Best Indian restaurant / curry house in Sheffield - Megathread

[maggidee]

very good value for money is the little india at gleadless, youcan really taste the flavours in the different meals ie they dont all taste the same ,and their chicken sizzler is fantastic. we usually go mid week and you can take your time over your meal and have a breather between courses. but what makes it for me is their coffee and you get a free top up sometimes well worth a visit

[1love]

aagrah is best iv been too. its quite on expensive side but its quality food.

 

2nd best is Chaman in wicker.

[AYBABTU]

It would be interesting if someone dared to open a truly high end Indian restaurant with just a handful of starters, mains etc cooked fresh which change regularly rather than the usual curry 15 different ways places we have now which surely must all come from one pot with minor changes...?

 

Something to rival artisan, Marcos or Morans?

 

Or would it fall flat on its face?

 

Do Sheffield folk only want poppadoms, bhajis and bhunas?

[C.E.B]

Dilshad all the way! on woodseats! everyone says that now Viraaj is open (across the road) it's better yet I just think it's over priced and I don't like my food to have hair in it!

[PeteM01]

2nd best is Chaman in wicker.

 

Also one of my favourites!

[Yeti]

My favourite is Zara's in Crookes, but we go there far too often, its almost embarrassing.

 

But can anyone recommend a good Indian in the city centre? Because often when we've been in town we've finished up getting a taxi up to Crookes for Zara's which is silly really but we're stuck in a curry rut!

 

Any suggestions in the city centre?

[shefftradei]

I'm not saying its the best but TheBay of Benghal is very good but Aagrah is by far the best I've had

[DerbyTup]

This place had massive publicity before it opened and people have believed the hype, I have been twice and had far far better curries at much less vaunted places.

 

No mate, not quite.

 

Akbar's have been operating for years in West Yorkshire. As someone who spent most of my life entertaining professional clients, many of whom were Indian/Pakistani themselves, the reputation of Akbars has always been very good and a preferred choice of those who know their Indian food. Probably closer to genuine Indian home cooking than most other places - which may be why some don't like it?

 

For example, curries at Akbars are not a dish of spicy gravy with bits of meat in it. I appreciate that's what most people expect, but that's not what authentic curry is about. The curries at Akbars will invariably be quite dry with not much sauce - unless you specifically ask for it saucy. I can understand why that wouldn't appeal to some people.

 

Also, if you are one of those folks that have a little take away menu at home with a dish starred with your name alongside it - because you always order the same thing every time (Chicken tikka masala anyone? or butter chicken?) then you're probably not going to appreciate Akbar's. Because you'll be confused by the choice and the strange sounding names of dishes. And I dare say their chicken tikka masala is no better than anyone elses.

 

But if you are willing to branch out a bit - try some of the fantastic tandoori starters, especially the fish which is out of this world, or the lamb chops - and then move on to try something a bit different like a lamb handi - lamb curry homemade style on the bone - or maybe Akbar e Balti - chicken, lamb and mushroom cooked together in a dry medium curry sauce - you might begin to appreciate this is not just different but preferable.

 

Anyhow, personal taste comes into it of course - but depends where your reference points are I suppose. In my case, and I can assure you I don't recommend Akbar's because of the hype. I was going there years before it was ever heard of in our wonderfully progressive gastronomic capital city.

[DerbyTup]

It would be interesting if someone dared to open a truly high end Indian restaurant with just a handful of starters, mains etc cooked fresh which change regularly rather than the usual curry 15 different ways places we have now which surely must all come from one pot with minor changes...?

 

Something to rival artisan, Marcos or Morans?

 

Or would it fall flat on its face?

 

Do Sheffield folk only want poppadoms, bhajis and bhunas?

 

Skinner, you probably know the answer to your question. I'm afraid the majority of Sheffielders wouldn't appreciate anything "high end". That's why we don't do much "high end" at anything.

 

That's not a criticism - it's one of the things that gives Sheffield a special charcter and makes Sheffielders a very proud, resourceful, people, who know the cost of everything and the value of...(?).

 

Aagrah and Akbars are the 2 restaurants serving the most upmarket type Indian food - and they are appreciated by some and resented in equal measure by the chicken tikka masala, bhaji, poppadom brigade.

 

Cafe Guru was a restaurant that tried, in my opinion, to do upmarket Indian style food. I thought it was excellent when Johny was running it. But it didn't have wide appeal. We took some friends there one night - they like a good curry - but they didn't appreciate it - because they didn't get their poppadoms and their onion bhaji's and they couldn't find the words,

 

"bhuna" "madras" "masala" "dopiaza" "vindaloo" "korma" "passanda"

 

on the menu. So it completely flummoxed them. And the curry wasn't in a silver bowl full of spicy gravy.

 

Here is a restaurant that is of the kind you describe, I think? It's possibly my favourite Indian restaurant in the country. Not surprisingly, it's in London.

 

I will attach a link to it. If you do appreciate fine food and you like Indian then you can't do much better than this. By the way these are only the starters on the first page!

 

http://www.thepaintedheron.com/menu.asp

 

and no, it wouldn't be appreciated in Sheffield, by many.

[a.s.ullah]

This place had massive publicity before it opened and people have believed the hype, I have been twice and had far far better curries at much less vaunted places.

 

200.000.00 worth of marketing this year alone food is good best out of the chains but not doing anything what your avrage curry house is doing real Indian restaurants would have to be vegetarian as most of India is vegetarian it's to do with there beliefs I don't really understand why everyones thinks Indian food is so nice when 80% of the uk have never tried it? It's the Bangladeshi and Pakistani community that gave uk the curry houses so why do we call them Indians? And then mone that they not real Indians? And as for akbars it's Kashmiri food that's what is says on the sign I'm sorry but calling it an Indian is just being ignorant and yes curry is eaten in Bangladesh and Pakistan not just India