Zumar - Sale

T 0161 973 2200
A Northenden Road, Sale, Cheshire, M33 3BR
E info@zumar.co.uk
W www.zumar.co.uk

April’s curry was arranged by Woody, who had again been recommended the Zumar restaurant in Sale by his work colleagues. The council were very suspicious at his choice, seeing as one of his previous recommendations, the Great Kathmandu in Didsbury did not live up to our expectations.

Zumar quotes itself as:- "A fantastic modern restaurant and bar serves from a British-Asian fusion menu. We do not only serve Indian cuisine - our dishes are prepared with a selection of spices from around Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Banglandesh, Sri Lanka and beyond) using fine, local produce where possible".

"Zumar offers a high level of attention to detail in every aspect of your meal. The kitchen is spotless and more in keeping with a 5 star hotel. There is a dedicated wine cooler and beer chilling system that ensures your drinks are served at exactly the right temperature".

The Council have very high expectations and hoped that the restaurant would live up to this bold statement on their website.

Zumar is a modern restaurant with a relaxed environment just outside of Sale town centre. There was a nice ambience in the modern restaurant but the taste in non-indian music was not to the councils taste, classic hits from Travis, Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson were a distraction and are usually unheard of in an Indian restaurant. Zumar markets itself as a "British Asian Fusion" restaurant, so this may explain their choice of "Western" music.

The curry council were very pleased to see the return of Martin Noble after his recent 2 month sabbatical. There was still one notable absentee Paul Day who has not attended a single curry in 2009! The council are considering putting the PD up in front of the council for very poor attendance. Woody did send PD’s apology by text in which it stated he wanted to save his money for an extra dance in Bremen!

The waiter was very attentive and took the drinks order very swiftly. Unfortunately, to Woody’s disappointment, they had run out of cold 660ml Kingfisher bottles. The waiter offered to bring two 330ml bottles instead.

In true curry council fashion we ordered poppodum’s and a selection of chutney trays. The chutney trays were varied in choice but however lacking in cabbage, sweetcorn & mayonnaise - a favourite of some curry council members which can usually be found in the more traditional British Indian Restaurant (BIR).

The ordering of the starters and main meals took about 30 minutes due to Jord asking the waiter for a description of every single dish on the menu before eventually choosing something different with a "cheese" starter.

This caused several problems for the waiter who then took the order for the main meals, which included Jalfrezi, Balti Chicken Tikka, Chicken Madras and 2 Red Fort delicacies, 2 Naan, 1 chips 3 plain rice and 1 mushroom rice (halway through choosing the main meals, Bean decided to change his main course and asked the waiter to remove his first choice. This added to the confusion).

The starters arrived which with the majority of people going for the mixed starter, with its taste and presentation being very good. The only small criticism would be that onion bhaji could have been bigger and the kebab was lacking in the usual spice. Jord and Andy decided both had mixed opinions of their starter, which was made with Indian cheese, as it was not quite to their usual tastes. The Chicken Chaat starter was also sampled (photo below) and given the thumbs up.

We all ordered another round of drinks (small 330ml bottles of Kingfisher). Bean, who was not driving, asked for another 660ml bottle which arrived warm. The Zumar website boasts that drinks are served “at exactly the right temperature”. We wondered why this statement did not apply to the bottled beers?

The main discussion point of the night was about the lack of current reviews on the website and a vote went out whether we should continue to carry out our restaurant reviews. The decision was unanimous with everyone agreeing it was a vital element of the website.

The main meals arrived with the additional main course (Jalfrezi) which Bean had previously asked the waiter to remove (but thankfully this did not appear on the bill).

The size of the portions looked to be the biggest the council have ever witnessed and with the extra curry, a side portion of salad and extra chips (which came late) it all looked a bit over bearing.

Bean and Andy were some what disappointed with their choice of main course (The Red Fort Delicacy). The lads noticed that the menu stated that the Red Fort Delicacy contained 'pieces of meat' and had previously asked the waiter if the dish could include some prawns in the "mix" as well as the standard lamb or chicken.

The dish was sadly missing the requested additional prawns. The waiter then brought the king prawn separately and served it quiet late.

Overall the majority people were pretty happy with the standard of their curries with only one minor complaint, e.g. the madras was not tomatoey enough (is that possible?).

The restaurant was very modern and the food presentation was of a high standard.

The bill came with a plate full of Ferrero Rocher's which was a very nice change to usual mint imperials.

CurryCouncil Rating
Food 8/10
Service 6/10
Atmosphere 7/10
Value for money 8/10
Originality 7/10

Overall 7.2/10