Eleanor is a Curry fan. She possibly eats as much Curry as Hector, but Chicken… Chicken? We had pencilled in today as her first trip to Yadgar to experience the finest Curry served in Glasgow. This as every reader knows is the Goshat Karahi (on-the-bone) – Lamb, of course! Today was Eleanor’s first Lamb Curry.
?Stan! and Howard were appointed as Chaperones for the day.
The Complementary Popadoms, Onion Chutney and Salad (complete with Black Olives) were set before us shortly before the official rendezvous time of 15.00. As always, everything had been booked well in advance. Three Vegetable Rice and Four Chapattis seemed enough to complement the One Kilo and Two Portions of this very fine Lamb Curry. ?Stan! and Hector were sharing the Kilo.
We were munching our way through the last pieces of Poppadoms when the dishes started to appear. With conveyor belt efficiency the various components were set before us. Time for the first dip…
My initial thoughts were that this was not created at the hands of Mr Shah, the Chef Hector thinks is the finest Chef in Glasgow. The normal Yadgar – Goshat Karahi flavour was masked by a the fulsome flavour of Cinnamon. The Lamb was also darker than the norm, or was that a result of the richness of the minimal Masala? The Lamb was tender. No, this needs further emphasis, the Lamb was magnificently tender, no knife was required to cut the larger pieces or separate the meat from the bone.
The large Karahi had been severely attacked, it was towards the bottom that the normal Yadgar taste began to emerge. This is reminiscent of the other great Glasgow Lamb Karahi outlet (The Khyber) where the flavour at the base of the Karahi really hits home.
There was ongoing discussion about the superbness of the meal when Mr Shah appeared to take his bow.
Mr Anwar (Snr) had chatted to us in the minutes between Poppadoms and the Curry. He assured us that his son, Shkoor was pursuing more cerebral pursuits today. We think he was hiding in the cupboard because Shkoor magically appeared as we ended our ritual feast. I was able to update him on my Curry exploits in Bradford last weekend. Shkoor thinks I should contact the Guinness Book of Records as a possible candidate for the man who has eaten the most Curry in the past year. Flattering, but I am sure the staff do not eat Pizza, or maybe they do.
Mr Anwar invited us to sample the Rice Dessert which had just been cooked, was still hot and would normally be served cold. Semolina is what any Glaswegian would call it. Somehow we found room for this. Hector had a Sugar High. School dinners became the momentary topic of reminiscence. Whatever happened to Sago?
Eleanor was impressed; hopefully she will add her own comments. Will her next Curry be Lamb?
The Bill
£45. Between four of us and inclusion of a 1Kg portion, this was value as always.
The Aftermath
At the Allison Arms the Augustiner Heller Bock, Pyraser Export Landbier and Andechs Spezial Hell were all available. This was a good day.
I believe it will.