The sensibly priced wine was also pretty good at The Dhabba. I'm not an
enormous fan of white - unless each glass is accompanied by 14 packets of
Rennies - but an ice cold bottle of the house selection slipped down the hatch
with a minimum of fuss.
From the wide choice of different sounding main courses, I ended up plumping
for what was basically chicken tikka.
A sudden bolt of nerves, perhaps? No, I simply thought it might be a smart
idea to try something I've encountered on thousands of menus just to see if this
"authentic" restaurant could give it an exciting new twist.
And that's exactly what it did. Sure, the sizzling nougats of chicken tikka
looked extremely familiar - but the big difference here was taste.
Each melt-in-the-mouth piece was coated in a delicious blend of fresh herbs
and spices (all the herbs and spices at The Dhabba are apparently prepared from
scratch).
And I would urge every other Indian chef in the country to try to get their
hands on the secret recipe.
Meanwhile, Charmaine's chicken curry also tasted refreshingly different, as
did the extremely fluffy rice with sweet garden peas.
You'll also have to try the combo bread basket - this includes a slice of
just about every Indian bread imaginable and was a meal in itself.
In fact, chuck in a few fish and I reckon you could have fed the 5000.
This was indeed a light meal - well, light in an Indian sort of way - exactly
as Raj had promised.
"I don't feel bagged up," smiled my dining companion, "and I actually had a
cheese piece just before I came out."
I bet that's the first time those words have been uttered by a Charmaine.
All the desserts at The Dhabba are also authentic and we decided to share
something called lacchedar rabdi. Guess who sneaked home with a copy of the
menu?
Described as "reduced milk sweetened and served chilled" it looked and tasted
a little bit like thin, runny, cold custard.
Not too bad, but incredibly rich and I'd defy anyone to polish off a full
portion.
Overall, though, a tremendous night of proper Indian food with plenty of
different flavours to tantalise the taste buds and, yes, this is one place I'd
definitely recommend.
Incidentally - and here's a rather interesting little fact - a dhabba is
actually an Indian motorway cafe that sells a variety of savoury snacks to the
country's lorry drivers.
"A bit like a Little Chef?" I asked Raj.
"No, not really," he replied. "Most of them would probably give you change
out of a tenner for two coffees..."
Tel: 0141 553 1249
Open: All day, seven days.
Bill for two: £55.
Details
0141 553 1249
You'll also have to try the combo bread basket - this includes a slice of
just about every Indian bread imaginable and was a meal in itself.