Zam Zam Tandoori

Pakistani/North Indian style - Wilbraham Road, Chorlton

 

 £4 Special curry + rice or naan

Chicken on chapatti

May 2012
Returned for the special. £4 for curry: lamb, chicken, chicken kofta or veg + rice or naan (pictured). In the past this has been a bit weak compared with the 'proper' dishes - a bit bland and gloupy. But the guy serving offered it 'spicy' and did a decent job pepping up the sauce into something tasty and the lamb was a decent cut and tasted of sheep rather than miscellaneous red meat. The rice was delicious - having that whiff of pilau (cloves, cinnamon etc -) without being over powering. It's a great deal at £4 for the meal

April 2012
Truly great Nihari. On the bone which was unusual. Seems if Taz is around this place runs like clockwork. Nihari, naan, daal marsh side dish was £8.50, but the business. as good as anywhere. I just wish there was a bit more consistencey.


December 2011
Popped in for the chicken kofte and naan for £4. Can't argue with this 'special'.


August 2011
Ventured in for a chicken kebab - pictured. Everything was nicely cooked but the flavour on the meat wasn't great. It tasted like a whole packet of tandoori powder had been sprinkled all over it and that was about it - making it rather too strong and claggy. I didn't recognise any staff - perhaps the usual guys are on holiday. It didn't ruin the kebab which at £3, all cooked in a tandoor, is great value - it's just so easy to fix the details why not? - Salad is still not great here, it's all about the meat.


May 2011
Went in for a bit of a feed today (pictured) and left a bit disappointed unfortunately. The chops were very small and thinly cut – making a main portion of 5 not nearly enough, plus they were covered in too much, marinade which made them a bit pasty. The chicken kofta was drenched in thick tomato based sauce which wasn’t great either – the stuff of really generic takeaways. The chana daal had been given an almost identical treatment . The fresh naan were excellent as always. For £15 it just wasn't quite there.  I think we’re going to have to revert to the grills and ‘special’ curries only police – karahi gosht, nihari etc.  It’s a pretty good policy anywhere really. We still like it here – just not quite up to the usual standards – and as seems to often be the case, this happens when the main guy, Taz isn’t around.


April-May 2011
We use this place quite a lot for takeaways but rarely write them up. Often as they're end of the night drunken ones, so its hardly fair. The food's always tasty, but not short on oil - which may put a few people off, though not us. The chops, daal and karahi are probably the stand out dishes.  Decent Nehari too. It's usually good and sometimes fantastic. The bread is always fresh from the tandoor and excellent.

Jan 2010
I think there's a bit of a pattern with Zam Zam - the grills are good. The curries are tasty but a bit oily. - So evidenced by my table top every time I have a takeaway. Whether you're into this style or not is very much up to you. If you're feeling the January over indulgence perhaps stick to the chicken tikka - if you don't give a monkeys about leaving a pool of orange oil on your plate knock yourself out - it's good stuff and the traditional dishes, such as Nihari and Karahi, are well up there with the best.


August '10 Good & Bad
Bad
Awful chicken shawarma/doner. The dry, tiny crumbs of chicken had been in the warmer too long and were almost entirely covered in spice powder, which added to the dry sensation on the palate. Why we didn't get fresh slices from the meat that was actaully cooking I've no idea - which also begs the question when was this meat first cooked? Presumably yesterday - as the 'current' chicken shawarma was untouched. Not good at all. Worst kebab since Monsoons stopped churning this sort of rubbish out - which was also mitigated by being drunk and grateful. - Tandoor chapatti is always good, I won't pretend otherwise.

Good
£4 Zam Zam special - curry and 'carb of your choice' (not their words). Two of us went for lamb curry, chicken kofta curry and a couple of chapattis (rice or naan also available - all done in the clay oven, OK not the rice). The curries were slightly generic but definitely on the good side of generic - this is a bit of a bargain, particularly since the standard menu curries are now over £6 without accompaniment. The chicken kofta was meaty, plentiful, hot and tasty - the lamb possibly lacking a little in meat content but that's often the case. It's as near to a curry cafe experience as there is in the Chorlton-ish area. I suppose the ultimate compliment is that if Zam Zam were in town we'd still come.


July '10
Good chicken kebab, though somewhat marred by too much sauce turning the chapatti into a bit of a sloppy mess. It happens sometimes. 

April '10
Zam Zam Special - £4 for lamb curry, chicken curry, veg curry or chicken kofta curry with a rice or naan. This is about as near to a Curry Cafe experience you can get on this side of town. It's a good deal, the chicken kofta was probably the pick of the bunch. Future visits have found the chicken and lamb curries to be pretty much generic 'takeaway' type stuff and not all that inspiring.

Only open a month at the time of our first visit Zam Zam found its feet pretty quickly, producing some of the best Pakistani kebabs (and curries) around these parts. Tadoori Naan, freshly and well grilled meat, good salad and sauces and pleasant service make this place hard to beat. There are a number of freshly cooked curry dishes and starters availble - which are excellent also - nihari, karahi gosht (on the bone) and the tarka daal stand out. Zam Zam is a welcome addition to centre of Chorlton. However, numerous visits since our first haven't completely settled our minds, when it's great it's great - when it's not great it's only alright. This usually depends on whether the main man, Taz, is at the tandoor or not - which makes scoring quite difficult, however we'll go with our initial good impressions.

Scores out of 10
Meat 9.0
Bread 9.5
Salad/Sauces 8.0
Service/Setting 8.0
Average 8.6