Showing posts with label Punjab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Punjab. Show all posts
Friday 21 February 2014
Monday 30 December 2013
Punjab Sweet House and Grill
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| A box of sweets |
Quite simply, the Punjab Sweet House and Grills Karahi Gosht Achari (Achari - cooked with pickle) is one of the best dishes I have had in a long time.
Firstly though, it was good to find out that the Punjab is open all day. I have driven past before in the day, and always thought it to be closed, due to the shady canopies over the windows making it a little dark looking. Also, as previously discussed here, the lack of websites/Facebook pages/etc makes it difficult - for me at least in this day and age of social media - to find such info (yes I could pick the phone up I guess!). As such the Punjab Sweet House and Grill firmly places itself in the 'for people in the know' category.
And there were seemingly quite a few people 'in the know' when we arrived at about 13:00. A couple of large tables of folk are already seated and waiting, and more were to follow. As such, we did wait a little while for our food, but nothing serious, and to me shows that the food is being prepared properly and freshly, and with care and attention. Indeed, the Punjabs open kitchen leaves the chefs nowhere to hide, and as we waited, rather dramatic flashes of flame could be seen from the toilers.
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| Karahi Gosht Achari |
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| Me being excited |
The Karahi Gosht Achari was immense. The scent of lime pickle wafted into the dining room, and announced the imminent arrival of food. The brimming karahi dish was placed on the table, and the sensory onslaught continued with an even stronger eye watering sour pickle whiff getting right into the nostrils, and also the vibrant glistening colour of the dish. I could barely contain myself. All the boxes had already been ticked, and all that was left to do was dive in and hope that the dish tasted as good as the build up would have suggested. It did! Initially yes there was a whack of lime pickle - judging from the smells we had already experienced, I would have been disappointed not to have been bowled over by pickle - and then, once the face contortions had eased, a little heat came through (subtle though), before a deep rich sweetly comforting flavour undercurrent flooded through - which I can only assume comes from slowly cooked onions and, what I guess was, ghee. Now, there was a fair bit of what I thought was ghee, as opposed to oil, but certainly not excessive. I'm pretty sure it was ghee, as the kind of 'butter on the turn' flavour was in evidence. Really, really REALLY good.
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| Tikka Masala left Achari right |
Big Tones Chicken Tikka Masala (Asian Style) (CTM) is worthy of note too. Two CTMs adorn the Punjabs menu - and normal one, and an Asian Style one. Big Tone went Asian Style, and it again was ace. Like a grown up CTM. It was dry (no pink soup here) and tasted great with a strong grilled meat flavour from the charred edges of the tikka meat. Very good.
Simple rotis and garlic naan partnered our meals and they were also good and fresh.
So all in all I really enjoyed the Punjab Grill. Following the meal, and quick visit the the adjacent sweet shop produced a small box of sweets as a treat to my work colleagues. All at work commented on the quality of the product.
Also noted Halwa Puri (breakfast) - so will be back very very soon.
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| Photo courtesy of Curry Heute |
Monday 2 April 2012
Punjab Sweet House & Grill Centre
BD7 1JR
Tell:
01274 720308
Time
24th March 2012 @ ~21:00
Attendees
(Rob, Gill), Jenny, Pete, Ian, Lara Lynda and John (me)
Pre-Curry
Watering Holes
No children on this trip, so a proper pub-crawl - albeit short - had been engineered in to the start of this Bradford Curry eating trip.
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| Inside the Sparrow |
First up was
the Sparrow Bier Café, on North Parade, and a very popular little beer drinking
café-bar it was too. Pretty cool with
exotic beer advertising plaques on the wall, and little Formica tables and
chairs. Although specializing in beer,
we started with a couple of bottle of wine – just to get the evening going you
understand – so can’t really comment on the beer quality. Basically, there were a number of speciality beers, including local ales, on draft, and also bottled continental types
too. It was noted as being, by a member
of our party, “my new favourite place in Bradford
for a drink” - high praise indeed and I’m sure it’ll be on the hit list for
pre-curry drinks in the future.
Next was The
Castle Hotel. Here, a famous old Bradford drinking den was visited by us for the first
time. To be honest I’ve never really
done much drinking in Bradford really –
probably shows. The Castle Hotel is a
pretty bog standard ‘oldie worldy’ pub with a good selection of Real Ales. I understand it to be popular with the CAMARA
types. I had a pint of something, which
name escapes me, but was quite hoppy I recall.
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| Inside the Fighting Cock |
The belly
was rumbling now, but one final drink was to be taken at, from what I
understand to be, the Bradford pub that towers above all other Bradford pubs – The Fighting Cock. You see, again, I’ve never been. I’ve been aware of its presence, and driven
past and seen all the beer barrels out side but never stepped inside. It certainly looks the business, and was
expecting a real dark and dingy, small, spit and sawdust type of place. How wrong I was. It was full of trendy types sipping at their
artisan real ales. Surprisingly large
inside, it was very reminiscing of Fanny’s in Shipley, which we visited a
couple of months ago. It is a Bradford institution and one not to be missed. Dutch lager was my weapon of choice. It was good, it was lager.
Another big plus point for the Fighting Cock is that it’s just around the corner from the Punjab Sweet House & Grill Centre.
Expectations
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| The Mixed Sizzling Starter |
Punjab don’t seem
to like to advertise, and don’t have a web site!! Other than driving past on occasion, the Punjab has passed me by entirely. However, word of mouth is a powerful thing,
and once probing the enigma that is the Punjab Sweet House and Grill
The Reality
The extended
drinking time meant we arrived at the Punjab
gone 9pm. This was good because the tea
time rush was starting to ease some what – when we passed on our way the ‘Cock
it was heaving.
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| Atmospheric Shot of Punjab |
The open
kitchen was a nice to see and it was good to spend a few moments watching the
chefs producing the fresh food with bursts of flames and bangs and clatters,
and loading the tandoors with freshly rolled nanns. The Punjab
was looking promising.
Décor fell into the posh café style. It was clean and presentable. There is also an attached sweet centre, but this was closed by the time we left. We’ll have to ensure an earlier eating time for our next visit.
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| Inside the Punjab |
No complimentary poppadoms to munch on as we perused the menu, but these were ordered as a pre starter to our Special Mixed Grill. We asked for the chicken wings to be swapped for more chicken tikka, which was not a problem; and the dish arrived spitting and sizzling on its red hot cast iron plinth. All aspects of the dish (lamb chops, chicken tikka and kebabs) were wonderful – moist, succulent, full of flavour with spice that danced on the tongue and attacked every taste bud.
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| Lamb Handi |
The menu was
full and varied as whole, but didn’t offer too many dish options beyond the
standard fare seen all over Bradford . However, the Lamb Handi (on the bone) jumped
out at me as something worth trying. I’m
glad I did. The dish was pomp and
ceremony, and arrived bubbling away in a clay pot held aloft and heated by its
own tea light fuelled holder - very grand and unique. A new experience was about to be had I could
tell. As for the taste – it wasn’t all
‘talk and no trousers’ either – and the word rich doesn’t do it justice!! I’m guessing all the marrow from the bones
must have seeped out to produce a curry with depth of flavour far beyond the any
I’ve sampled in this town… indeed the world.
The Handi was ultimate hedonistic decadence in curry form - quite simply
gorgeous.
Drinks Policy and range
Punjab is strictly
alcohol free. Calibrate in the Fighting
Cock – if that’s your bag – prior to your arrival, and enjoy the delights of
tap water and lassi during your meal.
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| Another shot of the Lamb Handi |
Highlights
Lots of
highlights – basically, for me, just a great night out from start to
finish. The Sparrow and the ‘Cock got
the evening rolling with good booze and chat in atmospheric environs, then onto
the Punjab where one of the – no THE - most
lavish and decadent curry I’ve every eaten was savored to the last.
Lowlights
Only having
too much enjoyment!! The enjoyment levels were at such heights we missed the
last train. Luckily the Punjab was on hand to sort appropriate transport for our
party. Still, it was an unnecessary taxi
fare. NB – this is not a reflection of
slow service or anything – just us sitting in the boozer too long!!
The Damage
I didn’t notice the bill come around the table – again!! Sorry. I’m getting good at this.
Aftershock
The richness
of my curry had taken its toll to a certain extent, resulting in indigestion
and a small amount of squiffy tumminess to following morning. But our livers thank us for the late finish
in the Punjab and straight into a taxi home.
Overall
We really found
our hidden gem, and Punjab really lived up to
the ‘word of mouth’ hype I’d come across on the internet. Miss it out at your peril.
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