Shimla Spice

What a nightmare, what an absolute nightmare!

Whoa whoa whoa, hold you horses, back up a minute there... 

Lets not get off on the wrong foot here.  Don't worry, I'm not eluding to Shimla Spice here - the mighty Shimla Spice by and large delivered... our nightmarish dining experience was the product of.... wait for it.... children! Ours!

Izzy tackles the Naan on a stick like a Pro

Kids in perpetual motion (toilet, window, toilet, window.... repeat!).  Unable to have a conversation - unable to even sit peacefully for more than 2mins!  Rice and popadoms everywhere*! KIDS!  AAaarrgh!

So a dining experience somewhat marred by our kin.  They aren't bad kids, just... just... easily bored and time consuming!  I guess like most kids - yet to discover sitting and chatting over a meal is a pleasurable experience?  In time I'm sure.  So, generally a difficult task to focus on the fodder and to take anything in alas, but I can still make a few observations:

Lahori Masala Fish

Firstly, Wow!  Shimla Spice seems so busy busy busy these days. A real buzzing atmosphere.  A big slap on the back is deserved for all the awards and associated drawing in of the crowds.  Even at 'doors' at 17:30, Shimla Spice was filling quickly! Thankfully we were accommodated, but I was worried for a minute that we were to be unlucky, and moved on!  I think a quick call and booking in the future might be a good idea.

Hot Hot HOT!

Popadoms arrived with the menus, which is always a nice touch, and the perusal and decision making in earnest commenced.  I loved the Achari I had on my last visit, but I was determined to have something new, so Lahori Fish Masala and Lamb Peshwari with a garlic naan were my selection.

Now, I'm not overly full of bravado normally, but when my mate Fran asked for his dish 'really hot', I foolishly followed suit in a 'not to be out done' kind of way and also ordered hot also!  More on that in a minute.

Firstly, the Lahori Masala Fish.  Chuncky and tasty fish coated in a very subtle blend of coarsely ground spices.  Quite delicious.

Now, the Lamb Peshwari (hot!).  My 'Big Man', 'make it hot', 'I can take anything' attitude came back to to bite me on the bum I'm afraid!  Boy it was hot!  Really slipped up, and my silly request slightly spoilt a wonderful curry. However, before I burnt my mouth, I ascertained I'd been served another excellent Shimla Spice curry.  Deeply dark and rich, with sweet and sour tones, and high quota of melt in the mouth lamb. The sauce was thickened with ground almonds and pistachios and made for a hearty and indulgent curry - very decadent if not the most visually appealing!

My mouth was on fire by the end!  Such an idiot I am and such a shame!  I will return to the Lamb Peshwari without fail, but stick to my favoured middle of the road spicing - lesson well and truly learnt!

The Garlic Naan on a stick was high quality, and help a little to quench the fire in my mouth.  Went down well with Izzy who loved reaching up and tearing great chunks off.  A large Naan could be quite daunting to a small 3yr old - but she wasn't perturbed and attacked the bread with gusto.

I understand there to have been a minor confusion with one of the orders and one of our party had to remind the waiter she was still waiting for her food but overall top marks 10/10 yet again for for Shimla Spice.  Great place.

*Sorry for leaving a mess chaps - we will leave a healthy tip next time we are in.

Shimla Spice - English Curry Awards 2013

Congratulations to the mighty Shimla Spice for recently landing yet another set of awards.  This time at the prestigious English Curry Awards 2013.  But when will they stop?  There can't be many more awards left!

Post by Shimla Spice Restaurants Fan Page.

Announced as competition finalists in mid August, Shimla Spice went on to beat stiff competition and win not only the Best Restaurant in Yorkshire 2013 category, but also the Best Restaurant in England 2013 category too!  It is, of course, a great achievement for Shimla Spice, and an excellent reward for a lot of hard work but, thinking of the bigger picture, how fantastic is it for the Bradford area itself?  It says a lot about the quality of the food available in the city and surrounding area.  Shimla Spice have done themselves and the Bradford - The Curry Capital of Britain - proud.

So a massive well done Shimla Spice.  I am looking forward to my next visits to this award winning restaurant, and hope experiences such as these will issue forth... Bring it on!

The Mighty Shimla Spice - My Birthday Treat

WWwwwoooohhhhhooooo a Birthday curry - and WWwwwoooohhhhhooooo the mighty Shimla Spice.

Popadom Frenzy!

I'm not sure why that, up to the mentioned above Birthday curry, we'd only ever been to Shimal Spice once! When we visited it before, as the now disbanded Bradford Curry Club, we had a great evening and we raved about the food.  In addition, Shimla Spice is fairly close to us in Guiseley, and it wins lots and lots of awards.  It's total madness!

Birthday Boy with a Naan on a Stick

Anyway, enough already, we've finally made it back, and from what we experienced we certainly shan't be leaving it quite so long next time I can promise you.  From the offset, spirits were high - it was my Birthday* - I had just returned from a stonking ride at the Great Manchester Cycle, and was buzzing.  A hearty refuel was desperately needed - something I was sure Shimla Spice would be able to offer.  I had a few people joining me too, and the whole episode was rather reminiscent of the old Bradford Curry Club days - oh how I miss it.

So on to the food. But, before we get there even, one of my fave little touches, at any restaurant for that matter, is poppadoms and pickles delivered immediately to the table.  Shimla Spice delivered and the appetite was well and truly whetted by the general nibbling.  Also, Shimla Spice is BYO - happy days.  Top marks so far.

For starters it had to be the epic Mixed Grill.  It was well received by all who sampled it.  A piled high sizzling platter stuffed with the usual chops, kebabs, chicken tikka, and fish.  All this was intertwined with a mass of tangled sweet onions.  Excellent.  Even my daughter, who's usual line of "I don't like curry", commented on the Grill with a "that fish was lovely!"  Great stuff.

Lamb Achari

My main was Lamb Achari.  This again was brilliant. It managed to be both nicely hot and lip smackingly sour.  It attacked my head straight from the first mouth full, and sent me into a spin of huffing and puffing a little with the heat and facial contortions from the sourness.  Amazing!  Although my fellow dinners must have wondered what was going on!  It was also high quality with good and plentiful meat and minimal oil.  The Achari was off the Specials Menu, and was also tagged with 'Award Winning Dish', so guess it should have been something special... It was.

After all this I was in heaven, and had had a wonderful Birthday*

*Well Birthday Eve to be completely honest!

Kerala Café

Please make sure you try Kerala Café – I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.  I hope you won’t be disappointed rather?

Kerala café is a proper little gem on the edge of Bradford – probably Shipley really.  They are succeeding in carving out a nice little niche, and properly deserve a visit.

It’s a nice friendly environment, and an opportunity for the Bradfordian to sample an alternative to the norm of thick, dark, rich, often heavy, ghee’d up to the max, Kashmiri curries… oh and naans on sticks, let’s not forget the naans on sticks...  Ok, ok, ok… Kerala Café, by their own admission, appreciate that for many dyed in the wool Bradford Curry eating folks, the likes of dosa’s, vada’s, fish fry’s, etc. will mean nothing, and sometimes these dinners leave ultimately a little disappointed.  More fool them - just open your eyes please Bradford Curry lovers.

On our recent visit, banners hung in the café window declaring the offer of £5 lunch.  As intrigued as I was, I’d already set my heart on a dosa, but, luckily, having an easily bullied Grandpa’ with us, meant the lunch special wasn’t going to go un-sampled.

Grandpa’ is the ‘dye in the wool Bradford ‘type’ (he’s from Accrington really)’ that I alluded to above, and struggles with the prospect of something new, but did eventually relish the challenge and I think he was happy.  The £5 lunch special comprised a totally vegetarian meal with a big bowl of rice, chapatti and poppadum, with a small chickpea dish, and pickles of onion, carrot and something sour and pretty hot.  There was also a side dish of samba (like a staple vege curry), and also a sweet vermicelli dish.  There were loads of different flavours going on basically.  It was the kind of meal you see on the Travel Channel, served on a pressed steel tray.

All elements worked in harmony, and gave a full on flavour hit.  I will be tempted for next time.  

I thoroughly enjoyed my dosa – a rarely seen dish in Bradford.  It is one of my favourite dishes.  I went vege also, and my beautiful crispy on one side and soft of the other, slightly sour tasting dosa, was stuffed to the gills with potato masala.  The potato was well flavoured and seasoned but was not blow your head off hot.  

Izzy tried the Parippu Vada this time and loved them.  To my palate they were far tastier that the Uzhunnu vada sampled last time.  I’m now a vada convert and would order again.

The front of house guy was helpful and was happy to share appropriate dosa eating etiquete on request.  We were chatting, and he was about to tell us about the different types of Indian food, when the café suddenly started to fill.  He had to curtail his story, but we will look forward to hearing the full tale on our return.

Kerala Cafe

Location

139-141,

Bradford Road,

BD18 3TB,

United Kingdom.

Tell:  01274 595 367

Web:  http://www.kerala-cafe.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150504294118814.394464.705533813&type=3#!/keralacafeuk

Good pickles including carrot and ginger ones

Time

21^st April 2012 @ ~17:30

Attendees

Gemma, Noel, Jake, Gill, Rob, Jenny, Pete, Lilly, Dan, Lynda, Izzy and John (me)

Expectations

As always… pretty high.  The amount of research I do pre going to curry restaurants always means my mouth is watering days before visiting.  My research flagged up that Kerala was going to be something completely different to anything else anyone can savor in Bradford… Southern Indian Food.

The Reality

On first inspection of the menu it was immediately obvious we were out of our Bradfordian comfort zone, with a board of fare stuffed full of new to us dishes.  On further perusal, and reading of the descriptions more carefully, some familiarity could be gleaned.  The bread section is a perfect example… no chapattis, naans, etc, but descriptions revealed the breads on offer were ‘like chapttis’, ‘like naan’.

Vada's with coconut dip

So on to starters. After poppadom’s that were served with a good selection of pickles, which included a ginger and carrot pickle – excellent - I chose vada’s.  I’ve not had vada’s before but remembered the Hairy Bikers once cooking them on the telly, and understood them to be essentially a kind of deep fried chickpea doughnut street food type of thingy??  My vada’s were served with a coconut dip and, to be honest, I didn’t really like them – they seemed a little bland?  Now, before I go further, I have no vada experience, so can’t really comment.  They were well cooked and had a nice chewy dense texture, but perhaps needed a dip with a little bit more oomph?  It’s all down to taste at the end of the day I suppose?  Other options such as fish and chicken fries were also ordered, and were well received.

The Dosa's are as big as they look!

My main of Lamb Masala Dosa, although slightly collapsed by the time it arrived, was excellent.  It was massive, and heartily stuffed with a mild and very tasty lamb and potato masala.  A thin lentil soup/dip/sauce was served on the side.  I’ve had dosa’s before and love the concept.  Kerala Café’s dosa was no exception and I loved it all.  A dosa is traditionally made from a slightly fermented batter, and has a slightly sour taste, and is nice and crispy.  A much lighter option compared to Bradford’s usual massive naans etc.  I don’t know the technique for eating but I just dive in!!  Pour the sauce over the whole lot and go for it.  A dosa is an excellent experience if you’ve never had one.

The dinning environment is good café style.  It is basic, with no bells and whistles, but clean and tidy.  There was a lot of glass to the front of the café, and it was a sunny day, so was pretty hot – just like Kerala I guess?  I think twelve of us turning up unannounced slightly startled the staff, and there were some gaps in the courses, but as a whole they managed a sterling job so hats off.

Cool cafe interior

Drinks Policy and range

BYO.  Come prepped if alcohol is to be taken.  No ‘offies’ in the locale that I spotted.  Water, pop and some very nice fruit juices are available off the menu.

Highlights

I do love a Dosa – and this was it for me.  Also, the Lamb Chettinadu was outstanding.  “The best curry I had in a long time” - was the comment from one of the more ‘hard to please’ BCC members.  ‘Nough said really.

Lowlights

Vada’s – just didn’t get them at all??  Sorry.  To be honest, I have no point of reference, but just didn’t really taste of anything?  Having said that, the under two’s loved them – reason enough for me to love them I suppose maybe?  HHmmm?  The jury is out.

The Damage

A reasonable ~£15pp, as per the norm.  Good food for good money.

Overall

Kerala Café is a little out the way, but is definitely worth a visit for, not only the ‘something completely different’ aspect, but for a darn good curry too, and is also open at lunch time.

Zaara's

Location

Outside Zaara's on a wind swept evening 

Zaara’s Indian Restaurant

34-38 Bradford Road

Shipley

West Yorkshire

BD18 3NT

Tell: 01274 588774

Modern interior

Web: http://www.zaaras.com/

Time

11^th November 2011 @ ~20:30

Attendees

Jaz, Lynda, Francois and John (me)

Pre-Curry Watering Holes

Fanny's is a Shipley institution

Not really knowing Shipley that well for drinking, we headed straight to Saltaire.  Leaving the train, on what was a dank drizzly night, made the partially cobbled terraced streets of Saltaire, with the Mill looming through the dark, very atmospheric for first time visitor to Bradford Francois. 

First port of call was Don’t Tell Titus, a modern bar come restaurant just up from the train station.  It was a trendy noisy kind of place but was pleasant enough to spend just enough time to neck a bottle of wine.  Next was the legendary Fanny’s Ale House.  Fanny’s is a very characterful boozer on Saltaire Road, offering all manner of specialist and local brews.  It was heaving with standing room only, but is well worth a visit if in the area.  Finally was Ring O Bells, just across the road from Zaara’s, and is your standard kind of pub really.  There’s nothing wrong with that but nothing much to say either. 

Expectations

Zaara’s is in the Michelin Guide – not starred or anything, but it’s in there all the same – resulting in my high expectations.  However, coming down to earth, I understand that you simply pay to be included in the guide, so I guess it’s not that special?  But it’s not often I get to use the words ‘Michelin’ and ‘restaurant’ in the same sentence, so it felt pretty special to me.

The Reality

Zaara’a, like so many modern curry houses in and around Bradford, and probably the country, is a trendy establishment, which has dispensed with the traditional, outdated and clichéd flock wall paper and velvet chairs etc in favor of faux leather and dark wood.  Very swish it all looked too.

Following on from poppadoms and pickles, my starter of Paneer Tikka was wonderful and served on a bed of sizzling onions.  The herbs and spices encrusted to the outside of the paneer attacked every taste bud in my mouth with gusto.

Mixed Karahi

For main, my requested ‘hot’ Mixed Karahi (lamb and chicken) arrived perfectly spiced for my taste, and supplied the warm glow in the mouth sensation that a good curry should.  Not blow your head off hot - but just enough to let you know that he’s there.  All the curries ordered could be chosen at different heat levels - but on this occasion no-one dared the ‘Asian Strength’.  Flavour wise my Karahi – which is fast becoming my Bradford Curry of choice – was all there too, and left me wanting more.  Although slightly lacking in the lamb element of its Mixed tag, it provided plenty of chicken in a sumptuous (not oily) gravy, with the addition of a slightly deconstructed element to the dish in the form of fresh toms and herbs. 

The accompaniment of Garlic Naan was ‘a Garlic Naan’ - we’ve all been there – so won’t bore you with detail.  It didn’t last long though I can tell you.

The whole lot was polished off with no problems.

Drinks Policy and range

Zarra’s is licensed with a full wine and beer list.  Bottles Cobra are available - but no Kingfisher, or other curry associated beers seem to be available.

Highlights

Paneer Tikka

Although all was very nice, and I enjoyed every aspect of my meal, I really rated the Paneer Tikka.  Credit has to go the Zaara chef for his quality blend of herbs and spices, which transformed, what I guess is an essentially pretty bland cottage cheese, to the dizzying heights of mouthwatering status.

Lowlights

There were absolutely none.  My personal preference is to be presented with poppadoms and pickles when seated, or with the drinks, which didn’t happen at Zaara’s.  However, I totally understand that it isn’t what everyone wants.  Therefore, it’s not a criticism, just an observation.

The Damage

Very reasonable at £16.25pp including drinks (at least two bottles of beer each) I think?  So about £10pp for starter, main and sundry!!  Rock on!!  That sounds cheap so will confirm.

Aftershock

The obligatory headache followed in the morning, but that was from other ‘sauces’.

Overall

I was more than happy with my Zaara experience.  It was very nice in every aspect. 

Shimal Spice, Shipley 19/02/2011

Attendees: Caz, Simon, Jenny, Pete, Lynda and me

Simple review for this one…… I think Shimla Spice might be my new favorite curry house. Bish Bosh.


There’s not really much else to say – I couldn’t really fault my experience, aided by the booze prior to the visit and the BYO policy, and Shimla has restored my faith in the Bradford curry scene. My faith was waning slightly, after a recent succession of average curries and poor service.


I feel I should elaborate slightly though for the benefit of others…… in fact I won’t bother – just go when you get the chance – I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. The sizzler starter was piled high with meat, a little fish, and sweet onions and my mixed special kahari type main was sumptuous to the point that I felt I could’ve kept eating all night. I polished the lot off and was begging for more!!! Not small portions either just yummy.


To be overly fussy, it could be argued that Shimla is just another Akbars clone, with pink and blue neon lights, lots glass and lots of chrome – but who cares, it’s a formula that clearly works and is popular. The restaurant was buzzing on our arrival and all night long. Oh and the menu was a little long winded. Loads of choice but I got bored reading it!!!


The one thing that was a little annoying was what seemed like constant playing of Happy Birthday. Once or twice is fair enough but this seemed almost constant. I feel the Shipley locals may have been pulling fast ones – I cannot believe there to be so many birthdays on one day???


I should restrain my excitement a little perhaps, and not get carried away with myself, until further research has been carried out that is. Only then shall Shimal Spice (rightly??) take its place as one of the top dog Bradford curry joints.

John