DRINKS NEWS
Rum’s the new gin – especially up north in Banchory where the Deeside Distillery launched the country’s first single-cask collection called Devil’s Point, tipping their hat to neighbours and rum-blazers Dark Matter. The new range includes two single-cask aged rums – a sherry cask (59% ABV) and a Virgin American oak cask (58% ABV), as well as a golden aged rum (38% ABV) and a coffee rum liqueur (22% ABV). Edinburgh’s whole leaf tea experts Eteaket are turning 10. To celebrate their first decade, they’ve got together with Scottish Mara Seaweed and launched Celtic Kombu Matcha, fusing Eteaket’s matcha tea with Mara’s sustainable wild-harvested Kombu Kelp.
FOOD & DRINK NEWS & REVIEWS
BUNDLE OF JOY There’s a new member of the Mother India family in Glasgow, and the ancestry and pedigree are clearly evident, as Tiff Griffin discovers
F or Glasgow’s curry lovers, Mother India has a long-established reputation. An institution whose venues are venerated spots, from their classic British Indian original in Finnieston to the café at Kelvingrove that offers a cosy continental ambience. No stranger to innovation, their café also offered Indian tapas when small plates were not such a ubiquitous sight.
The group’s blend of tradition and creativity is in evidence in this new offshoot, with equally successful results. The Lansdowne retains much of its previous bar layout, but with tables set for relaxed dining, and the unique glasshouse at the rear is undisturbed, offering light on the gloomiest of Scottish days. Walls lined with portraits of customers and staff past and present illustrate that history carries plenty of weight here.
Middle Eastern delicacy is combined with robust desi fl avours on the new menu. Tempura-like veg pakora, with date and tamarind chutney, arrive with a fl uffy roti and are gone in a fl ash. There’s a lightness to the appetisers that leaves you primed for the subsequent series of sumptuous mains. Roadside lamb curry is an upmarket version of Indian street food with juicy lamb chunks and
THE LANSDOWNE
a ginger kick, intriguingly adorned with straw potatoes. It’s also an expert balance of textures – crunchy chips contrasting against soft braised lamb. A standard vegetable curry, served rustic style in the pot, is lifted above the ordinary with spices that are full of freshness and bite.
The labneh sauce that sprinkles taste-bud magic over a skewer of succulent grilled monkfi sh has chef Amit Sharma displaying a level of sorcery that, in times past, might just have left him in some hot water of his own. If this is just yoghurt blended with orange juice, then Miles Davis was just a trumpet player. Presentation is consistently creative, too, from the balance of the golden potato and lamb to the vibrant hues of those monkfi sh skewers and softening labneh. It’s the crowning glory of a series of dazzling dishes found, somewhat curiously, in a basement curry house on a quiet, tree-lined West End crescent.
+ Inspired fusions that are exquisitely delivered - Spirits gantry needs the same love the food gets
7a Lansdowne Crescent, West End, Glasgow, G20 6NQ, 0141 334 4653, motherindia.co.uk
Tue–Thu 5–10pm; Fri/Sat 1–10.30pm; Sun 1–10pm. Closed Mon. Average cost of two-course lunch/dinner: £16.50
58 THE LIST 1 Apr–31 May 2019