On Monday night I celebrated my 24th birthday, which now means I'm embarking on a section of my life known as the 'mid-twenties'. Being a part of this mid-twenties club me and my friends forwent a messy night in a club and instead chose for a civilised sit-down meal (or because this is my first birthday since starting full-time work which fell on a week night). For this meal I chose Akbar's on Sauchiehall Street (just at the start of the west end) which had long been recommended to me by Glaswegians and I had considered for my 23rd birthday meal as I was told it is good for groups and has a big vegetarian selection.
Everyone was collectively starving so we all opted for starters. My choice was the mushroom pakoras whilst the paneer and mixed veggie pakoras were also selected by my friends. These were surprisingly quite spicy and were also quite filling for a starter. I loved mine though and I've been craving them since Monday and my mouth is salivating slightly as I write this up!
For my main I went for something I had never had before: a dansak curry. According to the menu this is a Persian curry and contains sweet and sour paste, pineapple, lentils and sweetcorn. Shockingly enough, it was spicy but in a very sweet way which is how I like my spicy foods. Also in non-news (if you've read my blog a while) I ordered a naan - and we went for a family sized garlic naan which is pretty bloody big (as shown the first image). I still ate it all cause I love me some naan.
The staff were also lovely and the service was second to none. I know from my own waitressing days that tables of six people can be very daunting but they handled all requests and got the order correct which is impressive as it did include starters, mains, a giant naan, pakoras and about three plates of sharing rice.
It did take me ages to get round to trying this place and I now see why so many people were recommending it. Great for groups and there is a small continental menu if you have friends who don't enjoy spicy foods. It was a great place for a birthday and apparently you can get a cake if you say it's your birthday but I ignored that tip as I don't want that kind of attention in public....
Morag x
