Zouk

Manchester Velodrome

Having just spent 2hrs at Manchester Velodrome, slowly having my legs ripped off by Ilkley Cycling Club,  a substantial recovery meal was deemed crucial to aid the repair of my muscles.  As many an athlete will tell you I'm sure, it's a big slap up curry and beer which is the most effective fodder for recovery!*

Now, I like Manchester, and there are many a good curry house lurking, but one of the best aspects of Manchester is that, to get to my house at least, you have to drive through Bradford - So, Bradford it was.  The Mrs decided she'd quite like to go to Zouk, and we hadn't been for a while, so I was happy to oblige.

Mrs Bradford Curry Blogger

When we arrived at Zouk at about 9pm, the place was mobbed.  Very popular is Zouk it has to be said.  We were asked to relax in the bar area whilst a table was prepared.  No problem - I was gagging, so an ice cold Cobra was perfect.

Once sat, we perused the menus - both starving, we decided on full mashings of poppadoms, a starter each and mains!  The specials board caught my eye - a nice touch at Zouk - and my main of Kali Mirch Ka Myth was selected from here, and promised chicken in thick punjabi pepper sauce - sounded good.  I decided on something a little different for my started also, and went for the scallops.   Lynda went for a mixed grill and Lamb Sultani which, it turned out, was very similar to a Nihari.

Scallops in foreground with Mixed Grill to rear

Poppadoms dispensed with, our starters, fresh from the grill, arrived.  My scallops looked and smelled lovely, and were served with a sour tamarind like dip.  First scallop skewered onto my fork, into the dip and into my mouth resulted in a whack of lip smacking tamarind - but no scallop flavor??  Lesson learned there -   clearly the dip was too powerful for the delicate scallop and was over powering it!  Use in moderation.  Second scallop was merely wafted by the dip before popping into my mouth.  Much better - the beautifully grilled (tandored?) scallop was melt in the mouth and subtly spiced.  Gently with the sour dip certainly added to the sweet scallop without drowning it.  A beautiful and slightly different for Bradford, dish.  Very moreish.

Kali Mirch Ka Myth

The Kali Mirch Ka Myth main I ordered sounded totally alien in title, but offered a familiar description with 'Punjabi', 'thick' and 'pepper' jumping from the synopsis, and getting me all a little excited.  However, I have to  honest and say the dish didn't really deliver on it's promise!  Although I hate to say it, I found the dish very bland and a bit soupy!  It was more like pie filling in taste than curry.  On occasion a fragrant pepper corn was happened upon, which added some interest to the proceeding, but other than that it was a pretty uninspiring trudge from the first mouthful to the last.  It is not often I am negative about a Bradford Curry, but I am finding any positives difficult to find.

Lamb Sultani

Lynda's Sultani was a far superior main and, although I didn't get to eat much of it, there was bags more firey  flavor in evidence, and I must admit to being a touch jealous.

So all in all, exquisite sea food starter, followed but indifferent main course.  As in the past, Zouk is an excellent  dining experience, and is still something different to a lot of Bradford Curry establishment, but its strengths seem to remain firmly in the grill department - which is no bad thing I suppose.

*I'm not a Doctor - and the use of beer and curry as recovery fluid and food after extreme exercise is at the individuals own risk :-)

AGM - Zouk

Another year and another AGM has now passed.  The masses spoke and aired their views, through the medium of a Facebook poll, and Zouk was chosen as the venue to eat Bradford Curry in, in the yearly celebration of the Bradford Curry Club.

I for one was pleased with the choice – Zouk was last visited by the group as a whole in the summer of 2009, and was very well received, but how would it stack up now?  Many restaurants have been visited and many curries eaten in the intervening time – can it still cut the mustard?

Not only have many restaurants been visited, and many curries eaten, but some big changes have taken place within the ranks of the Bradford Curry Club – namely babies.  Last time we dined at Zouk, as a group at least, we were all young, free and single – not really – but so to speak.

Baby herding

In a nutshell, our visit to Zouk in 2009 was a Cobra fuelled curry eating frenzy of the highest order.  It was a Rock ’n’ Roll night out of the magnitude never then or since witnessed in a curry house.  By contrast our recent AGM at Zouk was a far more sedate, but equally enjoyable, basic baby herding exercise.  To their credit, the staff at Zouk were very accommodating, and seemed suitably un-phased by four toddlers/small children running amok around their rear restaurant area.

Lamb Rogan Josh and Garlic Naan

The food was excellent.  My Seekh kebab was wonderfully moist, with the flavour of the grill permeating every mouthful.  Zouk’s open kitchen is a wonderful place to spend a few moments observing the chef’s taming the mighty tandoor and open grills.  My main of Lamb Rogan Josh was spotted on the specials board.  It comprised a much reduced sauce that was strong in flavour, but a little oily.  The meat quota was high, melt in the mouth, and with the addition of the slight disintegration of the meat aiding in the thick and rich nature of the dish.  This dish was, however, £9.95, and I bet must be one of the most expensive ‘standard curries’ available in Bradford.  It was good – I’ll give you that – but perhaps not quite £10 good. 

Elsewhere on the table, the highlight - perhaps a little unexpectedly for me - was the Paya (trotters).  I say ‘unexpectedly’, not for any other reason other than my rather squeamish narrow minded view of rough cuts and offal in general.  However, although the meat did seem nothing more than bones, gristle and fat – and definitely not for me – the dish was presented in the very authentic style with thin but dark gravy, strong with the flavour of ginger.

 

I am pleased to say that Zouk is still very good as far as I am concerned, and the overall dining experience makes it one of the top Bradford Venues.

World Curry Festival 2011, Leeds

We attended the World Curry Festival on the Saturday afternoon, and had a rather enjoyable experience

The Festival itself was set up in Leeds city centre just outside the library and adjacent street.

On arrival it was packed and the smoky aroma of bbqing meat and pots of bubbling curry filled the air.

The short(ish) queue at Barrington Douglas's Discovery Bay stall tempted us into diving straight into our first curry experience of the day - Curry Goat with Rice and Peas.  It was my first Curry Goat experience and I found it very palatable.  Mildly spiced but with rich meat, it was not too dissimilar to the usual Indian curries we are used to

Our second port of call was Zouk's stall, where a massive bbq sizzled away.  We sampled both Chicken Tikka and Paneer Tikka wraps and were not disappointed.  Fresh bbqed meat and cheese on bread - 'nuff said



A quick beer and then it was time for sweets - served up by the Sweet Centre, of Lumb Lane, stall.  One piece each was more than enough.


A few more photos can be found here

Zouk 25/07/2009

Attendees: Sam, Martin, Gill, Rob, Claire, Fran, Lynda, John

Very good I'd say – another contender for ‘best so far’???
A surprisingly large restaurant actually. I have driven past it on many occasions and thought it was tiny.


On arrival the front section of the restaurant was pretty busy (even at 21:00 – and we were asked to wait, and get a drink whilst we waited for our table to be prepared – quite surprising considering I used their new fangled on line booking service – actually, nobody seem to know ho we were or that we’d booked? Oh well.


We were initially all crammed on to a too smaller table, but were eventually allowed to spread out once the adjacent table became available. Zouk was quite a warm restaurant, with the sun beating thro the large glass frontage, and the open flame grills and tandoor going full pelt in the corner.

One grumble at this point of the evening was that the waiter failed to ask the table if any drinks would be liked.

Poppadoms were quickly dispensed with and it was nice to have different, and very nice, pickles for a change.

For starters I had Gola Kebab (Sheekh with paneer). It was about the best kebab I’ve ever had. It was cooked almost right in front of us on an open flame grill. Lovely.


My main comprised the Zouk Karahi and I was quite pleased with it. I think Zouk specialise in the Grill and Tandoor and the actual curry options were a little limited compared to other curry houses we’ve visited. Basically there was either Karahi or Handi – with choices of meat/veg/fish.

General ambiance was good the staff were very friendly and knowledgeable.


Would defo go again and it will always be high on my list of places to visit – and this is high praise again for a curry house adjacent to the mighty Akbars. I will go for a char grilled fish option next I think, and exploit the excellent open flames.

John