All new Mughals - Breakfast a Study #6

After a rather lengthy refurbishment, Mughals is now back open and fully operational.  On entering, it is clear a total overhaul has been undertaken.  The main counter has been moved and is now perpendicular to the entrance, off to the left, but the main semi open kitchen and general shape of the room have remained essentially the same.  The extra room provided with the sweet counter re-positioning, is now filled with extra tables and chairs.  The decore is all modern cream floor tiles, dark wood and cream leatherette seats.  Nice.

An early visit for me for my first visit since the refurb, so channa puri breakfast was ordered.  I fancied a pink tea but... no pink tea!  I was told it was being made and was 4hrs away! I said it's ok I'll wait, but I think my joke was lost on the waiter!

Yaadgaar - Breakfast a Study #5

Yaadgaar, on Leeds Road, Bradford must be fairly new - or at least very well kept, as it all seems shiny and very clean.  As you enter, a counter, spread well with traditional sweets, greets you perpendicularly to the frontage of the shop, and there are a couple of small tables and bars with high stools.  Pretty relaxed feel to the place.  Posters on the walls promise a plethora of products, both sweet and savory, and all looks very nice.

Late Breakfast was the order of the day, but rather than messing about sitting and bothering with a menu... "Do you do Chana Puri Breakfast please?" I chimed to the bloke behind the counter.... seemed the perfect opening gambit.  "We do the the Chana, but not Puri's..."  "Puris are pretty greasy... but we do Parathas if you like?"  "I'll have that then!"  Sorted. Happy days.

Breakfast a Study #4 - Cafe Regal

Cafe Regal like to do things a little differently - and at the weekend put on a Curry Breakfast Buffet!  Nice. I understand the cafe to be open all week doing brekkie, but from what I gather the buffet is only for the weekend.

So what do you get?

Cafe Regal.  Sweets on left - Restaurant on right

On a Bradford Curry Breakfast Mission

Well, for £4.50 (I think it was - something like that??), you get three puris, a cup of tea (normal or pink), which are both prepared fresh per order, and brought to the table, and then as many visits to the breakfast buffet as you can muster! The buffet comprised wet or dry chana (chickpeas), halwa (sweet) and roast potatoes.

Once the bread arrived I ventured up.  The bowls are small, but it doesn't really matter as you can refill as much as you like.  So I went for the familiar wet chana, topped with roast potatoes and drizzled in mint/yoghurt sauce, and a second bowl of halwa! 

With three puris the breakfast is very filling.  The puris were pretty dry, when compared to others I have sampled, were very flacky, and had a rather subtle flavour.  

Chana, Halwa and Puris - a perfect match 

I slipped up topping my chana with the roasted spuds... I managed to mask the flavour of the chana with the a little bit of a... well roasted potato taste!  The chana itself  was good, but was a little middle of the road.  It didn't posses the fire of the Sweet Centre nor the sourness of Mughals.  I don't often bother with the sweet Halwa when breakfasting but couldn't really say now, what with a big vat sat there.  I'm always happy when I do, however, and Cafe Regal's halwa was one of the finest I've tasted.  Lovely sweet semolina based bowl of loveliness to break up the savoury Chana and Puris.  Great. 

Pink tea is great

This was all washed down with pink tea.  I nice little touch I thought to include in the single priced breakfast.  Pink tea is ace, and nice and sweet and spicy.  Very refreshing.  

After this little lot, however, I just couldn't face a second second visit to the buffet!  So settled up and got off. On reflection Cafe Regal's breakfast was excellent, and the included pink tea made it all the better. I'll definitely be visiting again, but will avoid smothering my Chana with the roasties!

Breakfast a Study #3 Amaan's Grill House

Been wanting to re-visit Amaan's Grill House for a good while now, and especially for a Breakfast.  We've tried on the odd occasion mid week, but it's always been shut in the morning.  Closer inspection of the opening hours, however, revealed Amaan's is only really open at Breakfast time at the weekend. DOH!

I understand the guy's who opened Amaan's were once employees of Lumb Lane's Sweet Centre and as such provided a mean Brekkie.  This really needed sampling.

Isabella - my long suffering daughter - and I rocked up to Amaan's at about 11:30am, so was more 'Brunch' time than anything else.  This was good as Izzy could have a bowl of chips without me feeling too guilty, and we'd tell Mother it was lunch!

So chips - again - for Izzy!  I had Chana Aloo, a Partha (no puri's at Amaan's) and a Desi Tea.  We perched on a little bar to the back of the restaurant on high swivel chairs (Izzy's fave) and watched Chef set to in the open kitchen.  It was encouraging to see our paratha being rolled out from fresh dough, and the chana being made from scratch right in front of our eyes.

The Breakfast was very good.  The plentiful bowl of steaming chickpeas and potato was tasty and a little fiery.  The sauce possessed just enough substance to hold the main ingredients in suspension and clingy enough to adhere to chunks of Paratha passed its way.   The Chana was a tad salty if I was to be very critical!  The Paratha was of the plain variety, and was crispy and flakey, and had that comforting fried bread taste.  It worked very well with the very tasty chana and help calm the onslaught of the taste buds.  I didn't miss the lack of puri's at all - as I thought I would - and the paratha was perfect.  I was pelased with my first try of Desi Tea too.  Sweet, milky and slightly spiced tea was more akin to traditional English Tea than the pink Kashmiri Tea I have tried else where.  Went well with the Brakfast solids.

All round excellent.  We are talking £2 for the Chana and £1.50 for the Partha!  These are the unsubstantial sums of money we are taking here.  Worth every single penny.

Breakfast Study #2 - The Sweet Centre

The Breakfast Study continues with a trip to the Sweet Centre, arguably the finest breakfast establishment in Bradford.

And it is indeed great - and I have breakfasted here on many occasions, as regular readers to the Bradford Curry Blog will all to well know.

Today, the cafe was very busy - and showed obvious signs - uncleared  tables - of a very busy morning prior to my arrival.  The bar was rammed, and I was unsure of my place in the queue.

So why so good?  Well, it's a combination of many factors.  It's cheap and quick for starters, so can be considered as a rapid pop in when passing, and the the food is great too.  The chana has substantial chickpea and potato content in a thin sauce, which is excellently flavoured, seasoned, and spiced.  I find the level of spice can increase with depth, probably due the the spices settling out of the thin sauce??  Great though.  Then there's the kebabs.  50yr+ recipe apparently?  Simply gorgeous course ground meat and obvious onions, are certainly substantial in their texture and flavour.

Plenty of mint sauce is the order of the day for me.

My breakfast of choice at the moment, but from here the Breakfast study travels into virgin territory.

Breakfast - a Study

Enjoying Mughals

I'm a big fan of the traditional breakfast or desi breakfast or, I think, properly called Halwa Poori.  Therefore, I've decided to do a study.

I was first exposed to this delicacy during a trip to Manchester, many moons ago.  At the time it was a completely alien concept to me... "What?  Curry for for breakfast?"  At the time, it seemed certainly a rarity in Bradford - unless, it was just for people in the know?  In fact I need to stop banging on about this!

Anyway, thankfully it is far more easily available now, with many establishments advertising breakfasts.

Mughals Chana and poori

So, from where I've sampled up to know, it seems The Sweet Center is the bench mark.  Always pretty busy, quick and good.  Perfect for a quick bob in and out.  Chickpeas (chana) in a cauldron behind the counter and dished up simply like Oliver Twist or something!  Greasy bread (poori), and the option of halwa (a bowl of sweet stuff??) are also good, and you can also indulge in the legendary kebabs too.  Original 50yr+ old recipe.  Very nice.  It is just great.  Sweet Center exploits - including breakfasts - can be seen here.  The Sweet Center will be visited again soon as part of this study.

However, the last couple of breakfasts I have enjoyed have been at Mughals.  First time was a birthday treat to me - here.  And then most recently just the other day.  Different to the Sweet Center, the Mughals breakie is made fresh in the little open kitchen.  On this visit, the chana was rather loose and a little oily.  Very sour with lime pickle (seems to be Mughals thing), and very tasty.  The poori's were greasy as usual but I love them.  It was a great breakfast.

The study could go on for a while but I will update as regularly as possible.