Inside the Indian restaurant adored by Manchester United footballers and superstars like Drake

When Eric Bailly chose to celebrate his birthday in style with a whole load of his Manchester United team-mates earlier this month, they beat a well-trodden path to one of Manchester's most popular footballer haunts. For Eric and his Reds pals including Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Juan Mata all headed to one of the city's hidden foodie gems - Zouk Tea Bar and Grill just off Oxford Road.

The luxe Indian restaurant has become something of a hotspot for footballers and visiting superstars over the years. Its more secluded location on the edge of the city has leant itself to become a more private dining spot for some of the most famous faces in the world who've dined there - including the likes of music icons Drake and Rihanna.

Indeed Drake was so keen on Zouk's cheese naan and chilo kebab when he booked out the entire venue on his 2017 visit that staff decided to make them house specials on the menu ever since. But Zouk bosses say they can trace back their starting point as a celebrity hotspot to when one particular footballer started to frequent there.

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Back in 2012 when Mario Balotelli was playing for Manchester City, the flamboyant star was to become a regular fixture at Zouk. Even though the restaurant was to find themselves in the midst of a rather amusing bit of tabloid speculation about the star.

Zouk owner Mudassar Amjad said: "It all started with Balotelli when he was at Man City. There was a famous incident where the press wrote that he was spotted sword fighting with our bread chef with a rolling pin.

"The truth is he was a huge fan of the restaurant and came most weeks. He even got fined by his team