Swadish, Glasgow
Hey Foodwala’s…its been a while since my last Foodwala post, what with Ramadhan and other business commitments but anyhow here I am in my full glory!
I was listening to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who incidentally also hails from my ancestral hometown of Faisalabad and I was absolutely struck by the mesmerising lyrics.
Please forgive my translating skills
“Ye jo Halka halka saroor hei… This gentle exhilaration I am feeling
yeh teri nazar ka kasoor hei… Is the fault of your glance
ke sharab peena sekadia”… it has intoxicated and besotted me
so what Nusrat foodwala is alluding to is that in a society where alcohol and female company is taboo he still feels the effects of intoxication purely from a single glace of a ladies eyes.
The point I am making is that when you are so intuned to your feelings the sheer nuance of what you love, will give you a euphoric rush, whether its a particular food, or a flavour or a caress of someone you love.
So my epic journey starts by traveling East…to the Merchant City and the newly opened Swadish restaurant which prides itself as modern, I was at a loss at this modern Indian cuisine when it had Chicken Tikka Masala and butter chicken on the menu, and Goulati kebabs, the recipe of which is over 700 years old.
Mokee Foodwala and I kicked off the proceedings with the Gelauti Kebab, the kebab was an eyewatering £10.
The Gelauti kebab was first created for a Sultan who due to old age lost his teeth but still had a love for Kebabs, so his chef created silky smooth kebabs by turning the lamb mince into a pate and then cooking it on a tandoor, thus creating kebabs of such smooth and silky texture that the aging sultan could enjoy it.
The Swadish version was not as smooth and silky as I would have expected, definitely not as smooth as the ones in Farzi Cafe, which I reviewed a few months back nor as amazing at Bademia in Mumbai.
Next up were goujons of haddock dipped in sesame and ajwain, I personally felt the choice of using Haddock left the ajwain overpowering the delicate fish, a more robustly flavoured fish should have been used, the Avacado salsa was a nice touch and was flavorsome.
The Lamb Shank Rogan Josh was the absolute star of the meal, the 8-hour lamb shank just fell off the bone and the freshly constructed Rogan Josh was absolutely rich, flavorsome and decadent.
This was definitely our favorite, we scooped up the delicious Jus with the Mozzarella, Gruyere Cheese and Truffle Butter Nan, altogether it was a flavour sensation for our tastebuds.
The Butter Chicken was gentle in its flavour with nuanced cardamom tasting notes running through it and the Soft Burrata cheese giving the sauce a gentle silkyness.
After the star attraction, the Butter Chicken felt like an afterthought or played second fiddle.
We finished off with some Strawberry Bhappa Doi, I was expecting steamed yogurt with a consistency of creme brulee and infused with cardamoms and saffron, but we got something entirely different, more like Greek Yogurt with Strawberry.
I definitely preferred the Bhappa Doi at Kutir in London and Bikenervala in Dubai.
In Conclusion, The chef patron clearly is very passionate, with the innovative ingredients and attention to detail.
However there are some things that did not make sense to me, the restaurant price point is clearly at London Michelin level however we received paper napkins where i would have expected starched Linen and the soft drinks were served in cans where I would expect a glass bottle at least.
The service was friendly and efficient.
The price point of Swadish is about 20% above the competition, admittedly the product is excellent but the Glasgow customer might find this hard to palette .
Swadish
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8.3/10
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8.5/10
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8.9/10
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7.6/10