When I received the invite, I leapt at the chance to finally try Prashad Indian vegetarian restaurant, but when the evening came around I found my energy and enthusiasm sapped by a succession of events, not least a nine hour drive to Surrey (followed the next day by a seven hour return) and the appearance of a lost 97 year old at my front door at 2am (don’t worry, safely relocated at moderate cost to my sleep). Despite those misfortunes, I wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip through my fingers again so hauled myself across to Leeds to meet up with a bunch of other local bloggers to make the last skip over to Prashad.

The evening’s food was to be preceded by a craft activity led by embroidery teacher Elnaz Yazdani who’d equipped us all with a basic stock of threads, needles and other items unfamiliar to me. She did a great job of taking us through the basics of embroidery, teaching a variety of stitches and techniques to let us express our inner creativity. Sadly my inner creativity is something that should have been kept on the inside and the many requests I received on social media to see my efforts will remain unanswered. Thankfully, the other participants reached a higher standard than me and I managed not to inflict any new piercings in the process before Elnaz was able to join us for dinner with her head held high and with a group of appreciative followers.

We were eating in a private dining room that was decorated with press cuttings earned by Prashad over the years. I’d been looking forward to getting sight of the five course tasting menu that we were to enjoy and it certainly didn’t disappoint, making for good reading as we waited for the first course of “Sanku”, an open samosa with mixed beans. This was presented as an upright cone in a wooden serving block kicking things off in style, balancing spice, flavour and texture fantastically well. My desire to string it out to more bites than it could offer spoke volumes.

Next up we enjoyed “Kopra Pethis”, a golfball sized dumpling of potato and coconut. This one was simply presented with rocket leaves and an edible flower bookending the bottom and top of the dish. This one disappeared in another couple of mouthfuls before a perfectly executed masala dosa came to the table. This was a little more conventional but none the worse for it. The dosa was crisped perfectly and presented elongate across the dish’s extended rim, keeping it separate from the potato and onion curry that accompanied it. Our final savoury course was a savoury dough ball with seasonal vegetables, richly spiced curry with rice and perfect circles of naan bread. This was the closest thing to a traditional curry dish of the evening and I found the spicing a little on the generous side, though it’s fair to say that’s likely more a reflection of my intolerant palate than any mistake in the kitchen.

The sweet dish that finished our experience was a Gujlawa that filled baked filo layers with crushed pistachios, almonds and walnuts served with raisin and nutmeg ice cream. This one could have been teeth-itchingly sweet but had the restraint needed to bring subtlety to the (literal and figurative) table. Another edible flower made an appearance on this plate but the really fun affectation was a star anise perfectly replicated in chocolate.

It may have taken me more than a decade to get there, but Prashad Indian vegetarian didn’t disappoint. Those high expectations that I formed more than a decade ago were comfortably met and, while the craft element to the evening didn’t play to my passions, it added a unexpected opportunity to interact with other guests. I’ll be planning another trip before long; if I leave it a similar interval to last time it’d very much be my loss.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for my attendance. Opinions are impartial.

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Having a good crowd meant that we could be sure to get through as many of the new dishes as possible, though this meant a relatively involved discussion to choose our strategy. Something that was eased by a few mouthfuls of Bhel Puri, a tangy vegetable and puffed rice snack that seemed to have gained a significant amount of spice since I last tried it. Further help arrived in the form of a dish of Peanut Pakoda, peanuts deep fried in gramflour that hadn’t quite reached their full potential, remaining a little bland compared to the other generously spiced dishes. With these snacks addressed, we got our order in and took a couple of outstanding beers from Leeds based Northern Monk Brewery to keep us company.

We were a little sad to find that the Pani Puri had sold out, though this was apt given that we were meant to be focussing on the newer offerings. Okra fries, chicken Hyderabadi Murgh Tikka and Masala fried squid came up first and revealed a preference amongst us for the Okra and Chicken, both of which offered the right balance of spice and texture nicely. I’ve eaten the tandoori mixed grill on each of my visits to The Cat’s Pyjamas and it remains a great value crowd pleaser, ensuring it’s always split perfectly fairly – the only divisive note being the lamb that packed significantly more heat than the other elements.

From the curry we plumped for the Mean Molee, a gently warming fish curry with a coconut and ginger sauce. This one drew unanimous praise as we competed to get our hands on it. To soak up all this we grabbed some pilau rice, roti, a Yorkshire cheese naan and a Kachumber salad to give a lighter element to the feasting. All the sides were up to snuff. I’d have liked a more aggressive cheese taste in the naan but that’s splitting hairs as everything soaked up the spice perfectly. The table also commented on how the curry was lacking the layer of grease that sometimes makes it hard to digest anglicised curry.

The menu at the Cat’s Pyjamas is superbly well judged and consistent. This was my third visit and I think it hits its marks perfectly. There’s a wide beer menu and the place lends itself happily to either a chilled out series of dishes with friends over a few drinks, or a few quick snacks on the way to a later engagement.

​Disclaimer: No charge was made for this meal. The final bill would have been £74 to feed four people (which included several alcoholic drinks).

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Jaipur Spice doesn’t reside in a part of York that’s terribly convenient for me, so it’s about seven years since I last visited, now a dim and distant memory, and since then the prominent bridge-on-the-water feature and booths around the perimeter of the room have been removed to make a more open plan dining space. An unobtrusive bar sits at the front of the room to service takeaway business without disturbing those dining indoors.

To start, we chose a calamari dish and some garlic mushrooms while occupied with a few poppadoms and nicely balanced pickles, obviously accompanied by a cold pint of Cobra. As we finished bullying the poppadoms off the table, our starters turned up quickly, with the garlic mushrooms taking preference over the calamari that, while perfectly well judged and presented, wasn’t the crab dish that I’d intended ordering but wasn’t available that evening.

Coming to mains, I’d taken the server’s advice and plumped for the Jaipur Spice Special while Grace took a place at the sweeter end of the spectrum with a mango based Amli Chicken. Mindful of our appetites, we restricted ourselves to a single rice dish and naan to share along with a Brinjal Bhaji side, made of pan fried aubergine with onion and spices. The aubergine hadn’t picked up as much grease as one might fear and the naan and rice hit the spot perfectly, absorbing sauce and flavour sauce as required.

The Jaipur special bulked out with a combination of meats, chicken and beef being prominent, in a tomato based sauce. The dish was well spiced and rich, making a place for itself at the top end of a well executed mainstream “British” curry, though I did wonder if there was anything more representative of the restaurant’s character on offer that I could have gone for. Grace’s Amli dunked chunks of chicken into a buttery mango sauce, the chicken exhibiting welcome signs of a trip to the tandoor while the sauce was rich and light.

By this point, we’d hit the traditional curry wall, so I bagged some brownie points by bagging the rest of the curry for tomorrow’s lunch. It’s a perk of a meal like this to be able to admit defeat and take your leftovers home (do you really think the chef who cooked them would rather bin them than know you’ll enjoy them tomorrow?) to further enjoy them the following day. Jaipur Spice gives out good, honest curry dishes and will be on my list whenever I fancy that in the future.

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Trinity Kitchen sits at a slightly awkward intersection of trends. A street food court in a dedicated space in a modern shopping centre can feel jarring and I’ve heard of people refuse to visit on the basis of that inauthenticity, but you’d be more cynical than I to claim that you’d rather see the usual chain suspects in place of few rotating independents and several tenured occupants.

Of those enjoying tenure, Rolawala Leeds occupies a good sized space with ample opportunity to enjoy a relaxed beer with your food and plenty of chance to customise your snack. Choosing from a naan wrap, rice bowl or cauliflower rice to form a base, you then pick from various fillings, chicken naan wrap being my choice after I decided that ordering cauli rice with Keralan cauliflower would be a little too perverse even for my sense of humour. The manager took my suggestions on board (“pretty mild, yeah some extra paneer would be nice, mmmm coriander, no mate it’s up to you”) and duly delivered a foil wrapped torpedo heading for my appetite.

Paired with a good pale ale, the guys did well to translate my vague mutterings into a plate I would want. Fresh ingredients, well judged spice for my palate and fresh vegetables sat well in a perfectly judged portion (they aim for no more than 500 calories per dish) that should I ever suffer the misfortune of having to commute to Leeds would likely become a lazy Friday lunch treat. Despite a mix up regarding when I might arrive, the staff were absolutely on point and displayed exemplary knowledge of the menu and business. It would be no surprise to see these guys taking on a wider presence in the coming years.

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By the time the gang arrived I’d made sure that all the required ingredients were available along with a suitable selection of cold beers to liven up the cooking process as we tucked into the spicy crisps and started prepping. I’ve got to admit at this point to a bit of dictatorship coming out as I employed Des as my sous chef and started issuing forth commands to get the Tandori Masala chicken marinading and tomatoes prepped for roasting with chilli flakes. Next up was grating a fair bit of carrot for the salad with freshly squeezed lemon then readying the kebab masala mix with lamb mince. So far so good as Des continued to tolerate my ‘suggestions’, we didn’t make any timing mistakes and the instructions were producing accurate results. Encouraged, we moved on to getting the Bombay potatoes ready without even over boiling the potatoes before combining them with some tomatoes and the spice mix.

Thankfully now free of chopping, weighing, boiling and mixing, Des was released to actually enjoy himself while I put finishing touches on and had a bit of a tidy before settling down with the team as we waited for our feast to cook and kept an eye on the three YoaF felines resident at this house who were, oddly, very interested in the chicken earlier spotted.

After not much longer the food was all ready to go and had taken impressively little faffing so I handed plating up duties to the gang and retired to admire the results. It hadn’t taken much skill to prepare all this and the results were absolutely successful. The chicken was moist and well flavoured and and the masala kebab meat bound neatly into patties to serve with fresh coriander. The lemon sharpened grated carrot deliciously sharp and the juicy tomato spiked through with the dried chilli. My personal favourite was the bombay potato. Well balanced spice and tomato really brought the potatoes to life and made them beautifully moreish.

Rafi’s Spicebox is

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I’m extremely pleased to see that the original Masala Craft has been such a success that the guys have taken the plunge and headed into the centre of York to open a second branch on King Street! The area around Kings Staith has seen a bit of a resurgence recently with My Thai, Winner Winner and Reina setting out their stalls. This is a beautiful corner of our city and it’s nice to have some diversity in the area. All too often the main impression one’s left with of the area is a riverside ashtray.

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