Bukharah, Glasgow - Restaurants in Glasgow | s1play.com

Fine curries, no worries

Review published on 10/09/2009 © Sunday Herald

Consider this. An evening that begins with a pocketful of spanners and a dead Piaggio scooter in a tabloid editor’s back garden ends up in a hotel I used to work in and very nearly becomes a review.

The only teensy problem is this. Lyndsay, whose scooter I am trying to start, suggests a curry at Bukharah in the new Lorne. “It’s a thank-you, mate,” he says. “We might bump into Archie Shariff, the owner.” Bump into? He’s only standing at the door of the hotel with his hand extended in welcome and a knowing grin on his face. And then he’s only marshalling armies of waiters to bring burnished platters of delicious food prompting Mr Dinsmore, who joins us, to say: “This will be the impartial review then, Ron.” Ha ha.

So sometimes you have to return. Alone. In the hope of sneaking in, secret squirrel, when everyone’s back is turned. To get a proper look at this rebuilt hotel where I spent many a pleasant student night selling £50 glasses of brandy to dodgy kitchen salesmen, serving wedding food to hordes of party steamers and drinking into the late hours with other staff at the big smoked-glass conservatory.

Which has now been replaced. As have walls, kitchens, bars, even lift shafts in an oh-crikey transformation that has opened up the long-closed, rabbit-warren Lorne into a cool brick and low-lighting cavern of cocktail bars and flitting staff, and something called a healthy Indian restaurant.

Unfortunately for the subterfuge, Archie’s still at the door. Hand still outstretched to new customers. Though if I’m surprised to see him, it looks like he’s completely startled to see me. Fortunately, it’s the same specials menu that was on the other night. With the outstanding and fiery Rashmi kebab of spiced minced tandooried chicken and the soothing sweet’n’sour north Indian papri chatt of potatoes, chick peas and deep spicing piled high on crisp’n’soft fried crunchy dough. If this is street food transformed to a restaurant setting inside a hotel, it’s absolutely superb.

There’s a chicken handi and a lamb handi, both named after the narrow pots used to cook them, and both simple and deep and at long last moved from the staff menu of Indian restaurants to the mainstream.

And there’s the star of the show. The mathi chaman of curried cheese, spices and mushrooms, looking to all the world like a scrambled egg but tasting different and fresh and, actually, despite the picture it conjures in the mind, excellent.

There are also monkfish kebabs, which have lost something in the marinating process, paneer chawal, or rice cooked with cheese, and a kulcha filled with onions and potatoes. All this for under £15 for two courses and £20 for three.

That is value, but then again Bukharah is sandwiched right between Glasgow’s best two Indian restaurants, Balbir’s and Mother India, and if eyelids are not twitching over an impending curry war at the top end of the market, then they should be. Nobody wins from wars? Nobody except the customers.

Of course, there are problems. The sole marinated in spices should never, ever have been served with fried potatoes, and the main menu is a complete mess of British dishes mixed with dull Indian restaurant staples that urgently needs a complete rethink, if not a swift trip to the bin.

And what about this healthy Indian food lark? Is it a cheeky tilt at Balbir’s ghee-free cooking? Search me, but as I don’t think a dollop of flavour-enhancing ghee in a once or twice a month curry does any harm, does it really matter? Whatever oil is used instead of ghee in here, it doesn’t detract from the flavour, which is about the best we’re going to get.

How good is Bukharah then? Pretty good, actually, and these are early days. Whether the idea of having a decent curry in a boutique restaurant setting will catch on in Glasgow is hard to say. But as an opening shot it should be enough to make the curry establishment sit up and take notice.