Tastees on Alfreton Road in Nottingham is a takeaway and a sit down restaurant that has a supposed leaning towards the cuisine of Pakistan.
We came up here midweek to try it out with a group of friends who basically like curry and also some who were from Pakistan who had suggested this as a good place to try out.
Now as MyFoodHunt trips go, this was not my best day, everyone else enjoyed it, but I was not feeling it. Maybe I was a grump, maybe I was tired, maybe I just chose badly.
Often on these days I just don’t post and put it down to experience, but as you will read I think I was wrong and I did choose the wrong things , so just for reality I am posting attempt one of my Tastee’s experience, and later (quite soon) I will post my next trip here, when I really hope it all works out for the both of us 🙂
Maybe just wait to skip to visit 2 and stop reading now 🙂
Starter Situation
Tastees Fried Fish
So my choice of starter was the ‘Tastees Fried Fish’ which was priced at £3.95. I was kind of expecting some sort of fish fry but I ended up with a very vibrant red batter coated fillet of fish. Now don’t get me wrong this was a pretty well cooked piece of fish, I might have done a double take if I was served this down your traditional British Fish and Chip shop, but here it seemed that I had to just go with the flow.
It was basically a piece of fillet, battered in a coating mixed with some sort of spicing that made it red and based on the taste I was thinking paprika and chilli, and possible crushed up red smartie cases (I might have made the last one up). I think that the salad was added for colour contrast, it did nothing else for me apart from briefly transporting me to 1974
Cheesy Chicken Tikka
Now if we thought that last offering was strange wait until we try the next concoction of Cheesy Chicken Tikka which was also priced at £3.95. I honestly think that this can only be the fault of hundreds of drunk Brits turning up and going, “Yo so like can I like get some cheese and chips, and maybe some of that Chicken Tikka stuff too, oh and yeh why not just chuck some cheese on that too, yeh nothing French, some of that grated cheddar in a bag if you have it, cheers mate!”
Nothing else makes sense any more!
Apparently of the THREE people who tried this (none of which were drunk) they all enjoyed it. Words escape me
Lahori Dishes
Now this was the point that I really wanted to pull the evening back onto an even keel and make some amends for my poorly and frankly somewhat inconsiderate choices of starters. We really were not even trying to give justice to the cuisine of Pakistan it seemed 🙁
I wanted to try one of the “True Taste of Lahori Dishes” as they looked to be the most authentic and the only dishes on the whole menu that did not seem to just be for the faux- anglo taste.
I liked the look of the dish on the menu with the picture of what looked like some sort of meat on the bone in a light sauce, was that the Nirahi or the Haleem was all that I wanted to know. I tried to get an explanation from my fellow diners, those who were from Pakistan and from the waiter but it was difficult for them to explain,
I kind of feel bad now as I should have gone with my gut instinct and just ordered the godddam dish! So much so that I am planning to come back for a take 2 of this MyFoodHunt!
Now that I was home and had the joy of google I read that this Nirahi is considered to be the National Dish of Pakistan and that it is basically a slow cooked stew of beef or lamb, often with bone marrow. It is typically spiced with a spice mix of fennel, cardamom, coriander, cumin, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, plus a paste of ginger, turmeric, onion, fresh coriander, and onion.
It sounds amazing! Why did I not choose this? I am so sorry, I really am, especially when I just ended up being a bit of a knob ordering the “Mixed Grill”
Mixed Grill
So In the end, as I noted up top, I ended up ordering the Mixed Grill which was one of the sizzler dishes. Looking back I really do not know why I did this, as I ended up with exactly what I feared it would be, and I became that diner that I didn’t want to be.
The Mixed Grill was basically a huge plate sized cast iron skillet topped with a mass of meaty chunks probably designed to feed 2-3 people, yet served to serve a single man!
Officially on the menu it is described as “Chicken tikka, Lamb tikka, & seekh kebab pieces stir fried with peppers & onions in an Indian wok”
Now priced at £8.50, if you love slightly overcooked spicy kebab meat this is great value. I ate quite a lot, maybe a quarter to a third, and then the rest went into a ‘doggy-bag’ that a couple of guys ate for lunch at work the next day.
Personally I did not really love this, but maybe I was embarrassed that I had ordered it. The flavours were good and the spice was nice, constant, and built up to a point of no return when I could chomp now more. I felt that the meat was all overcooked just because of the hot skillet it came out on, I would think it would have been perfect if I tipped it all onto a cold plate when it arrived to stop it cooking.
Note to the reader. At least two other people ordered this, ate it all, and said it was great, so what do I know? Maybe I was chuntering internally about my choice of meal 🙂
Mushroom Rice
I also broke one of my other cardinal rules by ordering a side of mushroom rice, another dish so dry that I was doomed to food choice failure from the start. I had no sauce to mop up and all I was doing was filling my big fat belly with more stuff that swelled up as I poured glasses of water down my gob with each successive mouthful.
I should have chosen better and I promise to come back and try again! 🙂
Tastees
177 – 179 Alfreton Road
Nottingham
NG7 3NW