Indian restaurants still give meal-good factor

With some saying they’re on the slide, we present an A-Z of why Britain will be forever crazy about curry houses

It’s recently come to our attention that the Indian restaurant – a powerhouse of the UK culinary scene for so long now – has been coming in for flack from the media. Not moving with the times in several ways has led some to the conclusion that they’re in decline.

Well, you could have fooled us! Considering the economic climate of the last two decades, we think they’re doing very nicely, thank you. Here’s an alphabetical guide as to why this is so.

A is for Asia’ most awesome. There’s Chinese, there’s Thai, but India’s King of the world’s largest continent when it comes to din-dins.

B is for Bhuna. Officially the Early Whistle’s go-to curry. Now, what more of an endorsement do you need?

C is for Curry Mile. Manchester’s spicy strip is the country’s largest concentration of South Asian restaurants, with over 70 to try and choose from!

D is for Décor. The more traditional elephants on wallpaper have made way for a contemporary look; one example of how restaurants have been only to happy to embrace change.

E is for Earner. A successful Indian restaurant is nothing short of a gold mine.

F is for Football. Would you believe that the ridiculously catchy tune Vindaloo by Fat Les has been sung for a quarter of a century now? We still think it’s better than Three Lions.

G is for Ghee. The clarified butter which is unique to sub-continental cooking, and the ingredient all good curries start from. Hats off.

H is for Himalayan. Nepalese and North Indian cuisine is becoming more and more influential, whilst hybridising restaurants for the better.

I is for Indian. And the prize for the most unimaginative entry on this list goes to…

J is for Jalfrezi. It was a close head-to-head with bhuna, but this is still an extremely worthy runner-up.

K is for Korma. Nobody’s perfect.

L is for ‘Land of Spices’. Easily the most richly deserved of all India’s nicknames, with a tongue-tingling 70% of the world’s spices produced there.

M is for Model. See the former poster boy for Grantham’s Saagar pictured at the top.

N is for Naan bread. Almost as synonymous an accompaniment to Indian food as the seemingly humble poppadom.

O is for Onion. Probably more central to Indian dishes than any other. One London outlet alone reportedly employs over 30 sous chefs just to chop the weepy bulbs.

P is for Poppadom. Who would’ve thought a wafer made of deep-fried flour could be such a hit?

Q is for Quick. Of course, if you don’t fancy a sit-down then takeaway is always an option.

R is for Rice. Saag aloo is awesome; chips are cheap. However, whether it’s pilau, saffron or just plain boring ol’ boiled, there’s only one side to satisfy.

S is for Scotland. The ever-popular chicken tikka masala was in fact invented in Glasgow in 1971 – then came the deep-fried battered mars bar. As with the football team, all the good work was undone in an instant.

T is for Traditional music. Who doesn’t love the soothing sound of a sitar in the background?

U is for UK. As already alluded to, our relationship with Indian food borders on obsession, but certainly not in a bad way.

V is for Vishnu. If there is indeed a god, we’ve surely got the daddy of Hindu deities to thank somehow.

W is for ‘Why?’ As in: “Why would you enter a curry eating challenge only to risk getting hospitalised?”

X is for The X-Files. Bombay Duck was last seen on menus a good 20 years ago: why? Answers on a self-addressed poppadom, please.

Y is for Yoghurt. The dip of dips for bread and poppadoms. As much as we love McDonald’s, french fries in tomato sauce are woeful by comparison.

Z is for Zeera. A rice dish that’s more often on a menu as ‘jeera’, but as we’re still on the tricky end of the alphabet (and just about flogged it to death), we’ll take it.

Are Indian restaurants still the gold standard of grub, or are their days of cooking up a storm fading away? Let us know what you think!