Abdul’s

My first taste of Abduls was after a gig at the Deaf Institute, when we didn’t want to go to the subway nearby. As far as takeaways go, this place excels. It has the right kind of vibe, ample seating and enough drunk students to provide entertainment to go with the food.
On subsequent occasions to this particular Abduls after many a memorable piss-​up I’ve discussed the space-​time continnum and worm holes, the state of politics in the world, building inter-​planetary space bridges and other random things with my equally drunk friends.
I also realised that they do deliveries (from one of their branches) and ever since that day it has been the takeaway place of preference for my friends and me on football evenings and other shindigs.
OK, looks like I got just a little bit carried away there, but here’s what you might find useful.
They’re reasonably priced and the food is very delicious. My favourite drunk food from here is the chicken kebab or the chicken and seekh mix kebab. I definitely recommend asking for the pickle chillies for that tangy edge.
As always, I hope they continue their excellent work of feeding those late-​nighters making that transition from hungry to hungover!

Abdul’s is a pretty standard go-​to place for when you’ve had a few pints too many and get a strong craving for some grub to hold your belly over until you can get home and cram in half a pizza. On Friday and Saturday evenings you can see the line of drunk people forming a half-​orderly queue waiting for their grub. I’ve only come here drunk anyways, and usually when you’re in that tipsy mode every kind of food tastes fan-freakin’-tastic. Not so much with Abdul’s.
The guys behind the counter are friendly and all, so I won’t complain about that, but the food left me wanting for better. I got myself a lamb kebab, and from just the smell of it my mouth was drooling. When I bit into it, I got a good kick of spices and delicious flavour. As I chewed though… and chewed… and chewed some more… I realised that, wow, this lamb was really over-​cooked and dry. I had to straight-​up struggle with that kebab before I could finally get it down. Great flavour plus beef jerky texture doesn’t make a good combination in a kebab.
Based on the food alone, I’d say this is a 2-​star joint, but with good service and assuming that my kebab was a fluke, I’ll bump it up to 3. I’m hoping that it was a new cook that erred my kebab, and that they aren’t usually that way… I’ll be going back eventually to give it another go, but if it’s the same again, I’ll have to find a different kebab shop to frequent.

Vegetarians, check this out, Abdul’s onion baji, two of the chunky buggers in a tray with loads of salad and lashings of sauces to your taste all for £1.50. If this ain’t enough u can wrap it all up in a nan bread for a lil bit more. An wash it down with a cold beer from Kimji’s next door. If it’s a sunny day, eat it across the road in All Saints park. Win win win.

My ties to Abdul’s lies in the rolling out of Trof/​Deaf Institute around the corner. It’s the in your face I’m a take away front, that means I daren’t ever try handle it in daylight.
Nevertheless it’s a light, hygienic, open spaced take away with a lot of dining space to allow you to wrestle with your kebab to your heart’s content. I’ve only ever been in a little bit intoxicated so can’t vouch for um quality of food per se, but the chips do the job and my mate’s burgers always keep her happy so no complaints here. A take away that does it’s job.

Last week before a swim at the Aquatics Centre I realised that I was seriously lacking energy. A portion of chips, a Mango Rubicon and a quick sit down in Abduls later and I was set to go.
This says a lot about Abduls. It is the only Manchester takeaway that I would choose to visit in the daytime. It is always clean (although the member of staff eating a kebab whilst frying my chips was probably breaking some rules somewhere), the food is always piping hot, the veggie burgers are tasty and in this particular branch there are plenty of tables.
I’m not quite sure chips and fizzy pop were quite the right choice for a pre-​swim snack (my belly was not thanking me after a couple of lengths), but if you’re looking for reasonable fast food in Manchester (perhaps as a post-​swim or post-​night-​out snack) then you could do a lot worse than Abduls.

AAAAAAARGGHHHHH Abduls. This incarnation of the devil of fast food takeouts is probably the biggest one on Oxford road, with a huge foyer with lots of silver seats and tables coupled with a huge counter serving abdul’s monotonous masses of kebab foodstuffs. I shouldn’t be so harsh, lots of folk like Abduls, they like the fact there’s always one near and they could recite the menu off by heart and point at what they want from the glowing lists hovering above the counter blindfolded. Not me though, that isn’t how I roll. For those who have been living in a cave for several years though, abdul’s does the wide range of kebabs, burgers, chips and pizza expected on a very average scale. Enough said.

Abdul’s is the kind of place everyone ends up when they’ve been out drinking, dancing or partying til the wee hours.
Open mid-​day til late seven night a week, it serve fast food that should help you sober up enough to walk or catch a ride home. We’re talking cheap and cheerful burgers, chips, kebabs, samosas, bhajis, curries and naans. Starters and side-​dishes cost around £2.50-£4.50 whilst mains like chicken /​lamb /​vegetable biryanis, masalas and tandooris cost approx £4-£6.50.
Admittedly, none of them are going to rock your world as much as a dish from Mumtaz* but they seem to satisfy the hordes of students, taxi drivers and locals that wander in with half empty wallets and hic-​cups!
* Mumtaz is a Bradford based curry house that makes outstanding Indian dishes.

I think I was carrying on a lunch time affair with one of the men at Abdul’s. He’d always tell me I was beautiful and sometimes forget to charge me for my chicken korma. He also showed an overly active interest in guys I was coming in with and quiz me as to their intentions when I was alone.
It’s definitely a fast food greasy type of takeaway but it’s comfort food and it is satisfying. The type of place that you walk away from bloated and satisfied and ready to sleep the rest of the afternoon away at your desk.