In matters of food, team RevSportz is like the majority of our countrymen. Even when we are far from Indian shores, we tend to crave the traditional Indian spices that spruce up our food. The experience was no different in Sydney. Soon after reaching Sydney for the New Year Test, we’d inevitably go to Masala Theory to munch on some curry bombs. Coming to Manchester, it would inevitably be Ziya Asian Grill, one of my personal favourites.
One of my last visits to Ziya was on the fateful evening of that 2019 World Cup loss to New Zealand. After a long and hard day’s work, we went to Ziya for some Indian fare. That was when Sourav Ganguly first mentioned to me that Rishabh Pant would be Indian cricket’s best Test-match batter in the next decade. Rishabh had played a poor shot in the match, and we were all critical of him at the time. I had reasons to be sceptical of what Sourav was saying. And yet, he was perhaps right. In Test cricket at least, India has never seen a better batter-wicketkeeper than Rishabh, and that is keeping in mind the legend, MS Dhoni.
During that 2019 tour of the UK, I visited Ziya multiple times. In fact, it was routine to go there after a hard day’s work and relax with some fantastic Indian food – the dal tadka and tandoori prawns being the highlight. Devang Gohil, owner of the place, has become a close friend, so much so that he even invited me to cook on one of the days. As a true-blue Bengali, I made prawn malaikari for the team! Devang has since set up many more restaurants, but Ziya Asian Grill remains special.
Interestingly, while having dinner last week in an Indian restaurant in Oxford, I mentioned Ziya to Sharmistha and Aisha. Aisha loves to hear stories, and this was one such. This was while we were having dal tadka that I fondly remembered the dal and tandoori prawns at Ziya. Soon after, I reached out to Devang and the conversation started. Devang was warm as always, and asked if I’d be coming to Manchester. “I would come down wherever you are and get you to have the tandoori prawns,” he said. “We have set up a few more restaurants and you must try them all.”
It was all pretty simple thereafter. I suggested we do our food show in Manchester from his restaurant, and he was instantly on board. Food and cricket has been a favourite of mine, and after Masala Theory and Tharavadu, we will continue with the tradition at Ziya Asian Grill in Manchester. Devang, a cricket fan, is all in and, may I say, I am looking forward to some excellent content over some fantastic Indian food! And yes, team RevSportz would love it for sure.
The summer in England will indeed be exciting!