Earlier this week, on the eve of our civil partnership anniversary we went on date night! First to the cinema to watch Suite Francaise, the adaptation of Irène Némirovsky’s lost novel, that vividly depicts forbidden love and French rural life under the Nazis. Afterwards we headed to VDeep. The bar/restaurant is the first permanent food foray from celebrity chef, comedian and TV presenter, Hardeep Singh Kohli and seeks to bring together two great loves – beer and curry.
Hardeep and Chef Ruairidh Skinner have created a short menu teaming Hardeep’s background, the burgeoning craft beer scene and Scot's classics. Portions are smaller tapas style sharing size and so we had the opportunity to try a few of the dishes. Being a little light-weight in the spice tolerance dept we opted for haggis & apple Pakora served with a tamarind sauce, the Mutton Achari, slow cooked leg of mutton in pickling spices, a beef Bhuna of spiced short ribs in a thick tomato masala, the three lentil dhal and curried cauliflower cheese, made with garam masala spiced milk and Scottish cheddar. As way of spice insurance, we accompanied that with naan bread, white rice and raita.
Sounds like a lot but I can assure you there wasn’t a morsel left on the plate, it was tasty, v. tasty. The meats, their sauces and the dhal were rich and deep with flavour and layers of spice, the kind you want to wipe from your plate with bread, and oh we did, that naan - some of the best we’ve ever had. And you know what curried cauliflower cheese really works, cook it at home!
As its was a school night, we washed it all down with just one pint each; Paul had the Drygate Brewing Co’s, Outaspace Apple Ale and I the Thornbridge Brewery, Jaipur Ipa, perfect pairings as recommended by Maxine, the very welcoming and totally on the ball general manager.
We were lucky, that we had the chance to chat to Hardeep and to hear him enthuse in the usual dry humorous Scottish way. The place is inviting, cool emanating passion from every pore, right from the charming traditional enamel dishes and plates to the super tasty food and the attentive and convivial staff. Roll on next date night!
