Sanskruti - Manchester

The food is awesome especially the vegetarian seekh kebabs as starter. The main meal Karella with stuffed pharatas and masala tea. I was very impressed with the food and the service. I shall be going again.

It’s a few months since we last ate here. It’s one of a handful of South Asian restaurants in the area that has an entirely plant=based menu, so makes a nice change for we two omnivores. Finger food to start for both of us. There’s half a dozen sev puri. Open wide and it’s just about a single bite puri filled with veg and a tangy chutney, then topped with a sprinkling of crunchy sev. There’s also mixed vegetable pakoras. That’s the North Indian name but I suspect most folk, us included, would better know them as bhajis. Shredded veg, tossed in gram flour and fried till crisp. And there’s a coriander sauce for dunking. Really nice. Both main courses came from the Punjabi section of the menu. First up was Kadai Paneer – basically a stirfry of cubes of paneer, green pepper, onion and tomato in a clingy sauce. There’s an assertive use of ground coriander and dried Kashmiri chilli. Delish. Sanskruti is the only place we know that serves kaju masala and it’s a dish we’ve ordered before. It’s a delight. One of the tastiest things, from any cuisine, we’ve eaten in many weeks. In essence, a cashew nut curry. Thinnish sauce of tomato, onion and cashews – some of the nuts left whole for texture but others blended into the sauce making it quite creamy. It’s nicely spiced with a restrained, but not wimpy, use of chilli. We went overboard with the carbs. A portion of fluffy plain basmati rice. And the bread basket – one each of naan, tandoori roti and methi thepla. The latter was new to us – a Gujarati bread incorporating turmeric , ginger and the slight bitterness of fenugreek. Deffo one to order again.

We wanted to find a vegan Indian restaurant in Manchester and my son had Sanskruti recommended, we booked around lunchtime for that evening. I was so glad we did as it was full when we arrived, what a great bustling atmosphere met us when we walked through the door, then came the menu, all veggie vegan or gluten free almost all the courses were vegan or could be made vegan so we were delighted with the choice. I had tofu Makhanwala (spelling? my wife had the black dhal and my son chose the masala dosa add to that a family garlic naan rice. Everything was super tasty, service very good. Recommended for vegans, veggies but in fact all humans :

Came here for the first time quite a few years back and wasn't the best but since it's been done up I've been twice with my family. First time was perfect, food was hot, served quickly and fresh. Second time round, although food was tasty, the service was slightly slower but we'd definitely keep returning.

Stale pani puri, server who acted like she didn't want to be there (service automatically included in bill, we didn't want the confrontation of asking for it to be taken off), dosas were greasy, curries were no different to your average takeaway. Fine if you are stuck in the area, but I wouldn't return.