Beer & Spice night

Thanks to Kevin and his family for a great evening, finally managed to upload some photos from the night

What a great evening!  I have posted a few pictures, video is currently being edited and will list it as soon as it is done.  Thankyou all who managed to attend, with your help we also managed to raise £500 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.  Keep checking back for more pictures and videos.

BBC Radio Merseyside

Just finished an interview for a piece on BBC Radio Merseyside on the Sean Styles show.  A pleasant chat about the past, present and future of the restaurant as well as a look forward to our 25 year anniversary celebrations on Thursday.


You can listen for a week on BBC Iplayer.

Reeeeeead all about it!

Nice article in the Liverpool echo today about our anniversary dinner later this month.  preparations are now well underway.  The evening will start with a champagne cocktail reception and canapes, followed by a 4 course meal with matching drinks along with live music throughout the night.  Will keep you posted.

http://issuu.com/liverpool/docs/best_of_liverpool_-_september_2011

May Wine & Spice evening hosted by Scatchards

Photos courtesy of Glen Pearson

Going the Distance!

This month we were paid a visit from the lovely Mike and Alanna.  They are a couple who have decided to embark on a quest to discover 'what makes a successful relationship?'  They have been on a 20,000 mile motor-cycle and sidecar ride from the tip of Alaska to Argentina interviewing various couples along the way.  They are now set to cover another 1,500 miles as they travel the length and breadth of the country followed and filmed on their journey by Jamie Oliver's television production company to make what will eventually be a one-hour documentary commissioned for TV next year.   Mike and Alanna are also being supported by matchaffinity.com who are currently running their new TV adverts around the adventurous couple.

Their visit to Liverpool brought them to the Gulshan were they interviewed Mustafa and Selina about how and what has made their relationship so successfull over the years.  After the interviews were over Mustafa and Selina gave Mike and Alanna a bit of a cookery lesson consisting of a chicken bhuna, bhindi bhaji, chapaties and some aloo chops, after which they all sat down along with the film crew for dinner in the restaurant. Below are some of the pictures from the visit -

Whisky, spice and all things nice!

WHISKY, SPICE AND ALL THINGS NICE!

Thursday night saw us hold our first ever whisky tasting dinner with David Kelly of Whyte and Mackay.  The night was a huge success with great food, drink and a few surprises along the way.  The night started off with a welcome whisky cocktail and a talk from David about the origins of whisky and how popular it has become in India, he then moved on to tasting notes and techniques allowing four lucky volunteers to try the rare 40 year old Dalmore at £1500 a bottle.  After Davids enlightening presentation we then moved onto the meal...

Whisky notes courtesy of David Kelly.

Appetiser - Aloo Channa Bhaji

Whisky - Isle of Jura 16 Years Old

Aloo Channa Bhajie is an Indian steet food consisting of chickpeas and potatoes, ligtly spiced with hints of chiilli and coriander.  This whisky has spent sixteen years in Bourbon casks, and with the Jura distillery located on the seafront, the casks literally breathe in the salty Hebridean sea-air that surrounds them, and this permeates into the whisky, coming through in the form of light, fresh grassy notes, balanced by the sweet honey flavours imparted by the Bourbon casks. The sweetness worked well with the starchy chickpeas and potatoes, and the fresh, herbal aromas of the whisky were beautifully matched by the dominating coriander and chilli aromas of the dish. The Jura 16YO was the great success of the night - it was lauded unanimously throughout the evening.

Chital Kofta

Whisky - The Dalmore 12 Years Old

This was the highlight of the night for a lot of people.  Chital is a Bangldeshi river fish commonly eaten in Asia but rarely round in the UK.  It was served with a fresh and punchy tamarind based sauce to compliment the spices. We intially expected a lighter style of whisky to suit this dish better but as this fish isn't a delicate, light, flaky thing - it is a real chunky monkey, we needed a whisky with more structure and depth to suit it. Also, the tamarind sauce had so much natural zestiness, that the well-rounded, fruity, spicy style of The Dalmore hit the mark perfectly.

Main Course - Shahi Chicken Rezalla

Whisky - Fettercairn Fior

’The King Kenny of Curries!’  This is a real celebration dish cooked on special occasions.   On the bone Chicken marinated in its own special blend of spices cooked in a caramelized onion based sauce.  This pairing split opinions in the room, with some really enjoying the match, while others found the hints of peat smoke slightly too powerful for the dish. But we couldn't have it all our own way, could we? This new Fettercairn bottling, 'Fior' has real depth of character - medium to full-bodied, with a spicy assertiveness mellowed by nut and fruit notes, offset by a whisper of peat smoke - there's lots going on here, just like there was in the dish - pistachio, apricot, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, rosewater, all fighting to assert their influence. The fruitiness of the Fior hit all of the right notes with the sweet caramelised onion and apricot, and the hints of peat-smoke added a charred barbecue effect to the meaty, tender chicken. Not  everyone's favourite, but it had everyone talking!

Dessert – Laddoo

Whisky - Whyte & Mackay 19 Years Old

The key after three stunning courses was to keep the dessert light, so Salina had prepared Laddoo, a traditional Bengal street snack made from chickpeas, gram flour, milk and sugar. Indian desserts are generally overly sweet so we decided to tone this one down and it worked very well with the tartness of the strawberries on the side.  The gooey, syrupy texture was fantastic, and the small portions just hit the sweet spot without sinking us! We needed a similarly rich whisky to go alongside this, so chose an aged blend. The 19 is superb - silky, malty, rich and fruity, with mouth-filling flavours of highland toffee that enveloped the caramel flavours of the dessert, and provided another great match.

For a first-attempt, highly experimental evening, 3 out of 4 complete successes is not a bad result at all!