Midway Meat Store

There’s something about the name of this place that is slightly off-​putting, but I can’t quite tell what. It might be because when I read Midway I think of the game developers that brought us Mortal Kombat.
Basically it serves meat, of all shapes and sizes. Since it’s on the curry mile it’s all halal, not that makes a massive difference to anyone who isn’t religious anyway. The prices are cheap because you’re dealing direct, rather than buying through the supermarket, so if you want to save money and live nearby then come here. If you want to save time then you won’t. It really is as simple as that.

If there’s one thing I like, it’s meat. I love meat. Seriously, it is one of my favourite things. Since I jumped off the vege bandwagon in 2004, I can’t remember more than a handful of meat-​free days. So, you get it then, I’m a bit of a carnivore…
One thing that really gets my goat is crappy meat. I am as guilty as the next person of buying shrinkwrapped anaemic lumps of flesh from Tesco and then complaining because it’s a bit shit. And that’s fine if you’re whipping up a curry or a stew. But when I want something special, like a leg of lamb or a particularly juicy chicken breast, I always go to a butchers’. Midway used to be sort-​of on my way home, so on Fridays I’d often pop in and buy something for the weekend.
The staff are friendly and bloody hell, do they know their stuff! Once, I had to admit that I had no idea how to roast a leg of lamb in my ridiculous counter-​top oven. The bloke behind the counter gave me all manner of good advice, and man, was that lamb tasty
The meat here is all very good quality and because you’re being served by a real human being, you get exactly what you want, how you want. Say you want big chunks, you get big chunks. You want your chicken basically minced, done. And for a lot cheaper than Tesco.
Though I mainly go to the Arndale Meat Market nowadays, out of convenience, I strongly recommend Midway to anyone looking for decent meat at great prices.

I’ve actually had some experience of two Halal butchers, the other being just outside of Withington, which I’ve also reviewed. There’s not much in it, but a friend of mine prefers the Withington one.
This one has got a lot more large hanging sheep and other ambiguous animals, and more strewn blood, but a much larger selection. The chicken from both this butcher and the Withington one is absolutely gorgeous, so much more succulent and flavoursome than supermarket chicken breast, and also much cheaper.
Thomas is absolutely right, it is a bit industrial scale, but they’ll also sell you however much meat you require and the staff are very helpful and will even share cooking tips.
Basically I recommend going to either. They’re usually used by kebab shop owners and restaurants in the area which is likely to put people off, but it really shouldn’t do, so next time you do a shop, leave the meat out and visit the Halal butchers, or the Withington one. I bet once you do this once you’ll do it every week.

Halal meat stores, not every bodies cup of tea. Or slab of lambs leg. This butchers goes through meat on an industrial scale and has all the funky smells of the dodgiest raw meats shops around, surprisingly it’s all right though. The staff know their carcasses and if you ask them about traditional slices and cooking they can tell you a lot. You may be wondering how I know this, well one of my chums is slightly on the nuts side and makes lots of stews in a hot pot he owns. Whenever it comes to getting some meat he’ll head to one of the peculiar butchers on the curry mile and I’ve been here with him a few times. If you want any animal parts for practical jokes on the twisted side they can sort you out as well. Keep well away vegetarians, vegans and those with a weak stomach (you’ll probably see a lot of the latter).

Looking for a Halal butcher in Manchester? Here’s one :)