Bradford

[Archana]

Apologies if this has been posted somewhere else on the site [but, i couldn't find it!] Need help to locate a superior Curry restaurant in Bradford, have looked on various sites but there are so many listed that it's impossible to know which are decent, so help would be much appreciated. Price not an issue.

[Gary Marshall]

mumtaz: great horton road www.mumtaz.co.uk no alcohol, very busy, very good. My choice. New decor quite modern though not trad indian.

nawaab: 32 manor road, more traditional in decor, licensed.wwwnawaab.com

karachi: 15-17 neal st, very basic, rick stein raved about it, i've not tried it.

gary

[Bapi]

I am bringing this thread back from the dead as I am in Bradford on Thursday lunchtime with a friend. Any other recommendations anyone? Everything I have read about Karachi suggests that it is trading off the Stein link- even naming a curry after him Having looked at the GFG and Hardens - it's either Mumtaz for a slightly more upmarket curry or a curry cafe called Kashmir on Morley Street.

Cheers.

[fisherman]

Mumtaz is indeed good, a bit flashy for a Bradford curry house, but good food. The Karachi is good and dirt cheap, it was good before the Stein link, and remains good after, well most of the time that it, it can be patchy, but you can say that about most places. I used to go there regularly when I did a lot of work for YTV, good cheap lunch, but maybe not a place to take someone to impress, it really is formica tables and tap water in school canteen glasses

[Bapi]

Oh Good man Jon. No need to impress as with a friend and colleague, who I am educating A recent Red Chilli convert no less.

In all honesty - I fancied a curry cafe more than a slick operation like Mumtaz. Is Kashmir on your radar at all? I will now reconsider Karachi- cheers.

[fisherman]

Never been to Kashmir, but having googled it, the google gods seem to favour it no more than Karachi, both having good and bad reviews. I've never had a bad meal at the Karachi, but I'm sure people have. The Lamb and Spinach Stein dish is actually far far better than you'd expect, I had it there before I noticed it in my Stein Food Heroes book, now it's a regular fixture here, in fact, fuck it, why don't you come here for lunch, we offer a £4.99 all you can eat deal, including as much tap water as you can drink

[dipardoo]

i had a good meal recently at Zouk tea bar.

modern, pizza express-y, but good food

[Gary Marshall]

mumtaz is as near to tayyabs in terms of spicing and they book look similar now given their respective makeovers. Went to the kashmir years ago, all i remember is a filthy toilet opening onto the restaurant, so that didn't go down well.

mumtaz isn't particularly slick, there's flashier places in bradford akbars, safron desi etc or aagrah & nawaab, bit more old school but nicely decorated.

you won't have a bad meal at the mumtaz, think you might be taking chances with the curry cafe scene.

[Bapi]

Cheers- We are thinking Mumtaz this time and will try a Curry cafe next time round. I think your mention of Tayyabs was the clincher as well as a review of Jay's from last year.

Cheers all. I'll report back.

[fisherman]

As Gary says, all the curry cafes are potentially patchy, but life's about taking risks no?

[Bapi]

As Gary says, all the curry cafes are potentially patchy, but  life's about taking risks no?

←

You are quite right Jon- but it was the respective double whammy of Jay writing about searching for lamb chops as good as those at Tayyabs here. and Gary mentioning the very same place that swayed me. I can honestly say- that other than friends, the only thing I miss about London is Tayyabs.

I don't live very far from Bradford now (in fact I didn't realise quite how close ) - so will certainly venture there to try Kashmir and Karachi too.

[fisherman]

I'm only tickling your plums, it would be a close call for me which to eat at if I were eating out in Bradford tomorrow. Bradford is only 20 minutes from Chez Jon but I don't go there nearly enough. In fact reading Jays Mumtaz review, I might make the trip before Christmas.

[Gary Marshall]

on the kebab front the 'boti' kebabs are highly recommended.

I seem to remember they don't rush the cooking, we sometimes used to head over on a lunchtime from leeds and in the end used to pre-order so everything could be on the table for us, otherwise it became a 4 hour round trip!

[Bapi]

Well I rather liked it. Mumtaz has become a huge operation since it's inception in 1979, the first sign of this being the massive car park solely for the restaurant located on the other side of the road. The second being that it takes up a huge row of buildings compared to its humble beginnings.

It is a bit bling and corporate inside - but I can forgive that if the food is up to scratch and in the main, it was. We started with a massala mirch each and an aloo tikki to share. The former being a large Kashmiri chilli roasted with various spices within it, before being deep-fried in a gram flour batter. Not good I am afraid. The spices seemed a little rugged and too harsh. The gram flour batter was also way too thick and added nothing except substance. Sadly this happened again with the aloo tikki, the potato content within, though pleasant, was negligible compared to the amount of gram flour that encased it. Things improved immeasurably with the lamb chops starter. Not quite as aggressively spiced as the ones at Tayyabs - but fabulously tender whilst still being nicely charred at the ends. Mains arrived quite soon after and I had opted for the karahi lamb sookha bouhna that Jay mentioned in his piece. A very nice dish indeed. A real home-style curry with the meat being cooked on the bone. Hence one is treated to little bits of the bone marow within -which were absolutely delicious. Though judging by the diameter of the bones- these little critters are offed at quite a young age. My friend had a karahi chicken do-piaza. Which I am sure a lot of you know translates as two-onions. Very good again- though he did ask for it to be of medium strength and he deemed it " very nice but not very hot". With a garlic naan, some pilau rice and a couple of soft drinks it came to £35. So not incredibly cheap, with our mains coming in at around £7.50 ish. But certainly worth every penny and I will be returning with the family shortly.

Edited December 17, 2007 by Bapi (log)

[fisherman]

Went to the Raj Put in Harrogate the other day, had a very very good meal, lamb chops, potato pakoras, goan red lamb curry and nihari lamb, all of which were excellent and if I had more time I'd write something up properly.

Service was pleasant but rushed, but we'll be back.

[eleung]

Mumtaz is the best!

[Harters]

MUMTAZ - BRADFORD

Living south of Manchester, we wouldn’t normally think of driving an hour to Bradford for a curry but our tour of Good Food Guide places within 60 minutes meant it was time for a schlep over the M62.

It’s big. Very big. And, on this Saturday night, very busy – mainly with local asian families having a grand old family time of it. And the restaurant isn’t missing a trick. There’s Mumtaz sweets to be bought for takeaway. And Mumtaz spices and sauces. And Mumtaz baby food. Then you eventually get to the restaurant. We’d booked but no-one checked – we were just shown to an available table.

We ordered some drinks (Mumtaz is alcohol free). They came quickly – a Sprite and half a litre of excellent mango lassi. And a bottle of filtered tap water, which I presume was free.

I started with channa chaat – a bowl of warm chickpeas in a tamarind sauce, topped with yoghurt. I liked this – the sharpness of the tamarind working well with the contrasting softness of the yoghurt. My wife’s starter was a vegetable samosa – well made, with a good mix of veg and nicely seasoned, but a samosa nothing more, nothing less. Her main was a Pakistani dish of lamb on the bone, cooked with chilli, tomato and ginger. Not a complete winner here – some of the pieces of meat being much tenderer than others. My main was lamb with kerala – known as the “bitter gourd”. It isn’t really but it added an odd, but very nice, flavour to the dish that’s difficult to describe. The dish itself was quite dry which is how I prefer my Indian food.

We were too full for dessert but, unlike many Indian restaurants, there was a large dessert menu and other tables were getting stuck in.

In summary, we’re glad we went but wouldn’t be in rush to drive that far again – not when we have the likes of Akbars, EastzEast and Dilli almost on the doorstep.