Gurkha Grill

Really disappointed by the Gurka Grill on my last visit. Not because of the food which was very good but because of the terrible service we received. Our curries were both very tasty and spiced correctly. The nan was fresh and the rice plentiful but we left feeling very deflated because of our treatment by the manager. When we arrived rather than being greeted warmly by the waiting staff we were rudely told they did not have a booking for us. I politely explained that I had sent an e-​mail to book a table for Friday night over a week ago. The manager came out and argued with me and said he had received no such e-​mail and said it was our fault. I asked if he could let us have a table anyway as it didn’t look busy, only to be told that it would be too difficult as they were fully booked. We would have left there and then but we had a voucher to use so I argued the toss and he begrudgingly gave us a table. To add insult to injury the restaurant was only ever half full all evening so they were lying about being fully booked. Kind of got the impression that they didn’t want to honour our voucher so a complaint has gone to Groupon. Note to Unilocalers don’t purchase a deal for the Gurka Grill.

Four stars given as Unilocal rates that as «Yay! I’m a fan» and when it comes to the Gurkha Grill, I am a fan. Admittedly, I’ve not eaten in anywhere near enough Nepalese restaurants to claim to be an expert, although I have eaten at the Hungry Eye in Windsor which once saved a really boring visit to the area.
Anyway, I digress. I went on a Wednesday night at about 9pm, and it was still around 30% full which is always a good sign. The menu is fairly big, however as I pointed out to my friend this is simply because they also cater to the stereotypical curries as well as the traditional Nepalese food. I always think in places like this you just have to try their traditional dishes, and thats why for starter I went with Momo’s. For those who dont know, they are like little dumplings that are seasoned and then steamed and served with a spicy dipping sauce. Lovely they were too.
For mains, I went with the traditional Marich Kukhura (Pepper Chicken) which came in a creamy tomato based sauce, and you could definitely taste the pepper in the sauce too. I accompanied it with Rice & Naan because Im edgey like that. There was just the right amount of chicken in the meal, and they were fair size pieces too.
Other good things to add, the interior is really nice. Its a place you can take your partner and she doesnt give you a stern look as it does look really nice inside. I have no idea why theres a little iron fence round the outside of the restaurant, it just makes it awkward for people who want to check out the menu in the window.
That aside, I had really good food, service was good (we was warned that the Momo’s would take 20minutes when ordering them which was a nice touch, rather than just have us wait wondering where our starter was) and it was at a reasonable price too. My tip, if you’ve never had Nepalese before, go for something off their traditional/​specials page… you can have a vindaloo at another place. Open those taste buds and embrace the culture

I had a fantastic time here very recently when two business partners and I came for a meal. We had a very pleasant time. A very comfortable atmosphere, friendly service and above all… The food was F****** delicious!
A medium/​large restaurant, with a small bar at the front and numerous cultural art sprawled out over all the walls. A very interesting looking restaurant.
We ended up ordering a large selection of different dishes so we could pick and choose what we fancied. Everything was god damn perfect! I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’ve never tasted a cuisine as well prepared as this.
Overall a must try if you’re looking for somewhere to eat while you’re in the area. just try not to overstay your welcome as we did. They’re too kind to kick you out.

Really nice food at a reasonable price to.

I’ve been here plenty of times with friends and family and I must say it is one of the best places to eat Nepalese food in Didsbury. I always receive a friendly welcome, the waiters are well-​knowledged in the dishes and the prices are competitive.
Would recommend!

I was excited to experience the Gurkha Grill from all the positive words here, and by a couple of friends recommendations. Sadly our visit just didn’t do it for me. The visit was later in the evening, and they may have been winding service down for the night, maybe we hit them on the wrong night?
Service was very erratic. Indeed two of our three entrees were initially incorrect. Rather than address the mistake, our server tried to argue we had actually ordered the items he brought to the table. The conversation started to take the tack that we didn’t know what we were talking about. He did back down when we pointed out, he hadn’t even brought what he claimed we ordered to the table. He had brought completely random dishes out to us. It was a rather comical affair. I did wonder if some Derren Brown mind trick was at play — «these ARE the curries you are looking for!». Thankfully a manager stepped in to address things after the debate became somewhat protracted.
The food was decent, but not mind blowing. We started by sharing a vegi plate and some paneer pakora, which was all a bit lackluster. The samosas oddly used paper thin filo, rather than a thicker heftier pastry. Some of the apps employed the completely useless presentation approach of putting things on top of thin shreds of lettuce. Thats a pet peeve of mine. Look, it doesn’t make it fancy, heck when the lettuce is sad, wilted and dieing under the heat of an app, it actually makes it less appealing.
Our correct entrees were better. A standout for me was the Chicken Chilli, which did pack some punch as advertised. Rice and naan were generous. Indeed the rice was especially well prepared, which I was a big fan of, seeing as its overlooked quite often.
Cleanliness was an issue for me. In addition to the previous diners cutlery under our table, I also found some of their food too. Ick. The gents bathrooms upstairs needed a *lot* of work too.
I thought the prices were fair and despite the meal falling way shorter of what I was hoping for I would come again. I love Nepali food, and that coupled with the other good reviews and the extensive menu, well I would give them a second shot if I was in the area.

Gurkha Grill is one of West Didsbury’s many lovely restaurants, and I’d highly recommend it. Yes, it’s Didsbury, so it’s smart, but I didn’t feel out of place wearing jeans and a t-​shirt.
The food and service are both fantastic. I’d definitely recommend this restaurant for veggies, as they have a diverse range of tasty veggie dishes, many involving chena (paneer) ranging from unfamiliar dishes like the extra spicy chena chille to the more familiar chena tikka masala. We went for the vegetarian set menu which was brilliant value at £12.95 each including rice, popadums, naan, 3 main courses and coffee. Of course meat eaters are well catered for too.
Happy hours are 5−7pm Monday to Thursday and 10.30pm — late every day, where you will get 15% off the bill.
If it’s good enough for Badly Drawn Boy (according to GG’s website Damon Gough often frequents the place) and the Guardian Good Food guide, then it’s certainly good enough for me.

I must say I find the above reviews of this restaurant very interesting indeed. A stalwart of the West Didsbury dining scene, the Gurkha Grill is often recommended to me by people who lived in Didsbury several years ago as students and also it seems to be a place often cited in the South Manchester reporter by people when asked what their favourite restaurant in Manchester is. It seems to me that it has a reputation that it built up a while ago and now doesn’t quite live up to expectations. I have to admit that I haven’t eaten in the restaurant for a while, so don’t feel I can fully comment on the service, but I have had take away a couple of times, and unfortunately I’ve been disappointed. I find it to be quite overpriced for what you actually get (the food is nice enough but there’s not a lot of it when you’re considering a bill of £20 upwards for 2 dishes and sides) and on both occasions I’ve been there has been something accidentally missing from the order, which is most annoying when you look at the receipt and you’ve paid for it too.

Poor service and a poor choice for my birthday meal. I booked to go here for my birthday, calling ahead like a good girl with the number of people attending. It was an odd number. No mention that this was a problem. We arrived, were acknowledged (not ‘greeted’) and shown to our table. It seemed strange to sit a large party right in the entrance near the smaller tables, but I was very hungry and had read good things about this restaurant. The table was several smaller ones put together and there wasn’t enough room for us all — I was told this was because i’d booked for an odd number of people. In the end my friend squeezed on the end of the table and we jigged things around so she had room for her plate — the restaurant was getting busy and we figured it was better to get ordered and laugh off what we hoped was a one off slip in service.
The waiter seemed annoyed to have to take our orders, impatient and unhelpful when I asked about different dishes. The food took ages to arrive, we received drinks orders in dribs and drabs. The food itself was nice. Not great, but nice. Not great value for money as it is a bit pricey compared to other similar (food standard) restaurants, but it tasted good and everyone seemed to like their dishes. Wanting to enjoy my birthday meal, I took my time eating and came back to a poppadom after my main meal — the plate was taken away from in front of me whilst I was in the middle of eating it. They could not have just asked if I was finished? The bill came, we paid, we left and there was no acknowledgement of us going. Thankfully, i had a great bunch of friends with me, enjoyed the food and am pretty tolerant when it comes to restaurant service… but I was really disappointed with this place and standard of service.
This place wants to be fancy but ends up being quite unwelcoming.

Tried it once. Rude service and big fuss made about Northern Irish bank notes. Took the manager to finally realise that N Ireland is indeed part of the UK. Numpties.

The Gurkha Grill has never disappointed me yet. The owners, Raj and Neil were employees in a restaurant of the same name in Nepal, which was championed as one of the best restaurants in Nepal at the time, so it comes as no surprise that their expertise is still enjoyed in the humbler surroundings of Didsbury.
The cuisine lies between Nepalese and Indian classics, the Indian ones being given a Nepalese twist in keeping with its name sake. I heartily recommend the Gurkha Grill Special: a half spring chicken marinated in typical Nepalese spices, then covered with a very mild sauce with a dash of white wine. It’s probably one of the most expensive dishes on the menu, and it’s still only £8.95. The staff are exceptionally courteous here too, and nothing is too much trouble. I can’t recommend it enough.

This is one of the WORST restaurants I have been to in a long time. If you would like to know why, continue reading. If not, to sum up: Expensive; crap service; and LONG wait for food.
The reason:
We were seated very quickly by the staff, but then ignored for 20 minutes. When finally apporached by a waiter, we were asked if we wanted popadoms. Our reply — Yes please!!. Two minutes later, we were asked if we wanted popadoms. Again, our reply — Yes please, but someone has already asked us. On the third time, with a different waiter yet again asking if we wanted popadoms, we simply said that someone has already asked us (just in case they brought us twice/​three times as many). Our waiter (at least I think he was our waiter as they all served different tables), then arrived with our popadoms, pinning them to the plate with his thumb. Yummy!!! Not the best way to serve paying customers I must say. We began to munch happily on them, but were still without dips. If you can imagine the same routine with the popadoms occuring with the dips, then you’re nearly there. It took the owner of the restaurant to bring the dips himself — some 10 minutes later. Not a good start at all.
When we finally came to ordering our meals, my girlfriend was told she could have the meal she requested at any other asian restaurant, as was told she would be getting something else. Wait a minute — I thought she was the one ordering? Without fuss, she agreed. It then took the best part of an hour before we finally got our meals (~55 minutes after the popadom fiasco). Not to mention the problems in between.
A couple on the table next to us recieved their meal as we ordered our mains. Their rice, however, ended up on our table around 10 minutes after they had recieved their main meals. Luckily we hadn’t touched it, thinking it would be theirs. It was then given to them without an apology from the waiter. 10 minutes later, a second order of food arrived at our table, destined for someone else. The waiter merely shrugged as if we had ordered the wrong thing, before rushing back, scooping up the Dahl and plonking it on someone else’s table. Now, the first mistake can be excused, but the second time looks like incompetance. Looks like?
On finishing our meals, the waiter gingerly tided up our table, listening into our conversations with great delight. When he had finally finished his ellaborate plate stacking (which wasn’t very ellaborate at all), a second waiter shoved the bill on the table within seconds. This was done without even asking for it. Did they want us to leave? Well, we did — and we didn’t leave a tip.
If you want Nepalese food, I recommend the Nameste Nepal further up the road. It is much cheaper, friendlier, and offers more drink options.
To conclude — what a pile of sh*t.

I’ve eaten here several times and the food has always been very good. It’s a ‘posh curry’ house but the atmosphere is relaxed and homely. The food is Nepalese and it carries quite a kick. Kathmandu down the road in West Didsbury is the same type of food but a cheaper alternative — I’d recommend that you visit both. If you like it hot, try the Gurkhali chicken dish. The Gurkha beer they sell is great too.

One of several Nepalese restaurants in West Didsbury, the Gurkha Grill should be on your hit list if you’re in the area and up for a curry or tandoori (and is a cut above most of Rusholme).
I’ve been a few times now and constantly enjoy the night.
If you do take a trip here then I’d suggest choosing from the Gurkha specials or Nepalese dishes rather than the standard curries (in recipe rather than taste) you can pick up everywhere. Lots of dishes prepared with garlic and ginger and many with cream. They also do a (rather expensive) lobster curry, although I guess you would have to ring in advance for this dish.
My current favourite is the Malai spring chicken which contains cheese (!) cashew nuts, cream & butter (with a couple of regional spices thrown in). No good for a diet that one but so what when it tastes so good, I’m not at all concerned.
On the cheese tip they also do a cheese nan bread which is something you don’t usually come across, but I guess it’s only like cheese on toast or a cheese sandwich regimental food throughout the globe!
Talking of regimental, I was told a story about this place (by a friend and Gurkha Grill regular) in which a few ‘cheeky’ characters decided to leave after their meal without paying. Unfortunately for them, the chefs were ex Gurkhas (hence the name!) and made it clear that the bill would have to be settledwhich it promptly was.
Aside from such flexing of muscles the chefs really know how to cook food (carving out their trade in Nepal and Dubai) it’s simply delicious and served by some of the warmest staff around.
Again whilst typing this up I’m salivating over my QWERTYand I think another visit this week has to be on the cards.

The Gurkha Grill is located in Manchester and is a Nepalese Resturant the food is really nice i have never tried Nepalese food before and I must admit I have been missing out! I really like The Gurkha grill as the staff are so friendly and can’t do enough for you, the prices for the menu are very resonable so if you want to try something a little bit different try Gurkha Grill.

Leafy West Didsbury is home to this Nepalese curry house and one of my favourite places for grub. The place is tiny and cozy and the service is non nonsense and efficient. It serves Indian beers and juices and the standard of cooking is very good, in spite of rock bottom prices. Distinctively studenty in atmosphere, The Gurkha Grill is one of those Didsbury icons nowadays and a great place to just chill and chat the night away