Kushoom Koly - Heaton Moor

T 0161 4329841
A 6-8 Shaw Rd, Heaton Moor, Stockport, SK4 4AE

Visit arranged by: Dave Marchbank Smith
Review by: Martin Noble

The six strong Curry Council party entered the Kushoom Koly in Heaton Moor. The ‘Kush’, as it is fondly referred to by the locals, has a reputation for being a very busy restaurant. This could mainly be due to the high number of drunken revellers leaving the nearby pub’s and bars, seeking solace from a Sheek Kebab or a late night extension to their drinking session.

The Stockport Curry Council were seated at the window. This is a usual trick for some of the less busy curry houses which we sometimes frequent. The owners rightly assume that our manly physiques, chiselled good lucks and deep conversations will draw in passing gangs of females hoping to catch a glimpse of our keen eye over their Korma.

Curry organiser Dave excitedly alerted the group that he had just spotted Council member Jordan squinting and frantically reaching across the table. Jord had spotted the mid week special. He grabbed the one sided fluorescent laminated plastic menu faster than Vanessa Feltz at Wongs Chinese All-You-Can-Eat Chinese buffet.

The Udin brothers Sami, Abbo & Faruk

The Kush offer a mid week special, which is priced at £11. This included poppodums, a shared starter, along with a choice of selected main courses accompanied with either rice or chips. The deal also came with the pièste de résistance offering of a Peach Melba Ice Cream dessert. How could we refuse such a princely feast at such reasonable cost ?

Poppodums were served and the Council happily polished these off.

The next item on the agenda was the, strangely titled and un-indian sounding starter, ‘Sami’s Platter’. Sami is one of Udin brothers, the proprietors of the 'Kush', and rather aptly has a starter named after him !

Winfield volunteered himself to carefully dissect the platter and divide equally amongst Council members (as it all came heaped on one large plate).

Onion Bhajis were included, along with a Sheek Kebab and a strange looking chicken tikka. The tikka came accompanied with a slightly unnatural looking orange curry sauce.

The sauce glowed with a bright looking shade of orange that had the Council immediatley comparing to Dale (sorry Dave) Marchback Smith’s skin this evening. DMS had arrived late to the curry after he had stopped off for an early evening sunbed session at Priestnall Leisure Centre.

The starters were enjoyed by all but lost some points on their presentation. The shared platter had to be eaten on our used plates, which still had splinters of poppodums and mango chutney trailing across them.

This family ran restaurant was established in 1971 and offered service that was also slightly behind the times. The service was slightly slow, with one of the waiters (or owners) relaxing near to the kitchen while our plates and empty bottles of Cobra quickly stacked up on the table.

A variety of main courses were delivered. These were of an average standard. The group, after sampling each other curries, concluded that they may have all come from the same heavily tomato based sauce (which varying levels of spices added for the hotter dishes such as Madras). A shared portion of rice was served again on a large plate.

The meal was topped off with a rather cooling Peach Melba Ice Cream. This was a truly unique offering and was hailed as an extra special treat to perfectly finish off our meal.

The Council could not complain about the meal, which was delivered to us at such a low cost. However, it was felt that certain things, such as attention to detail, clean starter plates, additional cutlery, were somewhat lacking. These things come with little or no extra cost to the restaurant and could have easily improved the overall dining experience.

Before leaving, we drank our complimentary coffee and munched on our chocolate mint. We then casually left the restaurant and Council Member Paul Day caught a glimpse of the rival Indian Restaurant, The Heatons Tandoori, across the road. Day swore that the Heatons was the next venue of his choice.

Food 6/10
Service 4/10
Atmosphere 6/10
Value for money 8/10
Originality 5/10

Overall 5.8/10