Indian Tiffin Room Manchester

Known to its friends as ITR, the second of the three bright Indian Tiffin Room restaurants specialises in thalis (a kind of mini buffet) and south Indian tiffin dishes, putting colour on a plate with its street food inspired by the bustling stalls of different parts of India.

Filled with the authentic flavours of the subcontinent, the food is made to order from super-fresh ingredients (and less ghee) to offer a lighter and healthier alternative to the cuisine offered by many traditional Indian restaurants in the UK and with a whole host of vegan treats so plentiful they get their own separate menu. There are grazing small plates or starters, grilled kebabs, Indo-Chinese choices, ITR mains and popular Indian highway mains (we’re partial to the dhaba-style chicken), served with a naan or roti.

The tiffin dishes can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and include steamed rice and lentil dumplings called idly, uttapam rice and lentil pancakes, fried lentil flour doughnuts or vada, and, at ITR, various choices of rice and lentil crepes and semolina crepes, dosa and rava dosa, so many they’re almost in double figures. There’s plenty for pudding too, from traditional phirni rice pudding and classic kulfi ice cream to vegan kesari bath saffron-infused semolina. Come hungry.