independent newspaper did an article about this some time ago entitled ” 
So why are they doing this, when it seems so rash?
You can easily understand where they are coming from, this venue has recently extended outside and it is easy to leave without ever coming back into the bar area. In common with many successful establishments they have very busy times when it is simply impossible to “keep an eye on everyone” 
 Whilst this measure will undoubtedly cut down on the problem, anyone seriously planning not to pay will still find a way of doing so (leave a stolen card?) and as for those who are simply distracted and forget, the majority would have sheepishly returned later and made payment – indeed over the years I have twice done this from a pub / restaurant myself, and once drove off from a Petrol Station and got home before realising I hadn’t paid, so I am not a stranger to returning embarrassed and “paying up”.
My thoughts though are they should consider the implications and loss of their business this policy means and come up with a better idea, and I am left wondering if technology cannot come up with a better system ? – any suggestions or ideas welcome!
We have have found quite a lot of restaurant & bar POS systems that have a variety of methods to enter and control bar tabs, however I can see if your existing system does not have that facility, changing it simply to control this is probably uneconomic
Cardsafe is a system of separate visible and lockable drawers into which customers cards can be put at the start of the tab and taken-out at the end of the order re-assuring the customer that “funny-business” is not really possible
There are a number of “apps” for iphone and android, most of these are US based and it is unclear how many of these actually apply to this particular issue, (several look to be more “ordering on-line” than keeping an open tab). there is a good US round-up review here: 
There are also apps like Clip and Dash, again though these seem to be either Antipodean or American, with much less available in Europe and specifically UK.
The one UK based system I found was from ensygnia but again this seems very much based on placing orders, (which I don’t think is the issue here) with payment control as a “bolt-on”, but it may be modular.
Any intrepid developers who want to find a field that is open for useful apps, this might be an idea, indeed why not offer a link-in to one or more of the new on-line payment systems, PAYG / SumUp / iZettle or perhaps the forthcoming Apple Pay?

However whatever solution may be best, it is certainly NOT sticking card in a wallet, behind a busy bar!

 

 

 

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Shimmy No More

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We recently logged into Shimla Pinks Website and got this message:

image

A real shame…

and one of the problems doing reviews is that things change, not just that places improve or deteriorate, Managements change, redevelopments and of course closures. This makes restaurant reviews a poor guide to what you will find today.

What we will do therefore is

make our reviews shorter, date them and have “top-up” articles as and when we re-visit somewhere, possibly an on-going story rather than a “point in time”

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Shimla Pinks – Manchester

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Shimla Pinks
View on Google Maps ★★★★★

Dolefield, Crown Square, Manchester M3 3HA
www.shimlapinksmanchester.co.uk

View on Google Maps

It makes you think, why? ***

We have always thought we knew our Indian and Asian Restaurants, but we discovered this one with some difficulty!

We had a customer who left us with a note of his requirements on the back of an A5 menu, we read and thought yum

BUT… the only clue we had was the above logo printed on the page, well come on that’s what the Web is about, quick Google and we’ll find it…. Half an hour later we have found a Shimla Pinks in Birmingham, then we find a website for two restaurants in Leicester and Nottingham, clearly it’s a chain, eventually on the basis that “John did not journey far afield” we find “Shimla Pinks in Crown Square in Manchester” (note here Jazz & Co – “Flash websites” might look, well, flash but they are not very search engine friendly.)

We like the ideas on the website and along with what we had seen on the “Gourmet Banquet” menu and decided to investigate, however being a Yorkshireman I had to first wait for the “Privilege Card” which I signed up for from the website, I mean even if the prices are low, a 15% discount, well…

The card came soon and last Sunday evening we went to Manchester, located our target and the troops headed inside whilst I went “to park” the car. Outside the restaurant there were three empty disabled parking spaces, but the other slots where taken, so I did a couple of round the block circles gradually getting further away, but the only spaces were disabled ones (plenty of them too! – I think disabled perking (sic) perhaps needs a re-think) Eventually I went into the NCP at Kendal Milne’s ( as I, sadly, still think of it!)

On return to the restaurant I found we had managed to find a nice relaxed seating area and drinks had appeared and a conversation with the waiters and two Indian gentlemen sitting alongside us was in full swing, oh yes and by the way Shimla Pinks has it’s own Car Park…

We decided against the Buffet Menu that was going on at the other end of the restaurant, as the Senior Management felt that having done some cooking and stuff on the occasional evening we don’t go out it was their due to have the food brought to them!

Not only that but they insisted on an upgrade from the merely Gourmet Menu to the Executive one (they claimed it looked nicer with fish and things on it – but I reckon they felt Executive more fitting to their status).

Nonetheless it was a good choice, we in fact had a discussion about what to order largely because we normally get lots of everything and have what we don’t eat as a take-away, even if we don’t get to finish it, our cats enjoy the less spicy bits! Shimla Pinks explained that they don’t do this with the banquets as you end up with little dishes galore, (I guess understandably, they don’t do it on the buffet either!) So we were advised that two portions would be adequate for us rather than three, but nonetheless we ordered extra paratha bread and rice with currants, nuts and cream

Papadoms to start were light and crisp, followed by a selection of Starters including Murgh Malai Tikka (Chicken marinated in cream & cheese and grilled in the tandoor) Fish Amritsar, Vegetable Pakoras, Cubes of homemade cheese with mint and fennel, Minced Lamb Kebab and Aloo Tikka. Unfortunately the Monster decided she liked all this rather than just the papadoms and rice she normally eats at Indian restaurants, this of course mean’t less for me.

We moved on to main courses and again a nice selection, C hooza Makhani, (tandoor grilled chicken in a tomato and and meat sauce), Chicken Nentara (Chicken Cubes in a spicy tomato, coriander, fenugreek sauce with spring onion and ginger), Harrey Masaley Ka Gosht, ( Lamb cubes in a wonderful sauce – look at the menu on the website for a less accurate description!), Prawn Rogan Josh (management’s fish fetish again but good anyway), with Aloo Gobhi Bhuna and Vegetable Jalfrezi, Paloo Rice and Naan. Plus of course the Shahi Pulao (£2.50) rice and Lachcha Paratha (£1.75) we had ordered originally. Again even the monster decided there were several things she liked here and tucked in, frankly the menu descriptions don’t help here, a bit more “cuddly spring lambs” and “ chirpy Easter chickens” might make her think twice.

The Shahi Pulao rice (The finest of Basmati rice cooked with pure flavours of saffron and kewra then replenished with fresh cream and dried fruit and nuts ) was applauded, but all in all everything was good or better, nicely presented with prompt but not too quick and very pleasant service.

The highlight of the meal however was that rather than an Indian sweet ( I am not a pudding man, and generally prefer the savouries anyway) you get an option of a liqueur!!

The Gourmet Menu cost £14.95 and the Executive menu is £19.95

The low point of the evening came when we got back to the car and had to pay a ransom of £13.50 to NCP to get it free, honestly I only wanted a parking space I hadn’t intended to buy Manchester

*** The two Gentleman whom we spoke to before we had our meal turned out to be Jazz Pannum and his father. Mr Pannum Senior is the owner of Shimla Pinks and from them we learnt that the name is a reference to the Indian equivalent of our “Sloane Ranger” and went along with the idea of blending the contemporary with the traditional, which you can see is very much their style with food prepared to high standards and modern standards of décor and ambiance.

Mr Pannum had started out in Scotland and established a chain of eight Shimla Pinks restaurants across the country although now the other restaurants are operated separately and only the Manchester branch is directly run by the family. The spectacular Bar is shown below:

Saving the Best for last it seems that within a few weeks the Shimla Pinks in Crown Square will be closing…..

But a new and even more spectacular Shimla Pinks will be opening nearby, we will keep you updated

*For anyone who is interested this item has been written using OpenOffice “writer” software and posted directly from that program using an extension created by Sun into our WordPress Blog, (way easier than Ms Office)

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Zuri – Bar, Hazel Grove

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Zuri is a bar that is related to Benvenuti Ristorante in Hazel Grove in Stockport. In our opinion these are really chalk and cheese, Zuri is an up-to-the-minute Bar with a function room above, nicely furnished and showing the best of Italian Style (try the antipasto – it is to die for! ) Benvenuti, is an Italian Restaurant of the old age, reminding us of the first wave of Italian Immigration in the 1950’s. The food is not bad in any way, merely lacking the style and taste that most of us associate with a modern Italian Restaurant.

18/7/22 – Zuri is no more – it closed some years ago, and has been replaced by a series of nightclub type bars that are of little interest to us.
Currently it is “Tahiti”, but judging for the piles of timber outside we assume it is not opening
Strangely however Benvenuti across the way has seemingly be re-invigourated, , and whilst the decor is still olde worlde style Italian, the food on our visit in summer 2021 was excellent, more on this subject soon