House of Kai – Deansgate, Manchester
It’s been a while since I’ve written up a food review – call it laziness but I just haven’t been anywhere that’s been worth writing about however Kai is a different story. I took the plunge and visited Kai a day after their official opening which may have been my biggest foodie mistake to date.
First impressions – the decor is beautiful! Modern and chic with a vast amount of booths, tall chairs and tables as well as smaller intimate tables for two. A beautiful moss wall as you walk in and the prettiest floral ceiling ever. For any instagrammer the interior decor is a dream!
We were sat down at 8.45pm and thanks to @TheGrubfellas_ on IG (check them out!) we knew exactly what we wanted and told the waiter we were ready to order however our order wasn’t taken until at least an hour later! By this point we were starving and already unhappy with the service. Granted they were quite busy but we had to remind the waiters we were still waiting to order on at least three separate occasions.
Once we had finally managed to order we got the Hot Mezze (£18) and Hummus (£8) for our starter and the Mixed Grill (£30) for our mains. For drinks we ordered the Watermelon Crush and the Passion fruit and Orange Mojito (£3.95 each).
Unfortunately we couldn’t get the Hot Mezze as listed on the menu – we were advised to choose 5 hot starters for our Mezze to which we chose Borek, Suzuk, Halloumi, Kofte and Falefal. In addition to this Kai (for some unexplained reason) couldn’t serve the Passion Fruit and Orange mojito so we replaced it with another Watermelon Crush.
The Watermelon Crush was definitely a good choice. One of the best drinks I’ve had in a very long time. Not only did it taste beautiful but it looked it too. Refreshing, light and sweet, nice enough to drink with a meal without giving you brain freeze.
Our starters followed not long after however the Kofte and Suzuk was missing. We were also served hummus but without bread to eat it with. The waitress took back the Mezze to rectify and explained the bread was on its way. 10.20pm and out comes our hot Mezze with the initial missing Kofte firmly on top but still without the Suzuk by this point we were too hungry to complain again.
Beautifully presented and piping hot we decided to tuck in but woefully for us the Kofte was completely pink on the inside – Actual butcher shop mince pink! So for the second time we gave it back. Thankfully as we gave it back we got our bread – stone cold but at least we got it. (Just so you know I ain’t exaggerating about the kofte I will post a unfiltered picture below).
Everything else was perfect though. The borek was my fav – so cheesy just how I like it, the falafel was tasty, halloumi was perfectly cooked which is something places often get wrong. 10.45pm our thoroughly cooked Kofte was served again, which was also tasty too now that it was cooked properly.
11.20pm – starters finished and mains were served. Again beautifully presented; we had a portion of large Chicken pieces, one Adana Kebab, two Lamb Chops with a side serving of Bulger.
By this point though neither of us were interested. Our hunger had gone, we had taken enough selfies till our arms hurt and had had enough of constantly having to send food back and forth. I must state though the lamb chops were really soft and tender, slid of the bone with ease. Whilst we were only served two they were quite large. The chicken pieces were too dry for my liking though. We nibbled on a few pieces and left to take pictures and check out the rest of the decor.
Overall I think Kai needs a lot of work. The concept is great and the food was spot on (once rectified!) however with so much competition in Manchester at the moment they really need to up their game.
At most we saw 4 waiters working on the floor at a time, it was evident they were rushed off their feet and needed an extra hand or two. For a Friday night they needed a lot more staff on the floor and the iPads the waiters used to take the orders weren’t working properly causing even longer delays. Furthermore we didn’t get the drinks we wanted, we shouldn’t have had to wait so long to order our food and neither should the food have been sent back and forth. The pink kofte could have made us very ill to be honest. Silly mistakes like this need looking into immediately.
In addition to this we didn’t think the price tag matched the quality of food or standard of service we got. Our bill came to £70.18 which included a 10% service charge (?!)… what service? Usually I wouldn’t hesitate to pay but with all the problems we had and lack of service I don’t think the high end price matched what we received at all. Manchester is filled with Turkish spots serving similar tasty skewers packed with the same food for 10% of the price we paid at Kai. The reason why we as customers choose to eat at restaurants such as Kai is down to the service and the atmosphere but if that isn’t present what is the point?
We also overheard a few other tables complaining and we hope Kai take that feedback on board. At the moment unfortunately I would not recommend Kai to anyone. I do however have full faith that in the future this will be a great spot to dine at if they rectify a lot of their teething problems.
I hope you enjoyed my review, I’m hoping to get back into the routine of posting more frequently (IA) but for now take care and see you on my next post.
Hafsah x
P.s If you do visit Kai do not park at the NCP around the corner. We were in Kai for so long we ended up spending £20 on just parking alone – it was definitely a very expensive night.