Restaurant Review: Akbar's, City Quadrant, Newcastle
Food hits the spot, pity about the wait, Gordon Barr reviews Akbar's Indian restaurant in Newcastle city centre
Time was of the essence.
Not only had the taxi turned up late, we were on a tight schedule to see the celebs and professional dancers strutting their stuff at Strictly at the arena.
As it happened we reckoned we still had a good hour and a half or so to enjoy our meal, but I decided to tell staff at Akbar’s that we had to be away by 7pm. That would give us plenty of time to pick up our tickets and settle in at the arena, which is a relatively short walk from the restaurant.
We were assured we would be away by 7pm, and with that we started to peruse the menu. Not before taking a good look around the restaurant, though, the ambience and decor of which proved an immediate hit with both of us.
It is very modern, spacious and tastefully decorated and as the place filled up – it was very busy within 20 minutes of us sitting down – it boasted a lovely atmosphere.
We were tended to by a number of waiting staff, but the main man for us was Qas, who was chatty, knowledgeable and very personable.
A bottle of sauvignon blanc (£14.45) was duly ordered and two popadoms (£1.50) and pickle tray (£1.50) arrived at our table. I loved the pickle assortment, though some of the dishes were a tad too spicy for my dining partner.
There is a wide selection of starters to choose from, but it was the Chicken Nambali (£3.75) which caught my eye.
It sounded delicious – breast of chicken pieces marinated, grilled and finally garnished with melting cheese and served with fried onions, peppers, tomatoes and potatoes.
Lily opted for the Mushroom Pakora (£3.75) – mushrooms coated with a spicy batter and deep fried and served with fresh salad.
On ordering we were told the starters would be with us within 15 minutes. That made us feel assured that all would be well with getting away by 7pm, if Akbar’s staff themselves tell diners the expected arrival time of their meals.
The starters were tremendous. My Nambali was simply spot-on. It sounded like it might be a little heavy, but as it happens it was refreshingly light.
Lily enjoyed her pakora too, although she did struggle to finish the dish.
As we were eating we saw tables being adorned with what Lily described as meat hooks for naans! Some were enormous (family naans apparently) but we wanted just a plain and simple garlic naan (£2.95), and when it came it could actually have fed a family. It was terrific, one of the best I have ever had.
As our starters were taken away we were told there would be a 20-minute wait for our main course. That was fine, as it was now 6.10pm and that would give us half an hour to enjoy the food. But we waited, and we waited and we waited – and waited some more. If you are going to give diners a time for dishes to be served, you should stick to it, and bear in mind on top of that we had said from the outset how important it was for us to be away by 7pm.
It did not actually arrive at the table until 6.48pm. So we had little more than 10 minutes to eat it and therein lay a problem.
Not only did it mean we could not savour the food, we couldn’t enjoy it like we should have done and that was a crying shame because the meals themselves were out of this world.
I had asked Qas what he recommended that was hot and spicy and his choice of Chicken Tikka and Garlic Balti (£8.45) certainly hit the spot. Here we had chicken pieces, marinated in yoghurt, herbs and spices, cooked over charcoal and finally roasted in Balti using all fresh ingredients plus a large helping of garlic.
It was tremendous. I adored it. It was oozing with flavour and spiced just right for my liking. It was just unfortunate I had to rush it.
Lily thought the same about her Lamb and Ginger Balti (£8.45). The tender lamb cooked in the traditional Balti method with a good helping of fresh and fried ginger was, she said, superb and the ginger really came through. Like me, though, it was not an enjoyable experience having to rush it down.
The pilau rice (£2.45) and mushroom rice (£2.95) were also cooked to perfection.
So, all in all, we could not find one single fault with the food. One of the tastiest Indian meals I have had in years, in fact. It was let down big-style, though, by the nearly 35-minute wait between starter and main course.
We almost had to foxtrot it down to the arena (well, kind of) and had a fab-u-lous evening. As for Akbar’s, it could so easily have been a “10” from us, but ended up a “s-e-v-e-en”
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