: Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:27 am  

A second and slightly better report on the Agraah buffet at Shipley.

Went just as they opened on Tuesday evening with the family and it was hobson's choice of where to go.

To start off we had some popadoms and pickles. The popadoms were very good - not oily - so rank an 8/10. The pickles varied as before from nice mixed pickle and mango chutney (and I'm not usually a fan of that) to an off tasting yoghurt/mint sauce and the downright weird curry house offerings of green olives, black olives, coleslaw and a big bowl of tomato ketchup. Pickles overall rate 3/10.

Next up were the starters. These were alot better than last time. There were fish kebabs and lamb chops which we didnt try as well as some nice chicken seekh kebabs and some really nice vegetable pakora and spinach/paneer samosas. From what we had these rate at 8/10 and really did benefit from being fresh as the last time we went they'd been stood around for hours.

Also had some salads with the starters. These were a bit like the pickles - a quite nice kachoomber salad and very nice raita but also an out of place bowl of pickled beetroot and a three bean salad. Although we were there early the salads looked like they'd been made a while with things like the bowl of cucumber and the beetroot drying out. 5/10.

There were quite alot of main dishes to choose from:

There were two rice dishes: a nicely cooked pilau rice and also some sort of saffron enhanced, delicate looking chicken biryani. I had the former and it was a 7/10.

There were two veggie dishes, a standard dal and a mooli dish. They were both alright with the mooli being particularly good. 8/10.

Two chicken dishes too. I had the chicken karahi and that was good. There was also some sort of creamy looking thing that our lass tried and said it was nice but 'just like chicken supreme'. Make of that what you will. 7/10.

There was one lamb dish. It was billed as being the hot dish on the menu but like the others was very mild. The lamb would have benefitted from being cooked a while longer so it was a bit more tender. I guess once it had stood around for a few hours through the evening it'd get better. 4/10.

There was also a prawn dish. I don't know why I had some of this after the experience last time but I did. Again it tasted of bleach. 1/10.

The other main course option was the roast leg of lamb. This was sliced ahead of time and was already going brown and drying out. We didn't partake. Alongside it was new potatoes and gravy. I kid you not.

There was also a vat of chips.

We weren't asked if we wanted any nan breads until we were well into our main courses. We asked for chappatis but these wern't available. Rotis were though so we ordered two. When they arrived they were very good but by that time we were nearly finished second helpings, were pretty full and only managed the one between us. 8/10 for the rotis, 1/10 for the timing.

Last of all were the puddings. Similar to before: some gulab jaman, rice pudding, some sort of mango dessert, some sort of coffee desert, strawberry cheesecake and some fresh pineapple. I'm not a pudding person as a rule but I did try the mango thing (similar to something I had at that veggie restaurant in Bradford) and the rice pudding. Both were alright. 6/10.

Total cost was £45. Thats a fair whack but for a 4 course meal along with 4 pints lager, 2 J20s and an orange juice maybe its not so bad. Take the drinks out and its about £30 for two adults and two kids I guess?

What you lose out on though is freshness and quality. You can offset those a bit though by arriving early and choosing carefully though I guess you don't know what'll be good/bad until you try it.

Overall, its not a bad place for something easy and good if you have young kids as there's no waiting around or are simply greedy; but its clearly aimed at whitey who doesn't want anything too authentic, spicy or fresh but feels reassured by having the options of coleslaw, pickled beetroot, roast lamb and gravy, chips and a Sara Lee cheesecake so if you want better food go elsewhere.

Footnote
The eldest woke in the small hours in order to throw up a couple of times. No sign of a cold or bug and fine before and after. Can only think it was something she ate. Whether that was at Agraah or not - no idea.

: Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:35 pm  

As the manningham,s are thankfully joining the white flight and moving out to Iikley we took the old folks round our new gaff then on to Bettys' for a mothers, Day treat.The folks had aftrenoon tea for 2 (£24) which was some nice sarnies on one of those stands with the crusts cut off, then scones on the next lair, then 3 little cake things, and their were 2 of those stands. Miss Manningham had aftenoon tea for 1(£14), our lass had scones but they call them sconns(£8(, I wanted egg and chips which they don,t do,, but they did this thing called a rotsi which is like millions of tiny chips fried up with a egg on top whichwas what i asked for but came with some green stuff as well which was like dark cabbage but softer (£9). The best bit was they all came with English breakfast tea but the tea bags had all berst so you were drinking mouthsfulls of tea leaves (but it was 4 oclock,not breakfast time tea). They do give you these nice baby sized sivvs but don,t tell you the bags are lible to berst. It was all servd by nice youne English girls in uniforms and it was full of white Eng;lish people. It cost me nearly 2 weeks giro,s but it was worth it to eat some propper English grub with propper English people. Me and our lass can,t wait to move.

: Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:44 am  

That sounds ruddy luverly does that Bernard.

Word of warning though mate. You expect a company like heinz to play the white man with the sort of food it makes but the pc brigade has struck again and our lass came back from the co-op with one of these yesterday:



Now, you know me, no prejudices and take things as I find them but if Ray sees a spade he calls him a spade and she cooked it last night when we got in from a skinful at the True Briton in Leeds, and it was flamin' disgusting. The house stinks of that garlic now and it was so spicy my mouth was like fire. I've had the shits all morning.

Steer well clear mate and leave it to the greasy cowardly football cheating wops.

: Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:48 am  

M8 I woudn,t eat French food if it woz the last food on earth.

: Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:25 am  

Anyone fancy some kind of combination of curry and beer before, after, or even during the Leeds game next week?

[Bullseye]

: Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:28 am  

Asim wrote:

Anyone fancy some kind of combination of curry and beer before, after, or even during the Leeds game next week?

Sounds like a plan and a half.

: Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:36 am  

Bullseye wrote:

Sounds like a plan and a half.

I'm full of good ideas me.

Popped into Omars when I got back last night, my Chicken Rogan Josh wasn't the best I've ever had but it hit the spot after five weeks without!

[Bullseye]

: Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:10 am  

Went to the Prashad last week on All Saints Rd & corner of Woodhall Rd. I highly recommend it as it's a bit different to your regular curry house being totally veggie and specialising in Gujerati grub.

The place is quite small but very clean and the walls are covered with press cuttings featuring their award winning head chef. The waiter managed to squeeze our group in easily enough and was attentive to Gare Girl's need for cutlery.

For starters we just went for the popadoms and pickles which were ok without being anything to write home about. The popadoms were done freshly and folded into quarters and were tastier than average but the pickles were a bit disappointing with an bog standard lime pickle, mango chutney and chopped onion thing.

When it came to ordering mains we all went for something different so we could all have a bit of each other's. Mrs Bullseye went for a Thali which looked good value for £7.45 and was the most expensive thing on the menu. I went for the Chana Daal, Gare Girl went for something wrapped in a huge pancake type thing that came with a spicy sauce, Father Bullseye went for something with paneer and Bullseye's youngest sis went for vegetable Handi.

My Daal was excellent, it was a really distinct taste without being overpowering, the lentils were cooked to perfection. I ordered 3 chapatis but could have easily managed 4 or 5 as they were very thin.

The Handi looked a bit oily but was still quite good. The pancake thingy was alright too but Gare Girl could probably give a better description. Both the Thali and the Paneer dishes were good too without being over spiced or too oily. All in all it was a pleasant change from the usual sorts of curry to be had in Bradford. The place is a bit further out from the main curry areas around the Karachi/Omars/Kashmir but worth a visit for a a change. It's not licensed IIRC and is shut on Mondays.

I'd definitely go back.

[John_D]

: Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:20 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

and was attentive to Gare Girl's need for cutlery.

For shame

Had a five-tripper the day after a Punjab Sweet Centre (Listerhills Lane, not Lumb Lane). But it might have been the Carlsberg. We'll never be sure.

: Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:31 pm  

Asim wrote:

Anyone fancy some kind of combination of curry and beer before, after, or even during the Leeds game next week?

That sounds like a great plan

Bullseye wrote:

Gare Girl's need for cutlery

Erm, excuse me. I had no choice but to use cutlery - it would have been very difficult to eat what I had (spiced potatoes and spinach wrapped in a thin pancake type thing served with spicy lentil soup) without it