Greek Souvlaki in Manchester

The worst sweet and sour chicken ever had avoid

Wonderful food and attentive staff. Hope they like having me as I'll be going alot.

It must be getting on for twenty years since I first came to Jaffa for lunch. Then it was quite a rarity – somewhere on the “curry mile” that wasn’t a curry place. Now, those South Asian places are the rarity with only a handful remaining, their premises taken over by more recently arrived immigrant cuisines – Middle Eastern, Afghan, Turkish, etc. Along with a profusion of shisha bars. It’s still a vibrant strip of Wilmslow Road but more “kebab kilometre” than curry mile. Good shawarma and mixed mezzes are the key to Jaffa’s continued success and it seemed as popular as ever this lunchtime. We visit a couple or so times a year, combining lunch with a shopping trip to one of the large Asian supermarkets along the strip. Our order is constant. Lamb shawarma – a generous portion of tasty meat, a handful of shredded salad, a dab of very pokey chill sauce and a flatbread. And the mixed mezze – houmous, chickpeas in yoghurt, tabbouleh, chopped salad, chilli peppers, potatoes in spicy tomato sauce and a spiced yoghurt dip. We ordered another flatbread to help that along. Bargain lunch – the food, plus a couple of canned drinks came to thirteen quid.

Didn’t like it here at all, the food came out within minutes of us ordering - which in most cases would be great - however we ordered quite a lot of small plates for us both to share and for them to be out within minutes was strange, the chicken tasted like it had been microwaved if you know the taste I mean, the portions for the small plates were tiny for the price, should’ve probably just got a main. Staff were nice, the outside area was cosy but wouldn’t come back in a rush

Although the service was great, we can’t say the same about the food. We went there with hype for the music and the vibe but there was only one more table and no live music so it felt so quiet and with low lighting. About the food, we got the meze which came with greek salad but no olive oil!? It also included spring rolls (very random), a small falafel which was very dry and tzatziki which didn’t feel at all homemade. The chicken skewers and the keftedakia were quite nice but the rest of the food didn’t feel very fresh. Instead it felt like pre-made 🥲.