AD| Gifted meal

This meal was gifted by Voyotel, a new business start up in Glasgow.

The Voyotel platform allowed me to browse a pre-theatre menu and book the time I wished to dine. My friend requires gluten free food, and I was able to add a note to my booking. I then paid, and that was it – sorted. We were ready to ‘dine and dash’ at Cafe India and enjoy a cashless experience.

For general use, I’d probably prefer to just pay at the end of a meal if we want the flexibility in certain restaurants for ordering sides, cocktails etc and are wanting to enjoy a leisurely meal.

As someone who attends a fair number of gigs and events, I love this idea for those times where I want to dine out, but I have a fixed window of time. I’ve been in the situation before where I’m desperately trying to pay so I can leave to catch a train/make it to a show starting and restaurants are so busy/laid back that you wait seemingly forever for the bill, then you wait for them to come back, then you ask to pay by card, then they take forever to get the machine….then it runs out of paper – we’ve all experienced that I’d imagine! So for me, this is a great idea in those situations when you need to be out by a certain time.

Another scenario where I love the idea is for work nights out. My recent one found 30 people splitting a bill and someone didn’t pay…and it’s impossible to know who! If it’s pre-paid, it can be very well organised and on the night there is no awkward admin!

So here is our meal at Cafe India.

I’m pretty habitual with my Indian food and I just never really bother trying new places all that often as I have my staples! I was curious to try here as it’s been here for years and I’ve walked past hundreds if not thousands of times!

Sweet Chilli Chicken Skewer

My friend ordered this as it was a gluten free option and it was a really lovely dish. The chicken had been marinated in a chilli and parsley sauce and grilled until lightly charred. The chicken was dressed in a sticky sweet sauce and served with a side salad.

Chana Poori

I am absolutely obsessed with chickpea dishes, and this Chana option for the poori was right up my street. The chickpeas are cooked in a medium spiced curry sauce with a delightful sprinkling of fresh coriander. It’s so delicious! The poori itself is a fried flatbread with a lovely chewy texture. I really enjoyed it!

Lamb Karahi

I’m a staunch creamy-curry-orderer. It’s rare for me to roam off that beaten track, but it has been known to happen. On this day I was craving something with vegetables. The Karahi was my choice when I read the words ‘chunks of onions and peppers’! As you can see there was a mighty fine helping of coriander in there too which I love! I really enjoyed this curry – I find that to measure a good lamb curry you need to look at the quality of the meat, cooking of the meat and greasiness of the sauce. The lamb was delicious and tender – not a single piece of grissle. The the sauce was rich and well flavoured. It was thoroughly enjoyable and despite feeling like I might burst, I managed the whole lot!

Rada Ghost

This was my friend’s curry and she also really enjoyed hers. I haven’t seen a curry like this before as it’s made up of lamb mince as well as diced lamb!

Our curries were served with rice and naan bread, and both of the staff members who served us were really friendly and chatty. The restaurant is very laid back and it’s the kind of place I’d go for a casual meal, and a large group was dining at the time I was in and they all seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves too.

Cafe India is right in the centre of Merchant City, and is a great place to start an evening in Glasgow!

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Cafe India, 29 Albion Street, Glasgow, G1 1LH

01415525115

http://www.cafeindiaglasgow.com

@CafeIndiaGlasgow

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