Pakeezah Supermarket and Café

Samosa Chaat in the fore ground

A pending trip north to Glasgow, to visit Bradford Curry loving family, offered the perfect opportunity to revisit the recently discovered Pakeezah Supermarket and Cafe, not only to pick some Food2Go, but also have a spot of dinner.

Our usual early eating time normally results in us being the first dinners in whatever establishment we are visiting on that day.  Today was no different, and we had the pick of the booths.  However, it didn’t take long for the other booths to fill – one with about eight people crammed in – and other tables were filling too.  Café Pakeezah is, rightly so, very popular.

Izzy enjoying her Chicken Pakora

The friendly and enthusiastic waiter did a few chips for Izzy – although not on the menu I don’t think (??) – and paired them with chicken pakora, and Heinz red sauce!  She loved it - much to my snobby displeasure.  She should be taking after her Dad and eating curry?  Surely by 2yrs, a Vindaloo and a family garlic naan should be on her menu?  But one happy toddler equals one happy Dad, so hats off to Pakeezah for understanding her needs and taking pity on her.   I have been feeling a little sorry for her over recent weeks to be honest - and wondering about my own Fathering techniques when purposely ignoring “Izzy no like curry” whimpering’s from the back seat, as we race into Bradford!  She’ll learn… She has to!

I chose the simply wonderful Samosa Chaat again – I couldn’t resist - and it was just as good as the other week.  It has warm and cold elements, and also the quite spicy temperament, which is partially cooled by the yoghurt, but then finished with the sour tamarind.  It leaves no taste bud unturned.  Excellent.

We also tried the Lamb Seek, which were ace too.  The two meaty kebabs were formed with more coarsely ground onions and had plenty of texture.  They were flavorsome too, and fresh.  The onion bhaji were also good but, for my tastes, were a little off the pace compared to my favored bhaji haunts.  Grampa' loved them though.

Prepped for the trip north

Following our successful café trip, we visited the Food2Go counter to collect the weekends curry.  It's difficult to shop once tummies are full, but I managed… Somehow… I don’t know how… but I did… It was hard.  Four mains:  Potato and Spinach, Lamb and Spinach, Chicken Balti and Chicken Tikka Garlic, along with some chapatis, and some kheer (rice pudding), and a very generous freebie of Vermicelli Pudding (official name unknown?).  The curries travelled well to Glasgow, and were consumed at various times over the weekend, and were very good.  They were perhaps a little oily in places, and there was a little bit of a burnt garlic taste from the Chicken Tikka Garlic dish, but otherwise all were brill.  They had proper Bradford taste, which was very welcoming after ~4hrs of driving and were devoured with much endeavour.  The rice and Vermicelli puddings were excellent too.  Not too sweet, and subtly spiced with cardamom.

Regular readers will know I love Glasgow curry, and curries where ever I go, but I consider Bradford to be the best, and the option to easily take some with me – where ever I go – is quite appealing.