Bangladeshi cuisine wins British Curry Award

Newcastle West Road’s Jaipur does classic Bangladeshi curry takeaways better than anyone

Our reporter Will Metcalfe tried the best of what 2015 British Curry Awards takeaway of the year winner Jaipur had to offer.

When you’re told you’re going to eat from the best takeaway in the region you know the standards are high.

Staff at the Jaipur Takeaway in Denton Burn, Curry Awards winners
Staff at the Jaipur Takeaway in Denton Burn, Curry Awards winners

Jaipur’s menu is based on Bangladeshi cuisine and the takeaway’s head chef Faisal Ahmed has been on a number of trips to scout out spices and recipes resulting in a number of ‘south style’ dishes – some hot, such as the special lamb naga koria, some not so hot, like the murg sabsi khana – which is smooth and rich due to the honey it’s cooked in.

The first thing to notice is the portion sizes – generous but not overwhelming.

I tried a range of dishes the chicken tikka, chicken tikka masala, murg sabsi khana and the special lamb naga koria with pilau rice and naans.

It’s probably important to state here I’m not a chicken tikka fan, if left to my own devices I’ll go for a jalfrezi or a bhuna.

Firuz told me the difference with their tikka masala was the use of double cream in the sauce, and boy can you tell.

Deep red in colour, it’s a rich thick sauce that smothered chunks of their chicken tikka, in a good way.

But if you spill that one on the carpet you’re not going to see the back of it.

Better still is the chicken tikka, it was chunky, rich and well spiced without being too highly coloured.

The highlight of the bunch for me was the special lamb naga koria.

The spice comes from naga chillies but it’s more of a slow burner than you might expect with the heat managing to hide behind a rich tomato sauce.

It’s noticeable how much effort the team put into their spice mix as the dishes have plenty of flavour without being over powering.

I’m not sure where your local is but if you’re in Newcastle it’s definitely worth giving Jaipur a go.


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