Katsouri Deli, Deansgate

I've wanted to go to Katsouri Deli for a while, I walked past the window a while back and a giant sausage caught my eye. Ever since then I knew I'd like this particular deli. 

At lunch time during the week, this place is absolutely heaving. The staff are super efficient, they have to be! The wait wasn't long at all. There are a number of options for lunch as well as a breakfast menu which includes an excellent value full-English. I haven't had the full-English but its available all day, so I eyed up a few whilst munching on my delicious lunch - it looks like a hearty affair. Good sausage. So, for lunch you can have a full ciabatta or a half ciabatta filled with your choice of their hot meats (or cold/cured meats). The use of the word 'half' here is somewhat misleading. We're not really talking about a half-portion size, its not a meagre snack, its bigger than any other sandwich you'd buy from a supermarket or a 'Pret-a-Manger' style eatery. The full ciabbata is designed for those with a massive appetite- to me it looks like something you'd want to share unless you enjoy death-by-carbs. 

Meze Platter

My meat & salad plate is at the back there.

My friend had the meze platter, another great option for lunch- a cheerfully colourful plate rammed packed with sun-dried tomatoes (these were gorgeous), stuffed vine-leaves (equally edible), cous-cous, Italian cured meat, hummus and some other random crap - all fab. The meze comes with ciabatta also - the portion of which would be appropriate to feed an averagely sized Spanish family. I chose the meat with salad option. Of course I did. I wanted something lighter than the mighty ciabatta (I tend to avoid wheat anyway). I had the pulled pork with onions - once again a great portion size and really good meat. You can tell that the meat is good quality here, sometimes after eating lots of greasy meat I feel really sluggish, but the food felt clean at Katsouri. 

This came with the Meze

 At first I was dubious about opting for the salad bar, but I was delighted by the array of delectable goods on offer at the not-as-crowded Katsouri salad bar. Stuffed vine leaves, Greek salad, hummus, rice, pasta, tzatziki (this was really tasty and authentic), olives and other things -hard to remember all the goodness! You get a pretty big plate to fill and with the right tactics (think Wilko's pic'n'mix strategies) you can get a lot for your money. Both the meze platter and the meat and salad are £5.50 -  I highly doubt you can get that much food for so little a price anywhere else along Deansgate. For such a central location it truly is good value and its a nice atmosphere in their. An interesting building and a bustling ambience. 

The deli-shop section

The lunch-time rush

"Meats back on the menu boys."

p.s. sorry the photos aren't great - only had my phone on me.