Shere Khan, Manchester

A once good quality Indian with a terrible reputation...I can see why!

Shere Khan was extremely popular about 10 years ago as a North-West English chain aiming to make Indian food trendy, bringing it into the 21st century away from its 'sticky carpets-flock wallpaper' image. However, after a run in with environmental health, a hefty fine and several cases of gastroenteritis later, the reputation of Shere Khan has gone downhill. The palatial Liverpool branch is boarded up, so I decided to try their trendy looking branch on the Curry Mile.

We were the only ones in there, the restaurant was stone empty but looked extremely clean (at this point I didn't realise it had been fined £40.000 for a rat infested kitchen) It had a holiday atmosphere about it, the decor was bright and airy in pastel colours and it could have easily been an Italian restaurant judging by the interior.

The popadoms arrived, they were satisfactory. Not fab, not awful either. Just...well, satisfactory. The peshwari naan was floppy and soaked in butter-it tasted as if it has once been a beautiful fluffy naan but left for a couple of days, an amateurish attempt to revitalise it.

Now for the main course. The vegetable madras looked decent, but the sauce tasted a bit as if it was straight from the shelf at Tesco's (or should I say the cash and carry?)Admittedly, the veg was fresh and plentiful. The pilau was a disaster,it was bright yellow and had 'supermarket' written all over it.

I escaped the restaurant as soon as possible. Shere Khan really needs to get its act together and step up its game. The Curry Mile is a highly competitive area and a bad reputation spreads like wildfire in the restaurant industry. Either they take note of the successful restaurants in the area and get a few tips from them, or they give up the restaurant and start again from scratch. I for one will never go back. The Curry Mile has so much more to offer. I've heard even the rats dine elsewhere these days.