Category Archives: Indian

Chillies West End, Glasgow West End

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We had the pleasure of being invited along to try out the new menu at Chillies West End recently. I have a friend who is a huge Chillies fan, so I was intrigued to find out what he loved so much.

I somehow have managed to never go to Woodlands Road, despite being in the West End a lot (and we got married at Park Circus). Seems like a really nice area so I’m keen to venture back. Chillies had quite a decent sized dining space so it wasn’t crowded and we were able to relax without feeling rushed. The waiter also told us that they don’t have a liquor licence, but we were welcome to pop along to the bottle shop and get some wine if we liked.

I was driving, so had a strawberry smoothie (I can’t remember the exact name). The waiter was really helpful and made sure it didn’t have milk in it so I could drink it without feeling sick.

Strawberry smoothie

We then started on the tapas menu. As I’ve said before, tapas really suits me as I like eating lots of different things (short attention span!). We ate all of these:

Alloo ki Tikki £2.10 Potato cakes packed full of punchy flavours; green chilli, ginger, garlic and coriander. Served with a tangy tamarind and yogurt dip.

Mini Popadoms & Dips £2.10 The old favourite shaped by our chefs into a manageable mouthful. Accompanied by our homemade spiced onions & mango chutney.

Chicken Pakora £2.80 The finest, freshest Chicken breast dipped in a delicately spiced batter and fried until golden and crispy. Especially tasty immersed in chilli dip.

Tandoori Sizzlers Minced or tikka pieced lamb or chicken infused with bold, spicy flavours and served still moist and sizzling on a hot plate.

Butter Chicken £4.95 Tender, choice chicken breast finished in our tandoori oven before being served in a delicious, tomato based buttery sauce thickened with ground cashews. Simply delicious!

Gosht Nimbo Nariyal £4.95 Lime and coconut add an exotic flavour to our fresh, boneless lamb; at once refreshing and delectable!

We easily ate all of it! The only thing that I didn’t love was the last dish, but I think it was just my tastebuds as Graeme liked it. The butter chicken was delicious and we were fighting over it. The standard Indian dishes all exceeded expectations – like the pakora and the tandoori. I also thought the food was really good value – all of the above comes to around £22 which is great value for a dinner for two.

The restaurant itself is really nice inside. It’s quite casual but without a cheap feeling to it. It was busy for a Saturday night and the tables were getting turned over quickly – not that the staff made us feel rushed.

I would much rather make the effort to eat here than phone a takeaway. I think that Chillies was a great restaurant, and I can see why it has a good reputation with my friends!

Chillies West End on Urbanspoon

The Glasgow Food Blog dined as guests of Chillies West End and were not asked to write a positive review in return for the meal.

 

The Wee Curry Shop, Glasgow West End

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We ate at The Wee Curry Shop in Glasgow’s West end on Saturday 17 April.

We stopped in for a mid-afternoon dinner as we were seeing an early movie at the Grosvenor in Ashton Lane. The Wee Curry Shop is in a great location, up some stairs and overlooks Ashton Lane which is great for some interesting people watching (especially when it starts pouring with rain and you can see everyone running inside the Ubiquitous Chip over the lane!). We were offered an option of two lunch deals – either the wee taster menu where you had a thali of two tasters with raita, rice and chappati for £5.75 or a two course pre-theatre menu for £7.95. We went for the pre-theatre menu, and were also lead into temptation with dips and pappadums to start.

Some pictures:

 The dips to accompany the pappadums – without knowing for sure, they were spiced onions, mango chutney, a yoghurt-y dip and lime and pickles. All very delicious!
 My entree of eggplant samoso with chickpeas. This dish changed my life! I have never, ever enjoyed chickpeas before but these were lovely and flavoursome, not too firm and not too soft and really packed with flavor. Yum. 
 Starter of chicken pakora, delicious and interesting to see some vegetable in the batter – possibly spinach. Very tender chicken inside. 

My main. Lamb menthi gosht – lamb cooked in fresh fenugreek and a touch of spinach. Ok, so it doesn’t look too appealing but this was one of those dishes that really changes your perception of Indian food. I’m used to your standard, every-day kind of flavours and was expecting much the same. But this was on a whole different level of flavour, the lamb was tender and delicious and the sauce was intense without being too overpowering. I really loved this dish and tried to power through eating it, even though by this point I was totally bursting after eating so much. We had sides of rice and naan with our mains. 

 
Chicken shasliq – served with a pastry-type swirl on top. The chicken was delicious, tender and the sauce was amazing.
 View out the window, looking onto Ashton Lane. 
Wow, for a quick pre-theatre meal The Wee Curry Shop really impressed. I’ve eaten at restaurants before that give you the impression their pre-theatre food is cooked to a lesser standard, but this was definable not the case here and I can see why they were fully booked for dinner on a Saturday night. I loved this place and would love to go back to any one of their restaurants – they have two other restaurants in Glasgow, one on Byres Road and the other on Buccleuch Street. Highly recommended for an amazing meal.  
Wee Curry Shop on Urbanspoon