Permutation City Blog

Rather than concentrate on big main courses the menu offers you a wide selection of smaller dishes costing about £4 each. Poppadoms to start and couple of these with rice or bread made for a lovely dinner. Go with a group of people and you get to try even more dishes. The butter chicken was wonderfully rich, the chicken saag was lovely and spicy, the lamb was beautifully cooked, lentil dishes were very tasty. I was definitely impressed by this restaurant, my only quibble is that they don't serve naan. (There were at least some vegetarian choices but I wasn't paying enough attention to rate it.)

With Kurdish food, or at least Kurdish food that I had, flavours are kept seperate rather than blended together. Barbecued meat, grilled tomatoes, a salad, and delicately flavoured rice were all simple and singular but well balanced. Starters and main courses were served with nice flat bread. I ate both the cucumber and olives in my starter which, for me, is remarkable.

I ate in the large branch and it certainly is atmospheric. (Lots of decoration plus you can sit on very low stools next to a coffee-type table or you can take the single western-style set of table and chairs.) Food was expensive with a main course costing around £10 nor were the portions large. The chicken tagine consisted of chicken, peas, and olives in stock. Simple but tasty. The lamb tagine looked more substantial with big chunks of potato and carrot. For desert there were baklava, mamoul, and roasted nuts. Overall this was nice but not worth the money. (All food is organic, halal, and fairtrade which would explain the price.)

Tucked away just off Byres Road this restaurant serves fusion food combining world and Scottish flavours. It can cope with large bookings. It's presentation was slightly fancy for my liking, I prefer big piles of honest tasty food. However what you did get was nice so I wasn't disappointed.

I've been to a couple of the Ashoka restaurants and had a fairly unexceptional experience. It's an Indian restaurant and they serve exactly the sort of dishes you'd expect. It's certainly not as exciting as, say, the Shish Mahal but it might well be cheaper.

It was very popular with work colleagues of mine for its peppersauce burger. They had that again and again and again. It was tasty enough the first time but personally I've gotten bored by the general sameness in all their dishes.

As you wander down the steps to this basement restaurant it feels quiet. It seems that not too many people have discovered this place because of its south side location. There are all the dishes you'd expect of a Mexican restaurant and everything I've had has been nice. I was disappointed once upon arriving to find the restaurant was closing, this was 10 o'clock on Friday evening, perhaps something was wrong that night.

If you are looking for a different dining experience this might be it. Choosing from their large selection of meat, vegetables, and spices is fun. You can choose to make your dish exactly as spicy or mild as you want. Unless you go crazy it should be tasty. Go back as often as you want to fill up. If you are a non-strict vegetarian they have a good dozen vegetables to choose from and tofu. You should be able to make yourself something just as tasty as the meat eaters. If you are a strict vegetarian then you will hate this place. They do not have separate cooking areas and cannot stop cross contamination.

Wagamama set up along similar lines as Ichiban Noodle Cafe but it offers a different choice of dishes. It has similar noodle and rice dishes to Ichiban but while it offers healthy smoothies and unhealthy deserts it lacks any sushi. However my enjoyment of Wagamama has been variable. Sometimes their food just isn't up to standard and it all seems to depend on what you order. The fish cakes are good as are any of the deserts.

They have a great vegetarian selection here and, even as a meat eater, I almost always choose something from it. What drew me back here after my first visit were the nachos. A huge plateful covered in cheese, sour cream, refried bean, sprinkled with jalapenos and it all only cost a few quid. Recently they've been just as tasty but, unfortunately, not as generous. This pleasant brightly coloured restaurant is worth a visit.