Trifter

An Astonishing Sight

They say that there are more Indian restaurants in England than there are in India. Whether that is a fact or not, a short walk down Wilmslow Road in Rusholme, near Manchester, would lead you to the conclusion that it must be fact. Emerging from the car park behind a supermarket in that road, on a cold Saturday evening in January; my girlfriend and I were confronted with one of the most astonishing sights that you could probably wish to see in England.

Las Vegas or Wigan Pier?

The landscape of this north-country town was awash with neon lights. Although you could draw some comparisons with Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, the chill night air reminded you that you were not in Nevada ! Instead, you could have been forgiven for thinking that you were in an amusement arcade, on a pier in any major English seaside resort. Could this be Wigan pier, I thought to myself ? What Monica and I had come across, much to our delight, was The Curry Mile. A veritable montage of extravagantly-lit curry restaurants, all within a 500-yard stretch of one street.

Overwhelming Variety

As we slowly walked along this Mancunian Eastern-oasis, surveying each of the forty-odd restaurants located there, we were both excited and amazed at the same time. Many of the restaurants employed a friendly front man, whose job it was to entice passers-by into their own establishment. The range and abundance was simply overwhelming ! Given that Monica and I are not the most decisive of couples, we had a major problem. How on earth were we to decide where to eat ?

Whilst we continued walking, and talking ourselves into greater confusion through choice, a group of about ten friends raced by, chattering as they went in excitement that mirrored ours. I heard one girl say, breathlessly, as she jumped and twisted in the air to address her pals, “Who knows where they want to eat ?” I didn’t hear the responses but, I imagined they would have a nightmare trying to get ten people to agree, in the face of such variety.

Without Comparison

Since returning home from that incredibly different experience, I have discovered that Wilmslow Road has had a “curry-house” since the sixties but, it wasn’t until the early eighties that the Curry Mile began to take shape. Now, with over 65,000 diners a week spicing up their lives here, in this concentrated array of restaurants and take-aways, it claims to be without comparison in England.

Indeed! Well worth a visit… unless, of course, you’re indecisive!