The British love a curry. According to data from Foodhub, 11% of Brits eat curry between three to seven times a week with a further 22% eating curry weekly – reflecting both a serious love of curry and perhaps an over-reliance on takeaways!
Indian (or Pakistani or Nepalese) food is also generally sensibly priced, so a good choice for a frugal foodie looking for big flavours without a shocking bill. Responding to a recent ‘curry call’, I chose Kahani on Leith Walk as it serves high-quality food at reasonable prices and offers free corkage as an extra money-saver. If you visit on a Friday or Saturday, they also offer a pre-theatre menu of two courses for £19.85 from 3-6 pm.
Kahani (or Khushi’s as it was then) was also my local Indian restaurant for many years, and I enjoyed many a dinner, take-away and office lunch here.
The restaurant itself is bright and welcoming – not your run-of-the-mill curry house – giving a good feeling for what’s to come. Looking at the menu, the list of curries available is not as extensive as in some similar restaurants, but provides a good range, for meat-lovers, seafood fanatics and veggies.
As we are not drinking tonight, we decide to try the tempting range of mocktails on offer – an Anardana Punch (£4.95) with pomegranate, grenadine and lychee juice, and a Peach Cooler (£4.95), muddled lime wedges with mint – both crisp and refreshing, a good match for the rich food.
Sticking to the classics and always a good barometer of a restaurant, we share Onion Bhajis (£5.95) to start, which have a good level of texture and spice, and add Crispy Chilli Squid (£6.95) from the Signature Starters, which is deliciously tender with an incredibly light batter.
For mains we choose a Chicken Karahi (£13.95), flavoursome but slightly lacking in heat, and a Lamb Saag (£14.95) – this packs more of a punch, nicely mellowed with creamy spinach. While sometimes it can feel like your curry is 90% sauce, these are both full of tender meat. For sides, a Pilau Rice (£3.50), not the best but still very tasty, and a sweet Peshwari Naan (£3.95).
I would love to try the Indian Rice Pudding (£5.50) for afters, but sadly, and predictably, I am much too full, so opt for fruity Mango Kulfi (£5.95) instead. It was nice to come away without a stodgy, greasy feeling – a testament to the quality of the produce.
The next time that curry craving hits, I suggest giving Kahani a try – and as they now do delivery for the first time, you can even enjoy an Indian feast without leaving the sofa.
10 Antigua Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3NH - Tel: 0131 558 1947
Opening Hours: Sun-Thu 12:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Fri-Sat 12:00 pm – 11:00 pm
