Restaurant review: Indian restaurant Prashad

Commercial director of TheBusinessDesk.com, Lee-J Walker, gives his verdict on Indian restaurant Prashad.

WE arrived on a Thursday evening – and got a parking space right outside. The place was already half full, not bad given it was a warm evening in July, when you’d expect most people to be in the garden with a salad and glass of vino.

The decor has a modern Indian theme, and the ambience was calm, with quality Indian music playing in the background and an ornate bar to one side.

Prashad is certainly not your average curry house. Formerly a dilapidated pub on Drighlington crossroads between Leeds and Bradford, it has undergone an excellent renovation, with three intimate and rustic dining rooms.

It did however, lack a very high-end fine dining look in the details. There weren’t any white tablecloths or a collection of wine glasses sat on the table. That’s not to say it was a bad thing, this lack of finery means Prashad is far from pompous.

Deciding on beer, I went through the extensive drinks menu that offered craft beers selected by Leeds-based vegetarian restaurant Bundobust.

I chose the Gentleman’s Wit, a cloudy light ale by Camden Brewery. This was recommended by our waiter. I’m still not sure if he was trying to say something.

The wine menu was mostly new-world with fashionable wines like MadFish, Rama Tempranillo and Chablis. There were no overly expensive numbers, with bottles averaging £20 a bottle – more than affordable.

I stuck to the Gentleman’s Wit, now enjoying a second bottle.
My co-reviewer for the evening went non-alcoholic with a signature mocktail; a mango lopez chosen from a range of nine on offer. She then went for a thick mango lassi which was so dense the straw stood up on its own. Both great drinks and excellent if you have a sweet tooth!

For dinner, we started with an amuse-bouche of steamed marrow muthiya (meaning ‘ball’ in Gujarati) with green pea and apple chutney and coriander. Wow! A little ball of joy and a lovely way to start a meal.

Then followed poppadoms and homemade pickles – and not your average pickles. They simply seemed fresher than the usual, and were combined with probably the lightest poppadom on the planet.

Then the taster began; a grand five course vegetarian menu.

We started with kopra pethis, a light crispy ball of potato and coconut with a spicy kick. This dish needed no meat and the coriander was forefront of the flavours. This starter was so good, I’d have been happy having it for another five courses.

By now the restaurant was quite full with a mixture of diners from different age ranges. I wondered how many were vegetarians and how many are carnivorous. I suspected Prashad attracts both veggies and meat eaters who travel to sample a real taste of India, and even the meat eaters would probably be willing to forgo the protein for new flavours.

Then onto chaat pati, a cold street food style plate which is a trio of three canapé style bites.

I’ve actually never eaten anything like it, it was slightly theatrical and playful in its its presentation.

Next up was pouring panipuri spicy water on a puri with slow cooked chickpea, which produced quite a remarkable taste, although my companion felt the crispy noodle pastry dish was a tad on the sweet side and she didn’t finish that one. The other two though disappeared. At this point I felt like I’d had six starters!

The first main was Masala dosa, a traditional South Indian breakfast dish with a rice crepe, potato and curry soup. This wouldn’t be my choice of food to start the day as I’m more a bacon butty man, but it was a great dish nonetheless, with subtle dark flavours and a kick of fresh chilli and warm soup to complement it.

The second main course was a paneer and capsicum dish from Northern India, complemented with the best garlic naan I’ve ever had! No elephant ear style heavy breads in sight, as served in other restaurants, were to be seen here.

At this point, I thought I’d be wanting the taste of chicken or lamb, but of course there is nothing that once breathed on this menu.

However the paneer was perfect. We were feeling quite full and the meat would have only ruined the experience. The curry wasn’t overly spicy, but was balanced with background spices. This is the first dish that resembled anything from a stereotypical Indian restaurant, but it stood out due to its high-quality ingredients and fabulous presentation.

Dessert was a tea ice cream with honeycomb in a chocolate ball with edible flower. This would have worked in any Michelin-star restaurant. It was very indulgent and rich, with high cocoa-content dark chocolate, though to be honest, the flower didn’t add anything on the taste buds, although it added a touch of colour and brightness to the plate.

Overall the service was good, with explanations on each dish. Prashad provided exactly what I like on a taster menu, a guide with a good experience of cuisine. It ended up as a learning experience.

There is some room for improvement at Prashad before it truly reaches Michelin-star levels, but it’s on its way. The food is very good, but the breadth of the wine menu and table settings lack that fine dining look that would elevate it into the company of other Michelin-star restaurants.

Its double AA Two Rosette is well deserved though.

This was definitely a new experience, with a whole new range of tastes of discovering new Asian flavours. If you go to Prashad, be prepared for different adventurous styles of food and be willing to explore new complex delicate flavours and textures.

This is more than affordable, good-quality dining and highly recommend to any foodie that loves Indian but is bored of the usual offering around Leeds and Bradford. Yorkshire should be proud of Prashad.

Taster menu: 5 courses £34 per person
Starters average £6
Mains average £11

Prashad has been in business for 22 years, with the past two in new premises. Under managing director Bobby Patel, it was the first Indian restaurant in Yorkshire to receive a Two Rosette award by the AA.