Opus One (Radisson Blu Edwardian, Manchester) - a little bit of luxury!

After my very average meal at Mr. Lau's the previous evening, I was very much looking forward to Afternoon Tea at Opus One in Manchester.
My friends, Wing and Sybil, had booked this place because we all love a good afternoon tea. When they told me it would be posh, I immediately went online to check it out in order to prepare for what I would be expecting. Posh looking indeed!

Date of visit: 01/09/2014

I had been standing outside of the grand looking Opus One for about 15-20mins (I don't feel comfortable entering posh places on my own) when I received a message from Sybil to turn around - turns out she was already inside and spent a good 5-10mins trying to knock on the window behind me to get my attention! If Opus One had not intended for their glass to be sound proof, well they're in luck. Even when inside, I couldn't hear any of the external traffic noise.

When we originally entered Opus One, what blew me away was the beautiful decor - clean smooth lines, dark glossy furniture with a hint of red coming from the chandeliers and walls, and large chess pieces dotted about. All this along with the high ceilings certainly made me feel like I was in some grand theatre. We walked through the luxurious restaurant and in to the side room that has full length windows looking out on to Peter Street. We sat on the beautiful boutique sofas that were extremely comfy! Already a great start.

I'm not sure about you but Afternoon Teas can get a little too sweet for me and I end up not finishing all the cakes in one sitting. This is where Opus One stood out from the other Afternoon Teas I have had. They give you the option of: Traditional Afternoon tea, Celebration Afternoon Tea and Gentlemen's Afternoon Tea.
We went for 2 Gentlemen's and 1 traditional as all 3 of us enjoy just that little bit more savoury than sweet.
The Gentlemen's Afternoon Tea consisted of:
Mini hot yorkshire pudding with beef and gravy in the middle.
Warm pork pie
Mini Fish and Chips
Rustic Sandwiches
Scones with clotted cream and jam

They also have a lovely selection of teas to go with your afternoon tea - we opted for Assam, Ceylon and English Breakfast.

The tea arrived first and in all honesty, I was slightly underwhelmed by the teapots they were served in; very average metal teapots I would expect during breakfast in an average hotel. I know I know, but crockery style does play a part in what should be a luxury treat. It's like buying a car that has beautiful trims, leather seats, leather steering wheel, built in sat nav, cruise control, the whole shebang; only to see that there are no alloy wheels. Just hubcaps.

The waitress then comes in with the goods and at that moment, the average teapots were forgotten about. Everything looked so pretty and most importantly, scrumptious!

The rustic sandwiches had two layers to them which just added to what was already a pretty damn good sandwich.

Mini Pork Pies - Now I'm not normally a fan of pork pies, mainly because the ones I have had in the past were just cold, fatty, over salty meat surrounded by tasteless pastry (the thought of it makes me want to hurl) but this one was pretty damn tasty. The pie was warm and the pastry crumbled when you take the initial bite, then it melts in the mouth so beautifully. It is most likely not any healthier than your average pork pie (in fact, I'm pretty sure the pastry was made using lard) but damn, it was good!
Yorkshire Pudding - I wish I had eaten this first because by the time I got to the yorkshire, it had become cold. Even when it was cold the flavours were really good so imagine it being nice and hot - that silky rich gravy with the slither of roast beef, in a nice crispy yorkshire pudding...drooling yet?
Fish and Chips - slightly underwhelming with the fish and chips looking a little overdone, and the mushy peas made the fish batter slight soggy after a while, so tip: eat it after the yorkshire pudding.

After the lovely savoury options, I turned my attention to the sweet tower.

From what I could see, there was fruit tart, chocolate fudge cake, bake well traybake and a prosecco jelly.

I only managed to try the fruit tart and jelly from the sweet tower, then a scone. I wish I could have tried the rest but I was just so full from all the food - it doesn't look much but it's certainly filling, maybe it was the pork pie.

The fruit tart seemed like it had been left out a little too long as the pastry was slightly soggy, but the creme pat was smooth and creamy.
I wasn't sure what the jelly was at first but I knew I wanted to try it - the prosecco jelly was quite refreshing and wasn't too sweet so it went down very easily.
The scones were beautifully light which surprised me as most scones i have had with afternoon teas have been quite dense. Topped with a dollop of clotted cream and jam (the best way to eat scones, in my opinion) makes this one of the best scones I have had this year.

Now that I have returned to Scotland, I am currently seeking out a place that does savoury afternoon teas like Opus One does.
The whole experience felt quite luxurious and if I lived in Manchester, Opus One would no doubt be the place I would go to for a bit of Afternoon Tea with friends. The choice of sweet or savoury will please different palates for sure.

Mr. Lau's - Dim Sum Bar

I have visited friends that live in Manchester a couple of times now but this was a little different.
My good friends Wing, Sybil and their baby son, Isaac are going to be leaving at the end of September. They will be moving to Singapore permanently.
I have been very busy with work and due to that, I was only able to take 2 days off so I did a 24hour thing in Manchester just to catch them for a couple of hours to say goodbye.
Another good friend of mine, Bryan lives near Manchester so it only made sense to meet him and Dan while I was in the area. They were very kind to offer me a place to stay for the night too.

I arrived on the Sunday afternoon at Manchester where I was met by Bryan and Dan. We decided to go to Mr. Lau's, in Warrington, for dinner as Dan had been there before and said it was quite nommy (yes, this is a word...ahem).
They claim to be a premier dim sum bar so naturally I was excited to going here and hopefully taste some pretty darn good dim sum, maybe with a modern twist.

Date of Visit: 31/08/14

As we arrived pretty early, the place was not really that busy but I did notice that they had one large party already in and were expecting another large party too. A waiter/barman greeted us and took us to the table closest to the open kitchen. 

The open kitchen. This is how dark our table was. Please excuse person in the corner there!

He came back later to take our drink orders and we didn't see him for a while after that. We never got handed any a la carte menus so we automatically assumed it was just the dim sum menu, which was already on our tables, that we had to order from. We waited for a good while after ticking the boxes and it seemed like we had been forgotten about until the bar man finally came with our drinks. It looked like he was by himself at the bar so I could understand why our drinks took time but the other waiters in our area didn't even look at our table until we asked the bar man if there was a way to order food. Even he seemed surprised that we had not had our orders taken yet. 
We were given a little bucket of prawn crackers to nibble on as we waited some more.
Once the order was put through there was still a bit of a wait for the food - hardly surprising as the kitchen was starting to get very busy as the restaurant was filling up.

Our order was:
Salt and pepper cashew nuts
Vietnamese prawn crackers
Salt and pepper chicken wings
Salt and pepper tofu
Ap gau (Duck Dumplings)
Wor tip (pan fried meat dumplings)
Ap goon (Duck spring rolls)
Char Sui buns (chinese roast pork buns)
Custard buns
Char Sui Cheung fun
Har gau (Prawn Dumplings)
Prawn toast

In my experience with dim sum, it has always been a pretty quick affair - yum cha (directly translated as "drink tea" because people would usually have several dim sum dishes to accompany their tea) is such a popular thing during peak times that the food usually comes out pretty fast due to the copious amount of preparation the chef(s) will have done. 
I spoke to the owner of a chinese restaurant not that long ago and he has one dim sum chef, hired from Hong Kong specifically to do the dim sum in his restaurant. The chef starts at 6am every morning to start on his mise en place, ready for doors opening at 12pm. Dim sum sessions finish at around 4pm but the dim sum chef doesn't go home until 6-7pm. 

As soon as we gave the order to the waitress, she came to tell us the Vietnamese crackers were complimentary and that we were already given them so we should order something else. The crackers in front of us were NOT Vietnamese crackers, I know because I use Vietnamese crackers in my own restaurant. Bryan said nothing and just ordered something else and when we looked over to see a different kind of prawn crackers being dished out, we knew that those were the Vietnamese crackers. The waitress must have got them mixed up but at this point we just wanted ur food so badly that there was no point in getting angry at some prawn crackers. Although the question I had was: If the Vietnamese crackers were already complimentary then why have them on the dim sum order then?

We got most of our dim sum after a little wait and was then told that there were no custard buns left! Yes, I was really gutted because if I'm honest, their dim sum menu was pretty limited - considering that they claim to be a dim sum bar. I'm guessing the limited menu saves confusing people who have never had dim sum before but the whole point of having dim sum when I was in HK was because there was so much choice that there would bound to be something for everyone.

Had to put on the flash and edit this photo, it was after I had seen this that I realised what the food actually looked like.

I settled for the beef balls and reminded the waiter that there was still the ap gau to still come.
We ate as we waited on the other dishes and I must admit, I was not that impressed. I am not expecting dim sum to be exactly like the ones in HK but I expect them to be somewhat similar or have their own twist on it.

What it actually looked like in front of us.

Cheung Fun is normally one of my favourites but the actual Cheung fun itself at Mr. Lau's had a very soft texture, whereas the ones I'm used to, have more of a little bounce. The char sui in my Cheung fun was very fatty, not sure if it was meant to be like that. 

Cheung Fun

Har gow had a bit of a tough pastry (it most likely came out of the steamer first while it waited on the other dishes and had hardened a little when it came in contact with the air) and there wasn't the nice little parcel shapes that I am used to having, however the taste was pretty spot on.
All the salt and pepper dishes were well seasoned, especially the cashews. I could see myself eating a whole bowl of that in front of a telly!

Beef balls came, still no ap gau. I did notice that the friendly waiter had asked the kitchen several times about the ap gau so it wasn't like they weren't trying.
Bryan tried the beef balls first and said to me it tasted of nothing, which I thought, "no way".
But he was right. It tasted of nothing. I couldn't even taste the beef! There were 4 in that steamer and after me and Bryan had one each, we left the rest.

The ap goon was okay but I was struggling to find any ap in that goon.

Wor tip had good flavours but I couldn't help but think they had over fried the dumplings as they were crispy all the way around but I will credit them for not making the pastry chewy as that is what tends to happen to wor tip when they are over fried.

I was slightly worried that we had ordered too much food (those of you who go to yum cha, don't tell me you haven't over ordered before) but some of their portions were not very big so it was actually enough for us. 

By the time we finished our dishes, the ap gau was still no where to be seen. We asked the waitress to cancel that dish as we had waited too long and were no longer wanting it. The manager informed us that it was ready so we had it packed for us to take away. 
We had the feeling that we were constantly being neglected compared to other tables. We noticed during our meal that as soon as the table next to us were sat down, they were handed proper menus as well as the dim sum menu. Why didn't we get a la carte menus? It probably wasn't intentional but it doesn't make them look good when they give all - but one table - menus!

The manager did do something as a goodwill gesture because she knew we weren't impressed, which was very kind of her because we hadn't even put in a complaint. 
When we did get served, the waiters were all polite and friendly.

They have a very extensive cocktail menu - this baffled me as to why more effort seemed to have gone in to the cocktail menu than the Dim Sum menu. 
I ordered a virgin cocktail - Mango Twist - which was beautifully done so I could imagine this place being good for nights out.

Mango Twist

Overall, it isn't a bad place but it was an unfortunate visit for myself and friends. The lighting is very dim where we sat (as the photos will show) so it was difficult to see much of the food that was put in front of us. 

Nice decor, LOVE the large lampshades. The lighting in there would make it a great cocktail bar venue.

I would probably want to venture in to China Town in Manchester the next time I am there - just so I could compare. My advice for those who want to pay Mr. Lau a visit: If you are not handed a main menu, ask for one! I checked out some of their photos and menu on their website afterwards and it would have been nice to have the option of ordering something from the main menu as some of it sounded/looked pretty good. 
Shame.

Koyama - Fresh ingredients at this little mountain.

August has seen Edinburgh buzzing with people from all over the world; attending the Foodies Festival, The Book Festival and of course, The Fringe.
August is also a very busy month for me so it has been hard to fit The Fringe in with my schedule but I did it! Right at the end but I don't mind because the act that I really wanted to go and see were doing their last Fringe show on the day I planned on going. 
I decided to get my sister-in-law to join me as she had never been to see a show at The Fringe in all the years she has been in Scotland. Since she is a food lover too we decided to go and try out a Japanese restaurant near the venue after the show.

Koyama - in Japanese, means "little mountain" and is also the name of the restaurant we visited.
The restaurant is situated near the University, Museum and Greyfriar's so I can see why it would attract students and tourists. 
Not a big restaurant but they have done their best in providing as much seats in quite a small space, without people feeling like a tin of sardines when sat next to other tables. Very impressed.


Date Visited: 25th August 2014

When we arrived, there were not that many diners in and they had tables put together for what looked like a couple of larger parties later on. All the booth seats had been taken so we were given a small stand alone table at the back of the restaurant. We were given menus right away and our orders were taken as soon as we were ready to order. From what I could see, there were only 2 waiters working that evening and both of them were very polite and always had a smile when serving us.

We ordered the following: Age-dashi Tofu, BBQ Pork Ramen, Dragon Roll and for dessert, Green Tea Ice Cream Mochi.

Age-dashi tofu:

When is came, the portion looked very small and I could instantly see that the coating they had put on the tofu had started to come away. However, flavours were good and the minced daikon with sliced spring onions added a good textural element to the dish. The tofu wasn't as silky as the ones I have had before but it wasn't the worst I have tried.

BBQ Pork  Chicken Katsu Ramen:
Yes, we ordered BBQ Pork but after the waiter went away to pass the docket to the kitchen, he came right back to let us know that they had ran out. He had brought a menu over for us to choose something else, which was very thoughtful, but we already decided that the chicken katsu would be our 2nd option. The chicken was over done so it ended up being a bit hard and the panko hadn't quite covered all of the chicken. The sweet sauce and mayo drizzled on top was pretty good and was what saved the chicken from tasting like cardboard. The ramen had the good "bouncy" texture we look for in noodles and the soup base had that lovely silky smoothness, with a slight sweetness that reminded us of soup stock made by simmering pork bones in the stock for hours to create that beautiful richness. They may have been a tad heavy on the sesame oil but that's okay with me as I LOVE sesame oil, others may find that with the sesame oil, their initial taste of the ramen reminds them of east asian instant noodles we make at home. 
We had ordered this to share but I may not have made it clear enough to the waiter so had to ask for a couple of empty rice bowls for us, which the waiter was more than happy to get for us.

Dragon Roll:
Crispy tempura king prawns and finely sliced cucumber, wrapped in seaweed, surrounded with perfectly cooked rice, topped with freshly sliced ripe avocado and topped with crab roe. YUM! 
My only gripe was that the pieces were very big. I don't have a huge mouth but even someone with a big gob would have had difficulty eating it. Initally I tried dividing it in to two with my chopsticks but failed miserably because the seaweed inside became very tough to tear after coming in contact with the moisture in the rest of the sushi roll. I then used my fingers to tear it apart and ended up with squashed rice all over my fingers. With my 2nd piece I tried to take a bite out of it but the same issue with the seaweed happened again and I was sitting there trying to look graceful with sushi hanging out of my mouth while I tried gnawing that seaweed apart - this time I got squashed rice on my face rather than on my fingers and I pray no one saw me eating that as I know it wasn't a pretty sight! So in the end I ate my remaining pieces by dissecting them in to their individual components and then pairing them how I liked. Each component was done well and if the roll pieces were slightly smaller then it would have been such a great taste sensation in the mouth.

Full House!

During the course of our meal, the restaurant started to get very busy and at one point was completely full, with customers leaving because they didn't want to wait. 
We were just finishing our main course when we asked for a top up of our tea, the waiter went away with our pot, came back to clear our plates away and then asked us if we would like the bill! We looked at him with a slight awkwardness - told him we hadn't even got the pot of tea back yet and we wanted dessert. He was very apologetic. It was probably a genuine mistake and not intentionally trying to rush us out of there. I hope.
All was definitely forgiven when we got our pot of tea back and dessert.

Beautiful crockery from Japan

The dessert! Now this, for us, was the star of the whole meal. 
The last time I had ice cream mochi was in Hong Kong back in 2009. I remember it was a taro flavoured ice cream mochi that we bought in the supermarket and it was just amazing! Ice cream encased in a beautiful mochi skin, not too sweet and so refreshing...mm....
Anyway, the green tea ice cream mochis were split in half and on each half, it was topped with azuki beans. I am not a fan of azuki beans most of the time because some places prepare them too sweet for my tastes but not this time. The mochi needed the sweetness of the azuki to counteract the slight bitterness of green tea so for me, this was perfect! I have to admit though, it is a little pricey for just 2 ice cream mochis but for me this was worth it because it is not every day you get to have ice cream mochi!

Mochi Mochi Mochi! Oh yummy mochi!

Would I return? Yes - purely for the green tea ice cream mochi. Only kidding. Kind of. 
The ingredients they use are fresh, can't deny that so it would be nice to try out their other dishes the next time I go and hopefully will have a positive update on this post in future.

Italian Grill - Delizioso!

I already have a favourite Italian restaurant in Dundee - Don Michele, Perth Road. The thing is, whenever I visit Dundee now, I rarely venture up that way and I mostly meet people in the centre. I was told of the Italian Grill that had opened its doors in June and from what I can gather it has had some very positive reviews.

Italian Grill belongs to the same people who own Henry's Coffee House and The Meathouse. 
Yes, I have tried them both - in fact, I really enjoyed Henry's up until I discovered The Burgh Coffee House. The Meathouse does amazingly good burgers (they did when I was last there anyway), so it was a no-brainer when I had to decide on a place to lunch with mother, who is a bit of a fussy eater.

The restaurant occupies what was the the Dundee Box Office and is right next to Henry's Coffee House on the City Square. 
The last time I ventured in to the Square, it was a bit of grey space, dotted with a couple of benches that look like they had been nicked from a local park. There were 2 fountains and gum everywhere. I remember visiting the Square as a little girl and there were loads of pigeons there waiting for people to feed them. Now, it is a much cleaner, brighter area and they have even put some greenery to liven up the place. The fountains have been cleaned out and it seems like a much more pleasant place to have a spot of lunch or a coffee, whatever tickles your fancy.

Italian Grill boast of having a Josper Grill and wood stone oven, now I don't know about you but when I hear that a restaurant has that kind of equipment, I naturally want to go there just to try out their pizza or steak!

The restaurant is quite spacious, with a contemporary feel. The full length windows allow for a great view of the square and allows plenty of light in to the restaurant. Very European and fast becoming a popular feature to many new restaurants in the UK. Having plenty of natural light in a restaurant makes it feel a lot less claustraphobic and hopefully in turn will create happier customers.

The waitress showed us to a lovely table that had a view of the open kitchen with its wood stone oven, although it wasn't next to a window, we still had a very nice view of the Square. She handed us the menus and told us she would be back with bread and water. That never came. 
Now I would like to just point out that I couldn't care less if I got bread at the start of a meal as it can ruin your appetite before you even start but when a waiter tells me they will bring it over before taking our drinks, I kind of expect it to actually happen. Otherwise I would feel like we have been left out of the experience while others that came in after us enjoyed it.
Another waitress took our drinks order and only after that did we get the bread. The bread looks just like their pizza base, but cut in to strips - crisp with a slight chew. They provided an olive oil and balsamic dip for the bread; now I love that combo for dipping bread, but in my opinion when it's difficult for the bread to pick up any balsamic the result is just an oily bit of bread, but that is just purely personal taste.

They provide a simple lunch menu but I was in the mood for something from the a la carte menu with a bit more variety.
Myself and mum decided to share our starter and main because she is a very light eater. We decided to go for a Fritto Misto to start and a Spinach, Rocket and Ricotta cheese pizza for our main. M went for Carrot and Coriander soup to start and the Chicken Marsala Florentine for main.
The Fritto Misto has 2 sizes, one for individuals and one for sharing; I asked the waitress if the larger sharing platter was quite big and she said it would be better for the 2 of us because the smaller one is really designed for 1 person. Worried that the smaller one would be too small, we went with the bigger one. Big mistake!
The portion was big enough for 4 people to share as a starter!

The seafood was very fresh and there was a good selection of squid, king prawns, whitebait and baby octopus served with a very creamy aioli. The salad in the centre was seasoned really well, with a nice sweetness coming from the cabbage and onions - I probably would have eaten it all if there wasn't so much seafood to chow through. The plating is slightly on the rough side, which I think was what they wanted to go for but I think it would have looked slightly more appealing if it was plated better and not just chucked on. The crispy coating on the seafood was again seasoned really well and complimented the dish as a whole but I couldn't help but notice that the coating wasn't completely crisp and in fact was slightly soggy in places. It was also quite greasy so my guess is that the oil may not have been hot enough when frying the fritto misto so the batter couldn't crisp up properly and left quite a bit of grease on the plate. Not denying it though, the seafood was nice, just a shame about the frying process.
M's Carrot and Coriander soup was sweet and had a nice kick to it. He told me it was one of the best carrot soups he has had in a restaurant.

We didn't have to wait long for main courses to arrive after our starters and as the large pizza was put down, mother did notice the crust was quite well fired. In past experiences with well fired crusts, the thin pizzas were usually overdone and quite hard but as I went to put the cutter down in to the crust, it gave way nicely and cut very well. Although it was slightly darker in colour than the other pizzas I had seen being served around me, it was still a very good pizza. Fresh green spinach and rocket was piled on the top along with parmesan shavings, briefly hiding the ricotta and mozzarella cheese that had been placed very evenly on the beautifully thin base. Mother liked having the ricotta as it wasn't heavy and since she had picked the parmesan shavings off hers and on to my slices, she wasn't overloaded with cheese. The flavour of the Parmesan provides a salty element to the pizza hence adding depth, otherwise the pizza may have been slightly bland.
Thanks to the humungous starter, I only managed to eat a few slices while mother managed 2. Yes, 2 slices! 
Needless to say, I asked the waitress to box up the rest for me to take home.

M's Chicken Marsala looked very tasty and I was very impressed that they even cooked it with the skin left on the chicken in order to keep the meat moist. It came with a very tasty garlic mash that M thoroughly enjoyed but he couldn't finish his chicken as he found it a bit too salty. He hadn't told me this until we got home because he is annoying that way so I was unable to notify the waitress when she had asked if the meal was okay.

None of us were able to have desserts this time around but I will definitely make sure I have room to try it out on my next visit. It shouldn't be too long a wait for that as my brother would like to give this place a try with his kids very soon.

Yes, the food I had at Italian Grill could do with some minor improvements but all in all, it was a decent meal in a lovely central location and it is definitely a place people should consider trying out instead of going to other sub par eateries in the centre (not dropping names but most people who work and live in dundee will know which ones I mean). 
Italian Grill obviously care about the food they serve and the staff are all friendly and very polite.

They have had such a success with Henry's and The Meathouse that I have very high hopes for the future of Italian Grill - I wish the team all the very best with their beautiful restaurant. 

Ashiana - Birthday Meal

There are quite a lot of Indian/Asian restaurants/takeaways in Scotland. 

A LOT. 

This doesn't mean they are all good though. In fact, I would say 8 out of 10 Indian takeaways I have tried have been pretty rubbish (a few pieces of overcooked meat floating around in brightly coloured and bland sauce is not my thing) so this is why I would prefer dining at an Indian restaurant rather than get a takeout. Most takeouts are never that good once it has been put in to a plastic box anyway.
The Indian restaurants I have visited in Dundee have never given me a horrible experience but they have never excited me or made me feel the need to go back so when one of my besties wanted to go to a recently opened, Asian restaurant for his birthday meal I was already thinking that it will just be another one of your average, run of the mill, Indian restaurant. 
Firstly, I would like to state that Ashiana is not an Indian restaurant, they are an Asian fusion restaurant. From what I gather when reading their menu, is that they specialise in Indian and Bangladeshi Cuisine. 
If the first thought that comes to your head is, "Isn't that just the same thing?" That's like someone saying Scotland and England are the same or America and Canada are the same. 
They are not the same. 
Bangladesh have their own flag, they established independence from Pakistan in 1971. Bangladeshi food is more centred towards fish curries and they use more coconut milk and root vegetables in their dishes. Indian curries tend to have more spices.

A little map for those who may not be sure where Bangladesh is.

As we walked up to the entrance a gentleman, who looked very much like the owner of the place, greeted us very quietly and politely, he led us through a very well lit entrance hall that had a very pretty crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling and LED spotlights dotted around the place.
The music was instrumental soundtracks from old movies which wouldn't have been too bad if each one hadn't sounded like some heartbreaking lovesick song. It reminded me of my grandfather's first ever restaurant in Arbroath back in the 80's where the music in every Chinese restaurant was instrumental love ballads and every table had a small vase of carnations. 

Our table view

The building that is now occupied by Ashiana (and the newly opened Japanese restaurant in the basement) had belonged to the University of Dundee for many years and so the building itself is quite old with stairs that are not suitable for wheelchair users. 

This is just to show how clean the tables were.

The restaurant area itself is quite spacious and there is plenty of natural light that comes through the large windows. The decor is very modern, but the beautiful (and very comfortable) wooden chairs and the lovely table runners, certainly add an element of traditional sophistication to the place. 
If you are vertically challenged, like me, it may take a a few minutes for you to get comfortably seated as the chairs have quite a lot of padding in it - not a bad thing mind, but it did mean my feet couldn't touch the ground when I sat properly on the chair!

You can stop laughing now!


We were given 3 menus: Food Menu, Chef's Special Menu and Drinks Menu.

A little sneak peek of the Chef's Special Menu.

Food menu is extensive - so extensive we had to ask the waitress to give us a few more minutes to look through the menu. The ordinary menu along with the Chef's special menu may confuse many people who have never dined in an Asian restaurant before. Saying that though, the staff there are very friendly and I am sure they would be happy to help you with anything you are unfamiliar with.
Drinks menu is also extensive and what surprised me the most is the wide variety of wines they have on offer. I don't drink alcohol much but I know people who do and have always heard them say that most restaurants are very boring with their wine list so I am sure they would be very happy with Ashiana's list.
The restaurant was very clean and staff were dressed smart but not pretentious looking. 
Vegetarians will be delighted to know that Ashiana have a very good selection of meat free dishes to offer you, with different spice levels to suit all palates. 

Vegetable Ala Bomb

If you are not vegetarian, then you will want to try one of their fish dishes.
No, I never had a fish dish, this is because I had a huge craving for king prawns but looking back I really should have went for a fish curry. 

We ordered poppadoms as an appetiser; the poppadoms came with an onion chutney and mango chutney. 
I usually give the onion chutney a miss and just have the mango, but when this came the onions were much finer than the usual onion chutneys I have come across in the past so decided to give this a go. 
No regrets! I was blown away by how little of the raw onions I could actually taste but instead had a burst of sweet/sharp relish with hints of fresh coriander mixed in. Just thinking about it now has got my mouth watering...mm...

Crispy and bubbly, yum!

For starters we ordered: Lamb Tikka, Chicken Pakora, Mixed Pakora, and Beguni (aubergine bhaji).
My lamb tikka was well cooked, although it was ever so slightly overdone, there was still a good amount of flavour and the sauce they had as an accompaniment had a slight tang with a hint of spice which went well with every starter. 

Lamb Tikka Starter - I love coriander!

The Beguni were slices of aubergine coated in a seasoned batter and deep fried. Aubergine can sometimes turn out to be a sloppy mess if overdone but the chef cooked the Beguni perfectly so that the aubergines were soft but still had a slight firmness to them and held their shapes. 

Beguni - I personally think they could have done without the carrot stick.

I had one little niggle with the garnish on the plates though. The carrot stick that was placed along with the salads. If they were just using the carrot as a garnish, then maybe slicing little flowers would look slightly prettier than a carrot stick that looks like it's been kept in a zip-lock bag for snack-time.

Main courses: Vegetable Ala Bomb, King Prawn Biryani, Special Biryani and Chicken and Lamb Biryani, and a Railway Lamb Curry.
All of us had enjoyed our main course just as much as we had enjoyed the starters. 
Beautiful presentation (although the salads on the side could do with looking a bit more elegant). 
The spices used in the Biryani was what made this dish so tasty and the light heat was enough to get that sensation but not enough to burn my tongue off. They didn't skimp on the prawns either but I did find the prawns a tad over cooked and the fried onions on top of the rice had me slightly sceptical at first but they really completed the dish by adding a different texture and a slight sweetness to the dish.

My King Prawn Biryani.

They provided a vegetable curry to accompany the Biryani - now this is where Ashiana shone for me.
Most vegetable curries I have had in the past have mostly been bits of vegetables (usually boiled to death) swimming in curry sauce, if I was lucky there would be some pureed lentils too. Ashiana's veg curry was packed full of vegetables and there was just enough lentils and sauce to keep it moist. Great flavours and great for picking up with the Naan bread.

Speaking of Naan bread, we ordered two garlic and one cheese - I was going to just order one garlic and one cheese, but then someone asked,
"mm...will that really be enough?"
I don't need much convincing when it comes to Naan, so another one it is then!
When the bread came we were given plain instead of garlic. 
When we notified the waitress of the mistake, she was very apologetic and let us keep the plain Naan while she went to put in an order for the garlic Naan. We ended up with a Naan each!  Needless to say, we never managed to finish all the breads but Heather, the slimmest one out of us all, took her unfinished veg bombe and the rest of the Naans home with her to enjoy the day after.
Better that than see perfectly good food go to waste.

I don't remember seeing a dessert menu but we didn't really need it due to the huge birthday cake that Heather had made.

That was some chocolaty goodness!

The yummy cake.

The waitress and the owner were very attentive, making sure everything was okay throughout the evening. The restaurant was fairly quiet (unsurprising as it was a Monday night), with only 2 other tables there. 

Everything had been alright but my one major criticism would be the journey to the toilets. 

I know I know, the toilet issue again. 

I asked the waitress where the toilets were and she led me to this door next to the main entrance. As we entered said door, she turned the lights on to this very dark corridor with stairs leading up to the toilets. It is a little bit of a hike, but when you are in an old style building it's impossible to have everything on the same level. She took me all the way up the stairs and showed me to the toilets. The toilets were clean but because the corridor and stairs were very bare, it felt slightly eerie. 
At the bottom of the stairs, just before I went back through the doors to the well lit restaurant, there was a broken wooden door, some empty cardboard boxes and an abandoned vending machine. I understand that not everyone uses toilets in a restaurant, but those that do would probably not want the illusion of a perfectly lovely looking restaurant to be shattered by some abandoned furniture.

All in all, I had a lovely meal with my lovely friends and apart from the little weird journey to and back from the ladies' room I wouldn't hesitate to return to try out the other different types of dishes they have to offer. Here's hoping the next time I go, the back stairs and corridor is cleared of the small clutter.

Would I recommend Ashiana to visitors to Dundee? YES.
Their food is great, the staff are pleasant, the place is clean; what more could you ask for?