The award-winning food critic Jay Rayner has praised Maida Grill House on Liverpool Street for its ‘great’ and ‘cheap’ curries.
Rayner recently visited the curry house and tried their rice-and-three option, smoky lamb chops, samosas and other cheap dishes at the grill.
When the Observer food critic visited the takeaway he immediately noted its “clever location”.
He said: “Across the road is a big Holiday Inn forever full of weary travellers looking for something to eat which isn’t a badly made caesar salad. To one side is a huddle of newbuild apartment blocks, home to myriad Just Eat accounts only an itchy finger tap away.
“On the other is a huge industrial estate, which provides some of their traditional Asian customer base.”
The grill is named after Maida Kosar, “who is to be found both at the glass-fronted counter and in the kitchen, alongside her husband, Hussein,” according to Rayner.
Before Rayner dug into the food, he stated that Maida Grill is “both good and cheap, and great because it’s cheap”. He said: “Obviously cheap isn’t everything, but in these days of ever-spiralling costs, sometimes it really is something.”
According to the Guardian writer, a portion of Monday’s tarka dal will set you back £5, Wednesday’s Keema potato will cost you £6.50 and Friday’s lamb biryani amounts to £8.50.
Rayner’s total bill amounted to £32.50. This includes four smoky lamb chops for £6.50 with “the meat cut thin so it pulls away easily from the bone.” Rayner also tried the chunky pieces of chicken tikka breast which are “bursting with spice” and the lamb karahi paired with “thick, onion-sweet gravy, glistening with the best flavoured fats.”
The main focus of the review honed in on Maida’s £8.50 ‘rice and three’ dish, which is a special dish in Greater Manchester’s curry scene that prioritises affordability.
Rayner described: To the west is the keema curry with peas, the lamb mince as sweet as the karahi. To the north is a big spoonful of chicken masala in a thick tomato-based sauce. Finally, to the east there’s the deep yellow tarka dal.
“It is a plate of profound care and nourishment.”
Although Maida Grill House only opened a couple of years ago it has continued to grow in popularity for its satisfying dishes, with Rayner noting “the rice and three had done for me, it will do for you too.”
The takeaway house has recently been nominated as a finalist for the first ever Manchester Curry Awards 2024. Maida Grill House was nominated amongst the Salford curry houses Karahi Wok, Tandoori Delights, Rottu Kadai Dosa and Shahi Masala.
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