Inside Zouk Tea Bar and Grill, Drake’s favourite Manchester restaurant

We all wondered where Drake’s heart was in It’s Good, who that long distance relationship involved. Turns out, it’s actually Zouk Tea Bar and Grill, the Manchester eatery that serves Drake’s fave butter chicken.

According to Munchies, he goes every single time he’s in Manchester, accompanied by celebs such as Balotelli and even RiRi.

If you fancy paying the Pakistani-Indian restaurant a visit and dining like a celeb, it’s located off Oxford Road on Chester Street.

Drake has visited numerous times since 2012, making it his fave restaurant in the north-west, if not in the world.

According to owners Tayub and Mudasser Amjad, the Champagne Papi’s dish of choice is Chilo Kebab followed by butter chicken with a selection of naan breads and washed down with – you guessed it – a passionfruit cocktail.

So both Gyalchester and Passionfruit were inspired by good old Manc? Thanks, Zouk.

The love story between Drake and Zouk began in 2012, when Manchester City player Mario Balotelli played cupid, taking Drake to the restaurant, having already fell in love with it himself. So much so that the food was worth a £150,000 fine from Manchester City for breaking his club curfew. That’s some expensive chicken.

And so the love story continued – becoming Drake’s restaurant of choice for dates. He took Rihanna in 2014, booking the entire restaurant out for themselves and their entourage. Their foods of choice were Steak and Lobster Thermadour, King Prawns and of course Drake’s beloved Chilo Kebab. Guess Drake really was too good to Rihanna – it’s hard enough getting Fallowfield lads to pay for Paz’s cheesy chips at Kebab King.

More recently, Drake visited earlier this year, travelling across the Pennines after his gig at the First Direct Arena in Leeds just to reconcile with Zouk. That either says a lot about Leeds restaurants or just emphasises Drake’s affection for this Manchester eatery.

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Other celeb guests include Peter Kay and Ryan Giggs, but if you’re a massive Drake fan, just make sure to camp outside Zouk whenever he’s vaguely near the north-west.