The last couple of months have been extremely hard work, setting up a new business is time consuming and stressful, but ultimately rewarding. Now some semblance of normality is returning to our lives, such as going out last night for our first curry, other than a dodgy takeaway, in many months.
Also yesterday I was invited by Civitas to take part in a debate about the European Union in Liverpool in October. Unsurprisingly I will be speaking against our continued membership. I don't know yet what brave individual will be speaking for. When I say that I'm not being cocky about my debating skills, more that finding somebody to defend the EU these days is a little like finding a Nazi in Germany in the immediate post war years.
Another sign of normality returning is that I have, this morning, joined a new political party, the Independent Libertarians. If you value individual liberty and freedom then please visit their website, you may be pleasantly surprised.
It's a definite sign of the times to me Chappati Corner, a very good one too.
I went to school in Rusholme, Manchester. In my first year there was one curry house, a sari shop and an Asian bank. By the time I was in sixth form we were having samosas and seek kebabs for lunch, today it is known as The Curry Mile.
For a few years Rusholme ruled supreme and you could get fantastic, reasonably priced curries. Then in my view, something went wrong. The prices soared and the standards plumetted. The food was no longer unique to each particular restaurant and a similarity between most restaurants crept in. I've since been told that many of them now use mass produced jars of curry paste. Not good.
So a few years ago I started experimenting further afield and now, when I'm in Manchester, I go to Cheetham Hill, by far better than many of the restaurants in Rusholme but not the place to go for a romantic meal. Most of the best are cafes or takeaways with two or three tables. You won't usually get a pint to quaff either, it'll be Coke or the jug of water on the table. But the food is home cooked, excellent quality and fantastic value.
I took a great friend to my favourite on Wednesday before the FC United game, Chappati Corner on Cheetham Hill Road, a short walk from the wonderful Jewish Museum. The menu changes every day usually a lamb dish, a chicken dish and a vegetarian. When you're next in Manchester you must visit but be careful, it closes around 5-00pm.
If you are in Manchester in the evening and really want to go to a restaurant rather than a cafe I recommend Darbar on Wilmslow Road in Rusholme, near the Great Western Street junction. It's nowhere near as cheap as Chappati Corner but the food is fantastic.
Which leads me nicely into one of The Smiths' greate tracks, Rusholme Ruffians:
I don't tend to get paranoid about restaurant stories, the ones about how this or that restaurant was fined for some breach of hygiene regulations. I tend to work on experience, if it gives me Delhi belly I tend not to return. Indeed some of the best restaurants I came across on my travels were in Paraguay where there were no hygiene rules, the market ruled supreme, if you poisoned your customers they stopped going and you went bust. And it worked!
This story, from the Manchester Evening News, slightly concerned me however. If you care to read it the end of the article mentions Al Bilal restaurant in Rusholme being fined for breaches of hygiene regulations. Some months ago now I was in Manchester on UKIP business with Phil Griffiths, North West Chairman. Like me Phil is a curry fanatic so I took him to the curry mile and we ended up in Al Bilal. We did have some intestinal reaction the next day and I have not returned.
On Thursday night there was a programme on TV called 'Rogue Restaurants'. One of the dodgy ones featured was on Brick Lane. Mrs Beaman immediately declared that it would be The Clifton, sadly she was absolutely right. This is the place where I took a dozen UKIP members from the North West before last year's conference in East London. I have never had a reaction from The Clifton but promise not to take any other UKIP members to Indian restaurants of my choice.
It seems that passengers on a flight thought they were under an attack of poison gas by terrorists. The pilot landed in Belgrade and the plane was evacuated and searched. It transpires that the fumes were from a container of curry powder in the hold.
Imagine what kind of gas attack could be carried out if an Islamic fanatic were to eat the contents of the container then go on the rampage! Or for that matter a gang of fat lads after 18 pints followed by an Indian and a couple of pints of Cobra.
