Kukoos Street Food

Lively samba beats great you as you walk down Oxford Road past Kukoos. Tempting as I didn’t want anything from pizza alley more towards the uni, before I head to Sandbar.
Tempted by the salad signs, as I’m reaal healthy, and its January, but decided on chicken tikka curry instead for 6 quid.
Tasty enough but served in Tupperware, and very dry so ask for extra tomato/​salad mix. After it had already had yoghurt sauce on.
Leaving decompressed, and modestly full, but think I should have gone for a 6 quid burrito instead around the corner. Oh well. Time for a beer.

Kukoos is conveniently located on Oxford Road, in the building that also houses the Dancehouse Theatre. It’s also a 5 minute walk from my office and hence provides me with a good allternative for lunch. They’re also owned and run by Zouk group and so you are assured of the taste and quality.
When you enter it the first time you are likely to be confused by the queuing system here, which I like to call the ‘corridor of uncertainty’. The front of the shop has a salad bar and further in are the tastier «unhealthy» dishes such as kebabs, samosas, biryanis etc. This results in 2 queues and sometimes you’re uncertain of where to stand.
I’ve tried the salad based dishes and they seem to offer a decent portion for a decent price. But to be frank, I am more of a kebab/​biryani person and beyond the initial curiosity to try the salad bar, I’ve not bothered with it.
I’ve tried a few things like the chicken street kebab, lamb+mint, chicken tikka kebab etc, but my #1 dish in this place is their chicken biryani. Combine it with some tikka pieces, mint/​yogurt raita and chilli sauce and you have a ‘winner winner chicken dinner’ (no pun intended).
Biryani only costs £4.50 and with the extra chicken pieces thrown in, it’s around £6.00. This is better value for money compared to some of their wraps, which I feel are overpriced for what they are.
The food tastes exceptionally good (it better, cos it’s prepared in Zouk, which is round the corner btw) and if I were to rate this place purely based on that I’d give it a 4 or 4.5 (still not a 5). However there is a certain element of service that is found lacking at times.
You might be at the end of a long queue for the kebabs/​biryanis and one of their staff will walk by. When you ask them if they could serve they will tell you they’re looking after the salad bar, which may not have anyone queuing up. This is just one example, by the way. This tends to be a little frustrating at lunchtime when you need to be back at your desk by a certain time.
Plus, what needs to be considered is that Zouk is only round the corner and for an extra 2 quid and all the waiting time, one might as well head up there and get their tiffin menu.
Hence, on the balance of probabilities, I am forced to settle for 3 stars only.

So 5-​Stars you might say?
Well this is why I think it is deserving. I have eaten many kebabs in my time; in times of drunkeness and sobriety, of longing for new and exciting flavours, when craving that kebaby goodness. Along this kebab quest I have found many dangers: an over-​dry kebab, dull and old salad, terrible terrible meat (both shish and doner), a dingy-​one-​size-​fits all construction of kebab shops with the predictable chilli sauce, ketchup and garlic mayo as topping options.
Unfortunately many kebab-​shops are placse where low quality meaty grease is sold as food. It is not somewhere you would go to enjoy eating. I have been up and down the oxford road, as far as withington, I have been to all the big names and been not too impressed (with the distinct exception of OLIVES which has now sadly closed).
I had long ago accepted that Manchester would never be on a level with North London in terms of «kebabage».
I was wrong.
The kebabs here are really really well done. I have only had one (the Lamb) and it was excellent. Fresh, interesting lebanese style salad — meat that came from a hot tray where it essentially marinades in spices — fresh olives — tahini [which is made from sesame seeds] and the bread! Oh the bread! The texture and consistency of the bread was perfect.
What stopped me giving it 6 stars out of 5 (aside from the fact that this is impossible on Unilocal is that it is not the biggest kebab to ever grace my palms. however I can forgive this given it cost £3.50). It was definitely one of the tastiest. If you like a good ke

Imagine you’re a tiny bit drunk from the post-​work pub, you’re waiting for a bus on Oxford Road, and you’re suddenly all-​consumingly starving.
Kukoos it is. I’ve visited here once before, in my pre-​living in Manchester days, but can’t remember much about it other than that the guy on the counter thought I was a regular and I was accidentally rude to him.
Other reviews make the fair point that it seems a bit disorganised, however as I was the only customer I simply stood in the middle of the shop until someone served me.
I opted for a lamb, spinach and hummus wrap with all the salad bits and some harissa sauce. It was lovely; soft wrap with pulled lamb, rich spinach, and a sauce with a decent kick to it. For £3.50 it was affordable and felt like good value. There seemed to be a lot of other exciting things that I’m looking forward to trying next time I venture here.