CherylS's Qype profile

This is a relatively recent discovery for me, and a good one too. I would heartily recommend the haddock and chips - you get a nice sized portion of crispy fish and the chips are very tasty. Mmmm, it's making me hungry just thinking about it. It's a bargain too. I just knocked off one star because occasionally the chips are a little too greasy (but hey, it's a chip shop - what can you expect!)

I must say I find the above reviews of this restaurant very interesting indeed. A stalwart of the West Didsbury dining scene, the Gurkha Grill is often recommended to me by people who lived in Didsbury several years ago as students and also it seems to be a place often cited in the South Manchester reporter by people when asked what their favourite restaurant in Manchester is. It seems to me that it has a reputation that it built up a while ago and now doesn't quite live up to expectations. I have to admit that I haven't eaten in the restaurant for a while, so don't feel I can fully comment on the service, but I have had take away a couple of times, and unfortunately I've been disappointed. I find it to be quite overpriced for what you actually get (the food is nice enough but there's not a lot of it when you're considering a bill of £20 upwards for 2 dishes and sides) and on both occasions I've been there has been something accidentally missing from the order, which is most annoying when you look at the receipt and you've paid for it too.

This is a great place for buying gifts, although only ones for people you really like as it can be quite expensive! It's brilliant for individual pieces of silver and glassware and there are some stylish contemporary artists there too. It's a surefire winner for gifts for people who have everything - you'll always come across something new. Plus the cafe (Cafe Aromat) is extremely friendly and does amazing cakes.

C'est l'endroit idéal pour acheter des cadeaux, mais seulement pour les personnes que tu aimes vraiment car ça peut être assez cher! c'est génial pour les pieces en argent ou en verre et il y a egalement quelques artistes contemporains chics. Succes garanti pour trouver un cadeau pour les gens qui ont deja tout. Vous tomberez toujours sur quelque chose de nouveau. En plus, le cafe (Cafe Aromat) est super sympa et ils font des gateaux extras.

On the godforsaken retail park that is West One, Clarks is a shining example of how to keep a shop open. However, I've never seen more than 3 customers in it at one time, so it never ceases to amaze me that it's still there whenever I go in. I wouldn't typically review a large chain like this but I do think this particular store is a little different from its high street counterparts. What I love about it is that a) it always seems to have something I want (it always seems to have summer and winter stock all year round - handy for those wintersun holidays), b) there is almost always a sale on and most importantly c) the staff are very helpful indeed. When I have been in on the off chance that they might have something I've seen on sale on the website, and the only pair they've got is a bit battered, they've ordered it for me, sending it direct to my house and saving me the delivery charge too. Excellent service, I must say. Obviously they probably do this in all Clarks stores but I always find this one particularly helpful.

I visited this place on the recommendation of a work colleague who proclaimed it to be 'much better than The Lime Tree' and less expensive. I found it to be very pleasant and extremely warm and friendly, probably with quicker service than its neighbour, but overall, it was lacking something foodwise. There were definitely some inventive dishes on the menu, but maybe a little too inventive in some cases (some of the dishes seemed to have a lot of ingredients and extremely long descriptions). I was also disappointed to find that on the occasion I went every fish dish involved prawns in some guise or another, and thought that it was a bit of an oversight considering that quite a lot of people have shellfish allergies (I concede that this is a pretty petty point, but I just thought I'd mention it). One other thought I had was that the portions were absolutely ENORMOUS. While some people might like that, I kind of thought it was a bit odd. There was no way I could have even two courses, never mind three, at that size. I felt that while it was trying to compete with places like the Lime Tree etc in terms of price and food quality, there were subtleties in the way the menu was structured that just wouldn't allow for that. I think Bistro West is good, don't get me wrong, I just think there are things they could do to get people to eat more courses of their food!

This is a really fun place for a large group - I'd recommend it for a Christmas do or a large party type gathering when there are lots of people who might want to move around and talk to different people throughout the night. It's a strange eating experience really - there's a large buffet type thing in the middle with vegetables and side dishes and then the waiters comes round with extremely sharp knives and meat on skewers and ask whether you want whatever they've got - anything from steak to sausages to chicken hearts. They sit you down and give you paddles, one side green, the other red, and you position the paddle accordingly depending on whether you want to be served the meat or not. The quality is decent but not amazing, however it's good fun and fairly good value for money if you've got a good appetite. Not suitable for vegetarians, though!

I received a leaflet through the door advertising this place a while ago and decided on the spur of the moment to try it out for an indian head massage after a stressful week at work. It's located above 'In All Her Finery', a cute little boutique which also receives great reviews on Qype. The lady who runs the business rents a space here and also somewhere in Chorlton I think and it seems like a relatively small, but very pleasant set up. She's very friendly and asks lots of medical questions before she starts (which I guess is all for legal reasons?) but it's all very relaxed and we had quite a giggle filling in the forms, to be honest. It was a nice way to relax and fairly inexpensive. She also runs an offer on your first treatment so that if you go back you get your second treatment half price.

The food here is pretty good and it always seems to be busy, so the atmosphere is great too. On the first occasion I went with friends we ordered everything off the tapas menu and there was so much food we couldn't fit it on the table! I don't go too often as I think it's actually quite expensive in the evenings, but they do tend to do discounts for students etc and the last time I went they were doing a special lunch deal for £5, which was great value for money.

La nourriture est assez bonne et il semble toujours plein, l'ambiance est sympa aussi. La première fois j'y suis allé avec de amis, et nous avons pris tout ce qu'il y avait dans le menu tapas et la table etait pleine de bouffe!!! Je n'y vais pas trop souvent car c'est assez cher le soir, mais ils font des réductions pour les étudiants... et la dernière fois quand j'y étais, il faisait un menu déjeuner pour 5£ ce qui est un bon compromis.