This ‘n’ That Review

To the untrained eye, this traditional working class curry café, situated in a dark alley reminiscent of Gotham City, would pass completely un-noticed. Located in Soap Street, deep in the heart of the Northern quarter, just off the Shudehill coach interchange, this mancunian gem has been churning out curry for decades. For a fiver this fine establishment’s clientele are served a delicious, and more importantly copious, three part curry helping.

The atmosphere inside this café is an uneven patchwork of radically different life stories woven into an enjoyable 30 minute lunch break away from the bustling city life. Whether it is a group of paramedics talking about a particularly long shift over steaming black coffee, bricklayers and painters flicking through yesterday’s papers before they return to work or even students, old and current, enjoying the Northern quarter on a rare sunny day, none of the customers sitting on the café’s plastic chairs have anything in common.

The place definitely has an authentic charm.

I get served my steaming plateful of madras, korma and jalfrezi and sit down opposite a gaunt, tired looking ‘hipster’ economics student with a clear penchant for alcohol. I say hipster because he’s wearing a woolly jumper on a very warm day – apparently that is the style in the Northern quarter these days. He tells me how he discovered this place in his first year. After practicing for a gig in the area, he and various other band members would come and take advantage of the café’s friendly service and friendlier prices. Little did I know, the two big black bearded fellows in leather jackets and faded denim pants were actually practicing jazz musicians who play regularly in the area, Martin, the hipster economics student, introduced me to them.

Over coffee and an exotic brand imitation of Fanta they let me in on their take of the Northern Quarter and how the city has changed from ‘Gunchester’ with the Hacienda’s notorious nights to Media City UK and the metrolink. Needless to say, to them and the other musicians they know, the Northern Quarter is one of the few places which still has ‘soul’, much like, in their opinion, ‘This and That’.

I clear up my tray and leave the two musicians fighting over a very sizeable vegetarian samosa…

In a certain sense the café hidden away in this little side alley, like a sea urchin tucked in between large rocks, has withstood the relentless tide of modernisation which wracks the city of Manchester. Yet here in the shade of the 21^st century’s towering glass apartment and office blocks, you can’t help but feel the nostalgia sinking in midway through your third or fourth spoonful.

Yet at the same time that is the café’s greatest appeal; in a city where everything and everyone around is claiming to be trendy, modern and fashionable, ‘This and That’ doesn’t even try.