Kabana

Address: 69 Thomas St, Manchester M4 1LQ
Tel.: 0161 835 2447
Keema kebab, salad, naan: £3
Rice-and-three: Under £5


Kebabs shouldn't just be for messy drunks at 2am.  Luckily, Kabana (a rice-and-three place tucked down a Northern Quarter alley) recognises this, and serves up a keema kebab that would go unappreciated by lagered-up lads on their way back from a night out.


Kabana's keema is packed with spices: cumin seeds and chilli skins will get stuck in your teeth.  It also doesn't contain any of the gristly bits that squeak as you bite down on them, unlike the many other kebabs I have sampled elsewhere.  Furthermore, they are charcoal-grilled.  You can watch the chefs do it, should you not be trying to listen in on the clientele's possibly criminal conversations.  Best of all, it's served on a thick and pillowy naan that soaks up the keema's juices (and how juicy it is) and any of the yoghurt and chilli sauces you've ladled on.  The naan valiantly avoids disintegrating despite how long it will take you to work your way through the, count 'em, three keema kebabs you're given for £3.  This cafeteria-style hole-in-the-wall, inhabited by the dodgier members of society and containing only plastic picnic benches, serves up the best-value dinner or lunch I've yet seen.