Chicken Tikka Masala
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McLeish Brothers
60-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh, 0131 558 1400, £3.49
Although this has the most meat. quantity has won over quality here. with dry. crumbly chicken. and an odd. overly sweet sauce. It inexplicably contains mango chutney. overpowering any other flavours and most of the texture — in fact. it's like a korma that's been mango—ed. Surprising. but not in a good way. 0
Lidl
Various outlets across Scotland, www.|idl.co.uk, £1.99
While the overall taste was let down a little by low quality of the meat. and a non-too-appealing grease puddle. this curry won out with its great flavour. Just the right balance of herbs. spices and tomato. with enough kick to remind you this is not a korma. Not too thick or creamy. and thrifty to boot. 0...
Mother lndia
Outlets in Edinburgh and Glasgow, www.motherindia.com, £5.90
This Butter Chicken dish was put in as a kind of control for the test. to see what a real takeaway curiy should taste like. It didn't disappoint. You can really taste guality. marinated meat and a delicious combination of just the right seasoning. The creamy. rich sauce. make it just hot enough. and we have just what a curry should be. 0.000
Tesco
Various outlets across Scotland, www.tesco.co.uk, £2.99
A bright orange coloured curry is always a sign of dubious things to come. While it has a pleasant creamy texture and a spicy whiff. its watery meat and omission of anything resembling a herb. leaves a lot to be desired. It simply lacks flavour. a fact badly disguised by a free hand approach to chilli powder distribution and its blinding orange visual. OI
Caledonian Curry Company South Bonar Estate, Sutherland, 01863 766025, www.caledoniancurry.com, £4.95 As you can expect from local. hand j_)repared gourmet dishes. the chicken here is top quality. Sadly. the misguided lack of any tomato left a meaty. graxy like taste. and a watery. grainy sauce. You really taste the different spices and herbs. and the duality of production. but it's somehow missing that sweeter kick of a great tikka. OI.
FOODFOR
Marks 8: Spencer
Various outlets across Scotland, www.marksandspencer.com, £2.99 The array of colours looks inyiting. despite the small size. but once it hits your taste buds a familiar blandness washes over them. It will have you running for the garam masala as there's little to taste other than questionable chicken covered in tomatoes. resulting in a ketchup—like after taste. lts saving graces are its looks and texture. but that doesn't say much. I.
Hardeep Sinqh Kohli
Writer, broadcaster
Foods a veiy important part of my life. I can't begin to tell you how much. I'm notoriously bad at eating breakfast. yet ironically l'iii obsessed with it. to the extent that my next book is going to be about breakfast. I will have a decent
lunch. and because so much is eating out if its meetings. you feel bad not to eat at least five courses. That's a joke. I'll have two. Food is absolutely central to everything I do to the extent that I actually schedule meetings around
restaurants that I want to eat in. For example. I've been known to schedule a meeting near Chinatown at l l.:3()ani and then pop in for a sack full of dim sum. Recently I went back and found I'd eaten in the same dim sum restaurant 20 times in one month. Often. because I write about food. I have to review restaurants. which sounds a lot more glamorous that it actually is. although last week I ended up in llkley in Yorkshire eating dinner at a Michelin starred
restaurant. I love to cook ~ I'm obsessed with pork belly just now and I'm just
about to do a new recipe Richard Corrigan taught me. which is sguid stuffed
With chemo and feta on a braised fennel salad. I don't eat to live. I live to eat. I Milt/oer) Sing/i Ko/i/i's new book. India/i lakeawaj: is out now published by
Car iongafe.
I AOIIA RESTAURANT has been re-launched with a seafood theme under head chef John-Paul Persighetti. For anyone tracking the oyster index, six west coast bivalves are doing well at £9.50. Prawns, mussels, cockles and crab also feature at the new crustacea bar. Apex City Hotel, 61 Grassmarket, Edinburgh, 0845 365 0002 or www.apexhotels.co.uk/eat
I IOU STAKIIIG A cum as Scotland's biggest food event. 8803 Good Food Show Scotland takes place in the SECC. Glasgow. Fri 31 Oct to Sun 2 Nov. Opening hours have been extended to 8pm on Fri-Sat — not quite as impressive as the recent Salone del Gusto in Turin, the world‘s largest artisan food fair organised by Slow Food. with dining-friendly opening from
f lam to 1 1pm. Slow Food UK is at the SECC with artisan producers and taste workshops. http:// glasgow.bbcgoodfoodshowcom
I '81 NY in Glasgow Green’s Templeton Building is the only UK brewery to produce all its beers in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law of 1516, and head chef Ruedi Hein will add an authentic Bavarian edge to the menu with dishes such as ‘sauerbraten’, slow-cooked beef in gingerbread sauce, with bread dumplings and spiced red cabbage. www.westbeer.com
I MAMA“ to Reiko and lwan Sasaki's tiny Cessnock deli Cherry & Heather Fine Food. one of only a couple of Scottish food businesses in the finalists of the 2008 BBC Food and Farming Awards. Winners are announced on Wed 26 Nov and broadcast on The Food Programme on Radio 4 a few days later. www.cheriyand heather.co.uk
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