Aahaa

Aahaa is a new Indian restaurant in Chorlton which has already become very popular. The website is not very convincing but take no notice of that because it’s the honest, authentic South Indian cooking and friendly staff that have won over the locals.

The cooking is modern street food style with pani puri, gobi manchurian and signature dosas. Those dosas are very good; huge in size, they feel like something special when they come to the table.

The menu also has some standout dishes that you don’t find on many menus, even those that also specialise in this new take on Indian cuisine. Try the tangy, crispy lotus root and the mild Keralan prawn moilee.

This is an excellent restaurant for vegetarian diners. The guthi vankai masala with baby aubergine bobbing around in a rich peanut sauce is one of my top recommendations.

Rice deserves more of a mention than you might expect. The simple side steps out from the shadows with options like curd rice, sambal rice and a complex, savoury karuvepaku rice.

Point to note: the floor can be slippy. My dignity and posterior are still recovering.