delhi2go

Oldham St. NQ, Manchester

 Rice & 3 - chickpeas, lamb & chicken

October 2011
Formerly Tastemaster's, delhi2go has arisen in the same spot with some of the same staff. Appearance-wise it's from another era. Gone are the grime and hand-written, star-shaped, luminous signs. In their place are fancy new printed signs and menus, stark walls and splashes of colour (greeny yellow). It's about as much as I've ever seen a curry cafe look like a modern sandwich shop. Do I care? No.
One genuine addition is that there are curries and rice in containers, at the front - ready '2 go', so to speak. This is a big improvement - seeing the dishes is a big part of the experience in rice & 3 type places and food mysteriously appearing from the back doesn't inspire confidence. So far, so good. As a first visit Rice&3 seemed the logical choice - especially since there was no sign of the other advertised dishes - no ready marinaded kebab skewers in the chiller, for instance. The current offer is rice or naan and 3 curries for an introductory price of £3.95, apparently going up to £4.20 at some point.
I'll cut to the chase - the main disappointment was the portion size, a small quantity of rice was put on one side of the plate - rather than covering it, which occurs everywhere else. This was followed by spoonfuls of mostly sauce being poured into the rest of the dish. And when I say mostly sauce I mean it - surely chickpeas aren't such a valuable commodity that a portion has to be restricted to approximately five individual peas? The other issue was that the curry sauces all mingled, with no rice to block their progress – making it difficult to distinguish any individual flavours. This was one of those unique occasions with very little filler or killer. In fact possibly the smallest rice&3 I've ever had.  Now - the flavours were good. The principle ingredients of the 3 curries were all well cooked and the rice was fluffy and tasty, with hints of clove and cardamom. So is the complaint really that I'm a greedy git? - Possibly. But I stand by that.  If you've got £4 for a curry-like snack this isn't a bad option, I can't see it being destination of choice for me though.
A slight aside is that delhi2go professes to do healthier food – look at the photo. Plenty of oil. I don’t personally care and accept it as part of the gig but don’t quite understand why places make these declarations and then do nothing about them.


8 comments:

  1. Delhi2go. I love the new squeaky clean look. The staff have uniforms which gives it a clean and unique character. They don't have the usual under new management yet same staff, seems like everything has been renovated including the staff which are friendly . I went with my friends, we ordered peri peri chicken with rice must admit was a very generous portion for the price. The rice with 3 curries was overwhelming with its curry portions, very tasty, especially the chillies just right, nice touch of garnish with the garlic and green chilli strips and corriander leaves .

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  2. I dropped in too last week and had my fill. Wasn't busy and I was served quickly. The food was well presented and if Im honest delicious. Liked the fresh clean look of the place. If the high standards are maintained I can see this place becoming rather popular. As for VFM - I still had change from a fiver!

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  3. There portion size for rice and curry has gone down, instead of the usual size box (which was just about the right size), they have super tiny one now, not worth going there any more.

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  4. Thanks very much for your feedback. We have not reduced the size of our rice/curry portions, but we do apologise if you were given a smaller sized container than you were used to.

    We have taken steps to ensure that all customers who purchase takeaway food in future receive it in containers of the right size.

    Delhi 2 Go Management

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  5. Had a special kebab dliverd last week will be ordering again soon,kebab was excelent.

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  6. I went to Delhi2go the other day and ordered the Peri Peri Chicken and I must say that I liked it a lot. The portion size was good, salad fresh and sauces were nice and tasty. My partner opted for a cheese burger which was not that great. Burger was a little dry for my liking. I think the best thing about this place is the fresh clean look. It is very inviting and the colours really work. Overall I was happy, and would not have gone to the previous Tastemasters outlet which was old and dingy. Will defo be coming back!

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  7. last night we had a aparty at my flat in NQ and when it came to food one of our friend recmended the peri peri chicken from delhi 2go we ordered 10 1/2peri peri chicken meals from delhi 2go it was OUT OF THIS WORLD . BEST PERI PERI CHICKEN IN TOWN AND VALUE FOR MONEY.

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  8. Curry is ok but very greasy.
    Staff not very friendly either.

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