Jaffa Restaurant

Jaffa. One of my favs on the Curry Mile. Great prices for great food. Upstairs has lots of room, best seat is near the big window overlooking the Mile. Mixed grill for the win.

Food is good but due to staff attitude i will give only 3 star. Very noisy and long waiting time. Some of the staff are very very rude even can not speak politely. Food bit expensive but tasty though specially shawarma and Fatayer.

i love going in here for a cheap and cheerful meal and when your treating
family or friends you cant go wrong!
pizzas. kebabs and fatayers all good and a reasonable price
the service as always been good and the food is always freash
its been a hit with me now for a couple of years
good old jaffas!

I’m just going to write up the main bits of the menu, because I couldn’t find it anywhere online. Go here for really tasty Middle Eastern dishes, it doesn’t matter what you pick (though I can’t imagine why you’d pick pizza from Jaffa), you can’t go wrong.
Here’s the menu (as of today)
Shawarma
Make sure you get the chilli sauce on the side, these are served with fresh bread, tear it up drop in the meat and salad & enjoy
— Chicken £4
— Lamb £4.50
— Lamb with Humus £5
— Mixed Shawarma £4.50
Kebabs (Grills)
— Chicken £4.50
— Shish £5
— Mix Grill £5
Fatayer — kind of like a stuffed bread, great alternative to a kebab or pizza
— Spinach £3
— Cheese £3
— Spicy Lamb £3
— Chicken £3
— Extra toppings 50p
Mezze — go for a mix as a great side accompaniment
— Mutabal £2
— Humus £2
— Falafel £2.50
— Tabulleh £2
— Arabic Salad £2
— Garlic Bread £2.20
— Garlic Bread with Cheese £2.70
— Rice £2
— Small Mix Mezze £2.20
— Large Mix Mezze £3.80
— Chips £1.20
In addition to these on the menu, Jaffa also do various specials, such as whole stuffed chicken and pizzas on the menu, probably as an easy money maker, don’t waste your time with pizza though — go for all the other delicious stuff
They also do various non-​alcoholic beverages, teas etc to wash it all down.

A recent Jaffa convert, I can no longer go a week without acquainting myself with a tasty Fatayer. An Arabic pastry, this rectangle shaped baked treat comes filled with a stuffing of your choice. I, at first mistook it for a rather large Pizza slice, and the description still holds true to some extent.
The large Mezze salad includes an array of spiced salads as well as humus and other tasty sauces. The Pizzas are well priced and nicely made. The shwarma is well cooked and is served with a yumazing (no that’s not a word, but you know what it means stupid) red sauce that I have thus far failed to make ad hoc at home.
The fact that this place is busy 7 days a week and the custom is extremely diverse (Folk descend from the affluent suburbs of leafy cheshire to the curry mile just for a falafel or two!) is testament to its brilliance.

As a new member of Unilocal,I was reassured to find Jaffa already here. If you are in the area, you must visit to sample the delights of their Lamb Shawarma kebab, which is beautifully, delicately spiced (with chilli on the side to add to your taste). They also do a Lamb Fatayer, which is a sort of sweet bread with spicy lamb and cheese, again delicious. I usually drag a lucky friend along to devour one of each between us. Wash it all down with a refreshing pot of mint tea.

I agree completely with aqrub. I used to go Jaffa back in the old days. Enjoyed grilled chicken kebabs every time. The place has changed so much over the years. I think the owners may be different, and all the staff have changed. Somehow it has lost its charm, a real shame really. I urge anyone who has not tried Falafel restaurant, to give them ago, still seems like their is an authentic vibe to the place.

Only some Middle Eastern cafés and kebab houses are suitable for vegetarians, and Jaffa is one of these. The pizza and fatayer are cooked fresh on the premises, although the pitta bread are bought in. To the fresh bread, we can add homemade falafel and the extensive choice of mezze from Jaffa’s display fridge which are all vegetarian.
I ordered Spinach Fatayer (£3), Falafel (£2.50 for six pieces) and Large Mix Mezze (3.80) which was enough to feed two people at lunch for £9.30. The fatayer is the same dough as the pizza, just folded differently and was light and fluffy. My preference is for crispier and chewier breads, but this was still OK with me. The cheese and spinach topping was just OK, but then I am continually frustrated by tinned/​frozen/​overcooked spinach when eating out. Falafel were fairly plain and a little tough — but worked well with the yoghurt dip accompaniment and the mezze ordered separately. Mezze were hummus, tabbouleh, tomato salsa, salad vegetable mixes in yoghurt, pickled whole jalapeño — which merged together on the plate into a mild, yoghurty ensemble, but with enough texture from the salad and whole chickpeas to keep it interesting.
One of my tests for healthy food is how I feel the day after. Going by this standard, I am finding some Middle Eastern or Mediterranean cafés impressively healthy, Jaffa amongst them. The simple, wholesome, homecooked food tradition seems to be to the fore in these countries along with good olive oil. One thing I would like to see is vegetarian versions of the hot daily specials over rice featured in Jaffa and elsewhere in Rusholme — green beans, aubergine and chickpeas over rice, anyone?
As it was Ramadan and also the university holiday period, it was quiet when I visited. Ramadan and holidays aside, Jaffa is known amongst friends *always* to be full, and when passing previously I’ve noticed a really nice mixed crowd of students, Muslim families, white locals, everyone — if you want to eat with a cross-​section of Manchester, with an ethnic slant, Jaffa is a good place with a very relaxed atmosphere.
The décor is basic café standard but clean. One thing worth noting is the huge amount of seating upstairs — hard to conceive of ever not being able to find a seat in here, and could be good for an informal group meal or an intimate one away from the crowds. Toilets are on the second floor and therefore not really disabled-​friendly.
I would say that nearby Falafel (see Unilocal) does a better, leafier falafel for eating straight and a better homemade pitta, but the respective mezze are swings and roundabouts. Not going on a whole lot of visits, but I feel Jaffa is the more relaxed, multi-​cultural hangout for the westerner.

Jaffa is definitely one of the best take-​away style restaurants I have visited in this country and is head and shoulders of the places I have been to on Curry Mile.
The array of Meditteranean food makes a refreshing change from the usual Donner Kebabs ladened with fat and who knows what that is generally served up in these kind of places. The kebabs at Jaffa are very tasty and well cooked. However, what sets it aside for me is the selection of salads and dips that you are able to get when ordering.

When a restaurants becomes too economic, it loses the spirit. With Jaffa it happened. The passion there is making Money Not the Art of serving good Food. That fact diminishes the experience of Rating there!!! I am sad about this

Jaffa is one of Rusholme’s best kept secrets. Nestled in the impressive curry mile, this corker of a eaterie sells a whole host of foodie delights.
They do a fine line in Persian kebabs, as well as Mediterranean bits that will make you dribble down your top with glee. As mentioned elsewhere, it is definitely worth trying a hummus plate.
Of late, Rusholme has been swamped with run-​of-​the-​mill fried chicken takeaways, making Jaffa all the more brilliant for steadfastly refusing to tow the line.
It’s easy on the pocket and really worth making a bee-​line for. Along with Falafel up the road, Jaffa is an absolute must-​visit if you need a quick bite to eat.
A brilliant place that deserves more plaudits, that’s for sure.

Ahhhhh Jaffa. I have probably eaten more here than anywhere else in Manchester. How weird is that?! But it’s true.
Jaffa is just near where I went to college, therefore it was pretty much as close as the canteen but much much nicer.
I used to always have pizza and I never got bored of it. The staff were always very friendly and we got to know everyone pretty well over the years. We even had our own booth.
Very tasty food, very cheap prices, not the place I’d head to for a slap-​up dinner but well worth heading to for lunch or a late night snack! Yummy yummy… I really want a chicken tikka pizza now!!!

Yay… I am proud to be a fan of Jaffa! I could never eat another chicken and lamb shawarma anywhere else without my love for Jaffa’s version being reinforced. The food in general is of the highest order, all halal and tastes like it would taste were you in the middle east! The décor is slightly basic, but for the people who return time after time this is of no consequence. The prices are very fair, but not cheap.
If you are in the Rusholme area, and you are struggling to make a choice of the often hit-​and-​miss lottery that is the curry mole, then you would do well to keep this little secret in mind.

You may be tempted to use the phrase ‘best place ever’ when describing Jaffa. You may even be tempted to put an exclamation mark after these three words.
And I can see why. Jaffa is a popular restaurant at the end of the Curry Mile in Rusholme and its a good ‘un. What it lacks in desirable location, attractive exterior or stylish interior, Jaffa more than makes up for with its friendly, laid back atmosphere and the food. Ah, the food.
Fresh, amazing tasting meat and a strong Middle Eastern/​Mediterranean menu which seems really authentic keep people coming back here. To be honest everything I’ve had here has been good: mezze, kebabs, salad, pizza or shawarma.
Give Jaffa a try and you won’t be disappointed.

Jaffa is one of those places which if you know about it you love it. From the outside, it looks like just another take-​away in rusholme but trust me, Jaffa is a bit of a manchester institution (hence why it gets so busy!) the food is fantastic with a full selection of kebabs, pizza, mezze, salads, etc etc — really well priced, and with plenty of seating.
if you want a quick middle-​eastern bite to eat, i cannot reccomend anywhere better on the mile!

Jaffa’s is a tiny gem tucked away along Rusholmes amazing curry mile. It sells a wonderful range of mediterranian delights, my favourite being the fantastic Cheesey Fat Tyres which come with a fiendishly hot sauce. To make more of a meal, it’s worth ordering a humous plate, a salad plate and some pitta breads. I also recommend washing it all down with a can of Rubicon Mango.
The staff are very friendly and the food is very reasonably priced, and much better than generic fast food places that litter the surrounding area.
The downstairs area looks like a standard fast food place, a little run down perhaps. If you visit, you should ask if it is ok to sit upstairs, in what looks like a cross between an indian restaurant and someone’s living room. They will being the food up to you and you might be lucky enough to get the window seats looking out onto the main street.
Jaffa’s is such a fun place to eat that we would often stop off on the journey between Didsbury and Machester just to visit it (leaving the car in a side street as there is no parking at the restaurant inself) On occasion we even went to Jaffa’s without the excuse of having somewhere to go afterward!
If you fancy something a little different then Jaffa’s is a well kept secret, but one well worth seeking out.