new tayyabs [London]
was here with some friends, who ordered every kebab dish, some dal and the sukha gosht.
as usual, the seekh kebabs were excellent - but the others were actively avoidable, sad to say. i still don't get the dried out chicken tikkas, the bland lamb chops .. even the sukha (dry) lamb dish, which had nice overtones of amchur, suffered from the use of lamb rather than goat.
other than the seekh kebabs and the shammi kebabs (wed only), i really fail to understand the excitement tayyabs generates.
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Ended up at Tayyab's for a very late mother's day lunch. My husband thought that perhaps they wouldn't be serving food at 4pm. Boy, was he mistaken!! The joint was jumping-there was actually a small queue but we were lucky to get seated as soon as we walked in, don't know if it was the fact that we were a small party or the fact that we had a 3 year old with us. Smart restaurants realise that toddlers are walking timebombs and require swift turnover.
We totally overordered. 2 portions of lambchops, ie 8 chops (and I don't even like them, so that was for the husband), 2 portions of masala fish, a portion of tandoori chicken, and a sheekh kebab (for me, hubby claims not to like them), then a small portion of dry meat curry and chicken biriyani. 2 tandoori rotis as well.
The tandoori chicken was awesome. Better than I've had in India. I think it was the fact that the marinade had penetrated very well and whoever grilled the chicken got a slight char on the outside while maintaining a very moist and tender inside. The masala fish was ok, a bit dry for my liking but the toddler went to town on it with some lemon squeezed over (everything else was too spicy). Can't comment on the chops-hubby ate them all. The sheekh kebab was excellent. Dry meat curry was very good, but we packed most of it to go and it was even better reheated the next day.
Chicken biriyani was totally meh-really really disappointing given that this is a Pakistani restaurant. It was greasy, the rice slightly overcooked so a bit mushy and had mixed vegetables in it, ie sweetcorn, green beans, small cubes of carrot, as if someone had opened a packet of frozen mixed veg and added it to the biriyani. I will never ever order biriyani here again. Even I can cook better biriyani, which tells you how bad their version is!
They charged us for popadoms they never served but were apologetic about it and took it off the bill and offered to comp the sheekh kebab. Overall reasonable service. -
I've only been to Tayyabs a few times, but I really enjoyed the food - I think it is popular because, even if is not up to the standard you would get in Pakistan/Northern India, it is still streets ahead of most of the stuff we get here. The dishes I liked from there were the Seekh kebabs, the dry meat curry (even if it is supposed to be goat, it is still delicious), the pumpkin dish and the lamb and spinach. The chops were pretty good the only time I had them, but from what others say, they seem to be a bit inconsistent with these - sometimes serving them very over cooked.
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abby d
Feb 13, 2011 06:41 AM
i wonder if it's a combination of (over) hype and (low) cost.
i've been once, was pleased to try it and didn't think anything was bad but there was nothing i'd return for.
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re: howler
You've made me doubt myself but I've just looked at the Delhi Grill website they definitely serve a rogan gosht so I'm blaming them!
http://www.delhigrill.com/images/menu... top of the right hand column. -
re: howler
CTownFeedR
Feb 14, 2011 12:58 AM
It's also written the same way at Lahore and Needoo:
http://www.lahore-kebabhouse.com/
http://www.needoogrill.co.uk/menu.aspx
S
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re: CTownFeedR
Both these menus have dishes like Karahi gosht, sag gosht etc - which, as Howler says above, means meat Karahi, meat with spinach etc. But the debate was whether Rogan Gosht is correct - and neither of them lists this as a dish. This is because the dish doesn't exist. The Delhi Grill does for some bizarre reason - they have made an error. Josh is a different word altogether, and refers to the method of cooking.
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re: Theresa
Rogan Gosht isn't an error. It's a reflection of the regionality of Indian cooking. Howler's right - Rogan Josh is a Kashmiri dish, but we are cooking the Indian Panjabi lamb dish - which will have similar roots but is spiced differently to reflect Panjabi tastes. Pakistani versions will have their own names - Karahi Gosht is a popular description in the UK, Bhuna Gosht is probably more used in Pakistan. It's all much more fluid to reflect cultures.
And here's a recipe for "Rogan Gosht" in the Times of India:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/li...-
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re: Theresa
They aren't different dishes - more variations around a theme. Each region will spice slightly differently, and refer to it differently. The names have come to have more significance in the UK than they do in India - where dishes and names are passed on from person to person, each slightly altering it. There's no formal difference - but neither name is an error.
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re: delhi grill
howler
Feb 19, 2011 03:31 AM
to be perfectly honest, i have never ever seen 'rogan gosht' anywhere in india, the times mis-spelling notwithstanding.
josh isn't a proper noun - it means something (boiling?) in persian iirc. and gosht means meat, so it's a natural, but incorrect slip to go from rogan josh to rogan gosht.
on the other hand, anyone is obviously free to call whatever dish they want by whatever name.
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