Village Curry House, Glasgow

Peshwari Chops

WHIZ! BANG! WALLOP!!!  WOW... what a curry!  The Village Curry Houses Peshwari Chops was a stonker.  Four sizeable, meaty and melt in the mouth bbqed/tandored lamb chops, swimming in a quite loose, and slightly oily gravy.  The flavours were immense.  Really rather citrusy sour, and a fair old amount of heat!  I was glad I reined in the bravado and erred on the side of caution with 'medium strength' when asked. Also, rich, full bodied and well seasoned, and presented with match sticks of fresh ginger on top to add a real zing.  I'm pretty sure there may have been some sultanas or something lurking in the bottom of the dish - some little morsels of sweetness were experienced any way.  It was a dish quite different to what we get here in Bradford, and one I will remember for quite a while, and keep me itching for more frequent Glasgow trips.

Frequent readers of the Bradford Curry Blog will probably have realised I often visit Glasgow to see family. After many years eating curry up there (not always blogged), it has become easy to see why both Glasgow and Bradford have swapped Curry Capital honours on a number of occasions recently.  Glasgow as a whole does serve up excellent fare.  This was to be my first visit to the Village Curry House, and first Glasgow curry with the Glaswegian Legend Hector Curry-Heute*.  How better to enjoy your first Village curry than with family and the Curry Master?

We ride so we can eat more curry

Just gone 13:00 and Win, Ben, Lynda and me are studying Lunch Special Menus which were on the tables... in Hector walks.  Looking a little puzzled - as were we - at this stripped down menu, it was clear this was not going to sate the Master Hector!  A quick chat to the waiter soon saw reinstatement of the full menu.  It is handy having friends in high places that's for sure.

Feeling much happier now, I could now see the Peshwari Chops dish I had set my heart on.  Hector spoke highly of the Lamb Desi Korma and said "well someone should get it."  Lynda took on the challenge.  Ben and Win still went with Lunch Specials.  Pakoras were ordered for starters too in various guises.  Izzy, bless here, stuck to her plate of chips and chicken nuggets, but did adorn it initially with a poppadom! And Hector the Achari Gosht - Desi Style - with Aloo Paratha.  Desi style is essentially turbo charged!

The Pakoras were dispatched without drama - I noted the fish was rater splendid.  Then the mains.  My Peshwari Chops were astonishing - as already discussed.  The Recommended Lamb Desi Korma was the only other dish I sampled and it was indeed unlike any other Korma I'd ever eaten.  It was not overly creamy, pretty darn hot and also possessed the citrus reminiscent of my dish.  Lynda was pleased and remarked on the Korma twist.  Hector considered his Achari to be stunning.  Tender meat, viscous masala, decent kick, punctuated with smacks from lime pickle.

So all in all we had a splendid visit to The Village Curry House, and I can't recommend it highly enough.  If you're ever up Glasgow way check it out.  We certainly will be on our next trip north of the border.

*Hector was on his 40 something blogged visit to the Village!  However, countless total number of visits for the curry maestro!

Hit the North Again - Ashoka, Glasgow

Location

19 Ashton Lane,

Hillhead,

Glasgow,

G12 8SJ.

Tel: 0141 337 1115

http://www.ashokarestaurants.com/

Time

Saturday 26th November 2011 (Late evening)

Attendees

Juanita, Ben, Big Tone and John

Watering Hole(s)

Again Brel was the first port of call for a few of Belgian’s finest and a bit of early evening jazz – and all very nice it was too.  No ‘nice’ glass for my Chimay Blue’s though, so had to drink from a glass beaker - of the like you might be served a coke in – still tasted the same though.  Then we ventured on to Jinty McGuinty's - slightly further down Ashton Lane - and was your pretty standard Irish theme bar.  Busy though and good Guinness apparently.  Oran Mor was visit again on this occasion also.

Expectations

To be honest I had no (or maybe low) expectations.  From visiting Glasgow numerous times over the years, I have seen the Ashoka name all over the place.  I understand them not to be a chain or franchise but, still, there are loads of ‘em – so, like a TGI Fridays/Frankie n Bennies/etc. (which are chains admittedly), could they be that good?  Also, I understand they come under the Harlequin umbrella of restaurants??  Quite what that means I don’t know??  I don’t claim to understand at all the politics of the Glasgow Curry Scene, and don’t want to speak out of turn here, but I think the Harlequin name owns/runs loads of Glasgow Curry Restaurants so again, I would normally tend to shy away from such antics. 

The Reality

My initial impressions of Ashoka – on a Saturday night at least – were ones of ‘popular’ and ‘bustling’, and there were definite suggestions in the air that a top class dining experience were about to be had. 

The restaurant has booth type seating to the edges of the room, with more traditional seating arrangements through the center.  Not a massive room, but tastefully decorated in generally dark shades, and resplendent with a large Indian themed mural on the back wall.  This being a wet and blustery night in Glasgow, the small cloakroom area was overflowing with outdoor wear.

With Juanita having the forethought to suggest booking a table in advance – and it was a good job we did as the restaurant was full on our arrival - we were swiftly seated in a decently positioned booth next to the window.  Not huge the booths – especially when the amassed girths of Bradford’s finest curry eating glitterati are shoe horned into one!!

I can’t remember having poppadoms…..  (Oopppss!!  Serves me right for leaving too long before blogging – lesson learned), so I’ll move swiftly to the starters.  The novelty of Haggis Pakora was was too much to resist so these were ordered on Big Tone’s behalf before he had time to think about it.  Fish pakora for me and have now complaints – in fact the fish pakora merits high praise from me for the soft, perfectly cooked fish, coated in the light batter.  The Haggis Pakora, on the other hand, did seem to offer little else other than its novelty value.  It did taste haggisy though to its credit.  The onion bhaji was noted as being rather dry and was not popular.

Exquisite Kerala Chilli

Now, I’m not one for creamy curries normally, but one caught my eye on the Ashoka menu.  The Kerala Chilli – with your own choice of meat/fish/veg - was billed as comprising a piquant sauce with black pepper and a dash of coconut milk, oh and some chilli.  Sounded interesting, and not like curries we get down here in Bradford, so I ordered one… with lamb.  I was not disappointed at all, and found it full of flavour and the kind of dish that attacked every taste bud with every mouthful.  There was the initial taste of coconut that morphed into a slight sweet n sourness, and then a fair and pleasant wallop of heat from the chilli.  This sneaked up at the end… just to let you know that, although a creamy curry, this was actually a proper ‘mans’ curry.  Black pepper didn’t exactly jump out at me, but no matter.  The meat count was high and I found it all round excellent.  Well worth sampling.  Garlic naan again (I’m really going to have try and branch out) was perfectly good enough.

Novel Haggis Pakora

Excellent Fish Pakora

Drinks Policy and range

No worries here – endless pints of lager on tap – Lal Toofan.

Highlights

Ben's Curry was also tasty

The Kerala Chilli with Lamb was, without question, the highlight for me.  Not the kind of dish this local to Bradford curry lover experiences regularly.  The dish attacked every taste bud with its creamy coconuty flavour, some pleasant heat, and elements of both sweet and sour – it was excellent in my opinion. 

Lowlights

I don’t like to discuss lowlights regularly, and rarely encounter anything that causes me to put finger to keypad and type it down.  Although on this occasion Ashoka delivered a very enjoyable curry eating night out for us lot – and bear in mind this is the view of a tight fisted Yorkshireman with short arms and deep pockets – it was a bit on the dear side!!  £5-£6 for a basic starter and upwards of £10 for the main course’s, was very dear I thought.  The fodder was yummy but, for me, it was just on the wrong side of VFM.  However, the restaurant was very busy, and we had to book a table, so it is defo popular and people are happy to pay the prices – so who am I to question?

The Damage

Me and Fish Pakora

The bill came to about £20/person.  A good night out etc, but with the, what I would consider slightly under par starters in general (although my fish pakora was excellent), I thought that was a bit pricey.

Aftermath

Similar situation to the recent Café Salma aftermath is as much as bike racing the next day resulted in waking with a slight feeling of butterflies.  Can’t be sure if my guts were taking a turn for the worst due to the curry or it was a case of my body entering panic mode!!  Judging by the quality of the food at Ashoka, I think it was the later.

Overall

Decent environment and excellent main curry but slightly under par starters and cost will limit Ashoka’s appeal for me in the future.

Hit the North - Cafe Salma, Glasgow

Location

523 Sauchiehall Street,

Glasgow,

G3 7PQ,

United Kingdom

Tel: 0141 221 7636

http://www.cafesalma.com/

Get Directions

Time

Saturday 22^nd October 2011 (Evening)

Attendees

Juanita, Ben and John

Watering Hole(s)

A little pub crawl was achieved prior to visiting Café Salma. 

First off we visited Brel on Ashton Lane.  This is Glasgow’s (only?) Belgium themed bar, is located on a super trendy pedestrian only cobbled street that is Ashton Lane, and sells a good selection of Belgium's finest.  This establishment was chosen not only for our love of Belgian Beer but also due to our bicycle team we race for – Team Here Come the Belgians.  The new Duvel Green was splendid – a paler and a lot more refreshing tipple than other Duvel colour’s I’ve had in the past.  This was followed by my favourite - Kwak, which was disappointingly not served in the usual glass, even though it was stood at the back of the bar?  The smell of Moules Mariniere, and frites with mayo wafting through the bar was almost enough for me to loose my curry focus, but I did manage to resist temptation, and concentrate on the matter in hand.

Ben and Juanita enjoy the window seat at Cafe Salma

Next was Oran Moor, at the top Byers Road, followed by the Griffin on Bath Street.  Only Normal Lager and Guinness were consumed at these locations.  However, we were racing the following day, so wanted to try and remain fairly restrained.

Expectations

New BCC T-Shirt

I had become increasingly aware of Café Salma through reading Curry-Heute, and recent consultation with Hector had flagged the café as a defo must do, especially if staying north of the river.  However, concerns had been raised by the Glasgow branch of the Bradford Curry Club that they thought Café Salma was more Moroccan than Indian?  However, Perusal of the website did show both Moroccan and Indian menus.  In addition, the likes of pizza and burgers were also offered, and made us think more ‘fast food takeaway’ rather than ‘curry house’.  However, as seen recently in Bradford, the move towards more varied menus is becoming more popular, and is no more the sole domain of the takeaway.

The Reality

Open kitchen at Cafe Salma

Café Salma is definitely more Curry House, with, I understand, a Moroccan café downstairs, and is smallish and informal.  Like a lot of places I’ve visited in Glasgow, there is an open kitchen to one side.

The restaurant was about half full when we arrived, and with a very friendly welcome, we were sat at a window table.  We were presented with poppadoms and pickles, and water, along with both Indian and Moroccan menus.  Suffice to say this was a curry eating mission, and, alas, the poor old Moroccan menu didn’t really get a look in.  On another night may be?

Sheekh Kebab

Sheekh Kebab was my starter.  Even amongst some interesting sounding pakora options, I couldn't resist the Sheekh Kebab.  I’m glad I did, as it was delicious, and enough of the pickle tray remained to allow dippage.

My main was the recommended Lamb Lahori Karahi, and it was also very very good.  The pale(ish) coloured curry smacked of fresh ingredients, and had a rich, full taste.  I found it also nice and garlicy with large chunks of lamb residing.   Although, to be brutally honest, my first impressions were that perhaps the dish looked a little ‘retro’ - however, there were no qualms once the first mouthful went in.

Nothing to say about the Garlic and Coriander Naan other than you need to go a sample it, end of.  It was simply wonderful.

Drinks Policy and range

No alcohol served and didn’t ask about any BYO policy.  We drank water and soft drinks with our meal, and they seemed perfectly fitting.

Highlights

I enjoyed every aspect of my meal thoroughly, but if I have to choose one thing, I felt the Garlic and Coriander naan sneaked in to the Top Draw honors list.  General ambiance and service were also good.

Garlic and Coriander Naan

Lowlights

Eeerrr??  Nope, there were non to speak of.

The Damage

The bill came to about £17/person.  Without drinks, this is not what I would call cheap, but, considering the quality of the food, and service, it definitely falls into the more important VFM category.

Aftermath

'An Hour in Hell' - Perfect for a Sunday Morning???

We headed home for an early night after the meal.  A bit ‘peeky’ the following morning, but this may have more to do with one or two too many beers and my body entering panic mode as the ‘Hour in Hell’ fast approached!!

Overall

I will definitely revisit this little gem.  Thanks to Hector for the heads up.