Went to Ferrari, over Preston way somewhere, on Sunday.

£11.50 for 3 courses. Very pleasant!

To be honest I always think the 3.50 carvery at Old Mother Redcap is half decent for a quick cheap fix. It is what it is and does that job ok.

OT, I know, but did you know that the OMR is in Rishton, technically?

Turns out United aren't as good when the ref isn't giving them everything...

Good player.

We'll struggle to replece him.

Thats next to Cafe Istanbul I think, down by the side of Kendals. Its a larger expansion of Pau Brasil that was in the Northern Quarter. Its only just opened and would love to go. Those all you can eat Brazillians are fantastic value (when you consider the type, quality and amount of meat you eat) but at £19.99 per person + drinks I need to wait for the right occasion. However the lunch time menu is £12 inc drink i think. Looks very nice, dont think the girlfriend would eat £20 quids worth of meat though.

Anyone else been?

That's where it is, yes. Just up from San Carlo.

The fully monty is £22.50 of an evening. £12.50 at lunch (Both from memory, had asken at the website this morining)

Neither include drinks, I think.

Only been open a week or two.

The missus went to Bem Brasil in Manchester for lunch last week.

Food was very good, although it's dear.

It was full of footballers, apparently, although she didn't recognise them, except for Wes Brown.

Directions are not an issue thanks. I love Turkish/ Greek/ Armenian grub, and use to go to the Topkapi, but as you say they seem more interested in the hand to mouth brigade these days, but the staff were still very friendly last time I went in.

I've not been to Cafe Istanbul for a while.

Could you report back on here, please, Ozzie?

Thanks!

http://www.brfcs.co.uk/mb/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=754692

Good spot!

I've just seen Star Trek.

Pretty good! They could have made a real mess of it, but they didn't.

Tugay.... it's his favourite by all accounts.

Really? I've never seen him in there! I'll have to keep an eye out!

Eaten there a few times. Yes, it's pretty good!

It's Cafe Istanbul, not Istanbul Cafe. You'll get blank looks if you ask directions to the latter (or they'll send you to Topkapi, which seems to have turned into a glorified take away!).

I think (and I really are not sure) that it dates back to medievil times and was used to insult the French.

You see if an English archer was caught by the French he would have his fingers lopped of so he couldnt use a bow and arrow. So by flicking the V's its a funny way of saying heres my fingers.

Edit - Oh yeah almost forgot. Ferguson is @#/?.

That's a myth according to QI.

(Not the Ferguson but. That's true...)

Everyone should read at least one Terry Pratchett book.

Fabulous; funny; thought-provoking; the lot of them

Go on and do it.

Pratchett fan, I've read them all. Some are better than others.

Small Gods is s bit of a drudge, for example, ISTR.

Recession? What recesion?

Haven't you heard, Gord?

They've knocked 2.5% of VAT! Fill your boots!

Suddenly all those things you never thought you could afford cost a very nominal amount less! Britain's surely going consumer crazy!?!

Sorry - OT - Couldn't help myself!

I quite like going to Wetherspoons nowadays!

Grill club on a Tuesday, Curry club on a Thursday. Cheap and cheerful!

I've eaten there twice (yonks ago) and it's been fine. Too bloody small though.

Oh, yeah, it's tiny!

Used to be awful when you could smoke, but they were very forward thinking and banned smoking a while before the rest of the country. It was soo small it only took one fagger to stink the place out.

My dad has just phoned to tell me that he has booked to take me to a cantonese in guide - Guide Village i think he said. A couple of people have made brief comments about it on this thread - just checking it is ok! Nothing worse than a crap chinese!!!

Used to be good!

Haven't been for a couple of years, though, as I moved away...

I liked the black pepper dishes (beef or steak).

Hot and sour soup to start...or prawn toast with a side of kung po sauce. Lovely!

A lot of people might have seen this at the cinema but I've finished reading Danny Wallace's 'Yes Man!'. What a funny yet adventurous read it was. I'm not sure whether the movie is different from the book or not but hopefully a lot of people will now read the book after seeing the film. A few people have mentioned that it's similar to a book called 'The Dice man' or something so hopefully might purchase that book soon. Anyone else read them?

Danny Wallace is my favourite author at the moment. I really like his writing style and sense of humour.

I'd say 'Yes man' is the worst of his books, but is still a great read in it's own right. The book does differ from the film. Been made a bit Hollywood, apparently.

Read 'Friends like these' on holiday and that was good. Danny decides to try to find some of his old friends when he turns 30. All written very humourously!

Just finished 'Join Me' which is very good. The wife's reading it now and keeps laughing out load on the train. Danny aims to start a collective of people. It's not a cult!

I also read DW's article in Shortlist every week. A weekly free magazine in Manchester and, presumably, other cities around the country.

Went to the Al Nawaz in Manchester's Curry Mile yesterday and it was excellent. The decor is interesting, not least the big fish tank in the floor by the entrance, it's a strange feeling walking over that. It only came to £54 for 6 of us, although that didn't include drinks as we took our own in. Can't fault it really, the service, food and price were all great.

Think I'll be trying Nando's for the first time later on. Really looking forward to the refillable Coca-Cola as I've got a stinking hangover.

I think Coke's a diuretic. It might just dehydrate you more...

That said the sugar would help, and Stephen Fry said that the dehydration theory of drinking caffeine was garbage on QI. So what do I know!?!

I've heard Nando's is bad, but I've only heard one review!

click for Hi-Life

I had Hi-life about 6 years ago.

If it's still the same, there's varying types of offer depending on the restaurant.

Some of the good places excluded popular times e.g.Saturday evenings.

Also, many places only allow you one visit per annum but others didn't bother.

There's an offer in the free MEN at the moment. Collect 2 tokens, send them off to Hi-Life and they'll send you a Hi-Life card that's valid until the end of January FREE!

If can't get the MEN then PM me and I'll pick some tokens up and post them to you. The tokens finish this week, though, so you'll have to be quick!

Has anyone been to Chaophrya in Manchester?

Up until friday it was my wife and I's favourite restaurant in Manchester.

As it was my wife's birthday last Friday I had booked a table for 2 at 6.30. It'd been booked for months.

We had a couple of drinks and headed up to Chaophraya. At 6.32, 2 minutes past the booking time, my wife got a phone call from an oriental lady screaming down the phone that we were late. We were ordered to be there within 5 minutes or the table would be given away.

We arrived at 6.34 (we'd only been round the corner!) There were no pleasantries or even a hello. It was just barked at us that we had to be away from the table by 8.30.

What a lovely birthday welcome for my wife and I!

Needless to say, we walked out. We went to Sam's Chop House downstairs and had the corned beef hash that is consistently very good.

There'll be a letter of complaint going in and we'll see what they have to say. Very disappointing for what had always previously been a great establishment.

If you go, let me know how you get on. If this is now standard for this place I will be letting everyone know!

The best reviews are with the High Life Diners club.

I can only see ratings of 1-5 stars. Doesn't tell you much. Am I missing something?

Thinking of going to Strada in Manchester this weekend, has anyone been there before?

http://www.manchesterconfidential.com/inde...&mpage=10#1

Is this of any use?

I don't know if you'll have to log in/register or whatever...

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/foot...rticle13895.ece

Just found this - Ben Burgess doing a column for the News of the World. Not sure if it has been mentioned elsewhere but the last paragraph really made me laugh.

He'd probably wondered off(side?)...

Re Duk.

Never been there, but I went to Inkaa in Horwich, which is the chef/owners previous place and it was great. I'll have to give it a go.

Went to Room in Manchester yesterday. Been twice now. Very good on both occasions.

Have an offer on - £7 for main courses before 7 O'clock and 30% off wine.

Loving having the Clog and Billycock on my doorstep. Good local pub grub within a very short drive. Cant wait for it to open.

You have to drive to your doorstep!

Wow! How rich are you!

;-)

Hopefully Hughes will remember his own words when Neill* was leaving "The grass isn't always greener somewhere else" (Although it was greener cash, not greener grass, that Lucas wanted, of course)

* Might have been when Bellamy was leaving, I can't remember which one...

I'm trying to find a link to that story, but I'm not finding anything.

Someone please tell me I haven't been making things up again.

I remember something about this.

I also remember how Duff felt that the club turned their back on him when he was leaving. How he was considering staying even though the transfer bid had been accepted, but he was just told 'We've accepted a bid, you're leaving...'

As an aside, I think that the badge kissing thing is never directed at previous clubs. It's just directed towards the fans of your current club, not a sleight on the previous fans...