The Dhabba

Eating Indian food while the sun shines is fast becoming my new thing. After yesterday’s trip to the Spice Pavilion, today I found myself in Glasgow around lunchtime and decided that I’d give The Dhabba a go. I’d spotted it on my last trip the Merchant City, when I lunched at Gandolfi Fish.

Interior

The restaurant has a modern and stylish feel to it, but is quite classically styled, with traditional musical instruments and Vishnu statues very much in evidence. Walls and tables are in dark wood.

The place wasn’t overly busy, today, although I suspect that was largely due to the sunny conditions outside making lunchtime revellers stick to places with outdoor seating.

Poppadoms and pickle tray

I’ve previously eaten at their sister restaurant, Dakhin (although many years ago), which is just up the road. I seem to remember opting for the thali when there, and this was an option today, but I decided to go with their three-course lunch deal.

To start, I opted for bharloan dhingri, a mushroom pakora type thing, followed by a dal palak gosht, which was lamb with spinach in an aromatic yellow lentil sauce.

Main course

While I awaited my starter, I got to play with some poppadoms and a pickle tray. For me, these are often just a minor distraction from the other dishes, but this wasn’t the case today. The poppadoms were really fresh and crisp and the sauces were first class.

The starter arrived as I was still playing with the poppadoms, so I tucked straight in before photographing it in all its glory. The mushrooms were stuffed with a little cheese and nut concoction before being fried. Very tasty little morsels was the result. I gobbled them up in short order.
The main course was extremely good. The yellow lentil sauce that covered the tender chunks of lamb was of particularly high quality. The roti was light and fresh, and the perfect accompaniment. I ate every last drop, leaving a startlingly clean plate.

Roti and dal palak gosht

So The Dhabba is a very impressive place, serving high quality dishes, with friendly and unfussy service. I’d heartily recommend you visit, when you have a longing for smart North Indian cuisine. I’ll certainly be back for a repeat visit, soon.

Scores
Blythe scores The Dhabba
4/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
4/5 for service
4/5 for setting
giving an overall 15.5/20

Today’s quester was: Blythe

I ate: bharloan dhingri, dal palak gosht, tandoori roti, poppadoms and pickle tray

I drank: sparkly water

I wore: pinstripes

Total bill: £11.90