York curry houses and takeaways

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Well... I used to have a web page giving my opinions on York's sources of Indian food, but it got horrifically out of date. So I thought I'd just put down a few thoughts on where's good and where isn't...

TOP SITDOWNS

Cafe Masala, Fishergate (*****)
Brand new, innovative, compact but airy little place about quarter of a mile outside the city centre. Great surroundings and service, as one expects from almost any new restaurant, but what makes this place special is that the food's innovative too. Everything I (and my friends) have had there on three visits has been excellent - well-spiced without being overpowering, excellent ingredients, varied textures, a menu with quite a few dishes I've not encountered in my currying travels (some innovating-looking seafood stuff in particular). Deserves to be a massive hit, and seems to be succeeding.

Spice Twenty One, George Hudson Street (****)
Currently service excellent, varied food (with a generally Bengali/Sylheti slant) in pleasant (though mysteriously often near-deserted) surroundings. Some of the flavours here may be a bit of an acquired taste (I like them!) but the undeniable quality of the food shines through in pretty much everything they do.

Taj Mahal, King's Staith (****)
Simple but very confident food, relaxed atmosphere, restrained decor, nice view out over the river. Few surprises on the menu, and the "house style" seems to be to go for flavour and depth rather than heat. I've had some particularly good fish and prawn dishes here and although the veggie selection is small it's apparently good.

Jaipur Spice, Haxby Road (****)
Huge over-decorated (you thought the stream and pond were excessive? what about the bridge!) place slightly out of town serving a generally Balti-led menu with a few interesting nods to regionalism. Food tends to be robust rather than tasty, but quality and quantity are always excellent. Alternates between being extremely busy and near-deserted.

Jinnah, Micklegate (****)
Big, bustling restaurant that (as I mentioned earlier) serves its baltis in buckets. Few surprises on the menu, even the house specials are all fairly familiar these days, but it's always worth taking a chance on the "staff curry" - different every time I've tried it and usually simpler and more vigorous than the menu stuff.

Bengal Brasserie, Goodramgate (****)
Busy city-centre establishment serving slightly pricy but tasty and fairly innovative food. Traditional restaurant curries are fairly routine, but the novel stuff on the menu (murgh khandari and gosht achar in particular) are particularly recommended. Gets noisy at weekends. Has a branch out on the ring road that does a pretty good Sunday buffet.

Aagrah, A64, Colton (****)
Part of the celebrated Yorkshire chain, and... well, it lives up to the others in style and quality. Visit one Aagrah and I guess you've visited them all - top-quality food with a few interesting twists, a cracking Sunday buffet, excellent surroundings and service, and a price that's lower than you might think.

GOOD SITDOWNS

Garden of India, Fishergate (***)
Back in the early 90s this was one of the "new wave" of curry houses; the first wave to break way from flock wallpaper and Ravi Shankar. Still a dependable and friendly place to eat, but there have been few changes on the menu since it opened. Still does the best chicken tikka saag in town and has a great value mixed thali.

Mogul, Tanner Row (***)
Tucked behind the Micklegate run, a popular but quiet restaurant that's been doing steady business for over a decade. Used to be one of the best in town but the opposition's caught up. Menu very similar to the Garden (I think the Garden staff came from there originally) with a good selection of specials; generally stronger on tandoori dishes than "regular" curries.

Himalayan, The Mount (***)
Perfectly reasonable, particularly if you've lost a few pounds on the horses as it's near the racecourse. Some nice touches on the menu, but nothing particularly surprising. In its former incarnation, it used to do the most primal tandoori butter chicken I've ever encountered, but this has gone (and cost it its fourth star). Service occasionally gets a bit haphazard as I've noticed sometimes they tend to prioritise takeaways over sitdowns.

Tandoori Night, Bootham (***)
Many-roomed twisty maze of overdecorated nooks and crannies serving OK standard curries and large and rather good (though fairly dry) baltis at sensible prices in a nice relaxed atmosphere. Nothing remarkable, but you're unlikely to be disappointed. Excellent andala (lentil-based) dishes too. Certainly worth a look.

King's Ransom, King St (***)
Started off with a menu very similar to the Tandoori Night but seems to have headed off into milder, sweeter styles. Has a very good stuffed pepper starter and does nice biryanis. Layout manages to make a big restaurant small and a bit awkward - also doesn't cut out noise from other diners. Not bad but nothing to really go out of the way for.

Akash, North St (***)
Very dependable and slightly old-fashioned mid-price middle-of-the-road city-centre restaurant, few real innovations (a splendid taktan and nice sylheti kofta though). Traditionally, home of the hottest lime pickle in town.

Bay of Bengal, Bishopthorpe Road (***)
Unlicensed, fairly cheap and cheerful neighbourhood place out in South Bank. On the basis of a couple of visits, the food's ample, fairly straightforward, tasty without being surprising, and very well-priced. Peshwari naan was one of the best I've had in a while. A better bet than the rather more expensive Lal Quila down the road.

Indian Ocean Ultimate Tandoori, Acomb (***)
Overlooking the picturesque Acomb Green (some of Acomb's quite nice!) this isn't at all bad. Pricy but the tandoori dishes are big, well-presented and of a high quality. Surroundings very pleasant, service OK and generally this place could save you a trip into town if you're out that way.

MEDIOCRE SITDOWNS

Lal Quila, Bishopthorpe Road  (**)
Over-rated and rather old-fashioned establishment in suburban shopping street.

Sylhet, Clarence St (**)
Back when this was the Rahima it was my absolute favourite eating place in the world - used to do incredibly good and phenomenally cheap karahis, jalfrazis etc. in a tiny little room. Now changed hands, the food's OK and still cheap, but the distinctive edge has gone and they've even redecorated. Seems to do most of its business as a takeaway, and the food (although pretty good by takeaway standards) really should be a bit better in a sit-down...

Rise of the Raj, Micklegate (**)
For a long time the only curry club listed place in York, which is amazing as it's... well, totally unremarkable. Fairly nice front room but most of the tables are what appears to be a wooden lean-to at the back! Menu's probaly unchanged in the 16 years I've lived here - slightly pricey and perfectly standard curryhouse fare with few nods at individualism. Gets very busy at chucking-out time at weekends and can be noisy. Convenient and central, and not actually *bad*, but not compelling.

York Tandoori, Lowther St (**)
Very variable, fairly cheap neighbourhood restaurant. I've had meals here that deserve more stars (lovely Ceylons, superb onion pilau, good shashliks) but others that were ordinary in the extreme - again, places a lot of emphasis on takeaways and service gets a little biased in favour of this at tiems..

TAKEAWAYS

A Taste Of India, Tang Hall Lane (?)
Haven't tried it yet - looks cheap and opens early. I'm sure I'll get round to this sometime.

Zaf's, Heslington Road (***)
Slap bang in the middle of York's student/graduate bedsitland and does a roaring trade in simple, well-spiced curries. Not the cheapest takeaway but some of the biggest portions and spiciest meals. Zaf's always good for a laugh too.

Sha-Hi, Nunnery Lane (**)
Food's generally tasty but rather heavy on the ghee in cooking. Good veg side dishes.

Eastern Promise, Fishergate (*)
Whenever I've tried food from here the service has been slow and the end-product pretty mediocre.

Bilash, somewhere up Leeman Rd. (?)
Haven't had anything from there myself for so long that I can't remember!

Chenab, Hull Rd. (****)
At its best on the simpler dishes (so it compliments the nearby and slightly more ambitious Alishaan well) - straightforward good-quality takeaway in big portions with few surprises. The keema masala is a fine example of how to do a very simple dish that hits the right spots. Not bad at all. Choose between here and the Alishaan depending on what you want and which is packed on a particular night!

Alishaan, Melrosegate  (****)
Menu is stronger on tandoori than run-of-the-mill curry, and the tandoori paneer dishes (always with meat kofta) are very memorable. Does some very nice mild veggie dishes, good breads, fair to middling rice, and some nice mixed starter combos. My local curry takeaway and I'm not complaining!

Fishergate Balti House (*)
Does curry, pizzas, burgers and kebabs. The couple of curries I've had
>from  there have been rather one-dimensional but cheap and edible.

Proto Pizza and Taj Mahal Balti, Melrosegate (***) Unusually for a "does everything" place the Indian stuff here is pretty good, especially the mixed starter combo and the rather good naans topped with various meats. The curries are OK too but nothing too special. The pizzas and burgers aren't bad either. Good value for money.

UNKNOWN
The Star of Bengal, Burton Stone Lane
Jinnah Takeaway, Haxby
Balti Khor, Copmanthorpe

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Noor, Fishergate
Always the cheapest sitdown in town, but the quality varied wildly (usually best just after it had shut down). On a good day it had a vigour and simplicity that made it well worth visiting, on a bad day it was grim as hell. Service before it last shut was abysmal. I'm sure it'll be back.

pete