Bird by Vineet, Alea Casino, Leeds

Another trip to the casino meant trying their other restaurant, Bird. A Lemon drop Martini in the bar before dinner needed to be sipped, not glugged, and I think I pulled it off. I am not used to delicate small drinks so I had to put the glass down between sips to ensure I didn’t neck it in seconds. It was a perfect drink to begin the evening.

A few rounds of Blackjack saw me twenty quid down, but A was about fifty up so thankfully saved my bacon and bought my dinner. Seated in Bird by nine, we were provided with menus along with poppadoms and dips.

Bird has quite an unusual Indian menu although some of the dishes were familiar.  Sarah T and I decided to share the Street Food selection for starter. This came served in cones, a brilliant presentation. It was made up of onion bhaji, paneer salad, mini samosas, Goan chicken wings and fish amritsari. This is a great sharing plate which I would really recommend – not too much to fill you up and gives you the opportunity to try different flavours.

The main courses were great and you can order them in half portions which are perfect for Indian food as too often, there is way too much and I end up needing to lie flat and nap. We ordered the Lamb Bhuna and Saffron Chicken Korma.

Steamed rice and keema nan on the side complemented the dishes perfectly and were great for mopping up the sauces.

Bird is a lovely restaurant and really good value. There are a few set menus you can have which looked like a great deal, but we wanted to try the a la carte. There were not many diners but perhaps it gets busy later when the gamblers have lost their shirts at the tables. We prefer to break up the gambling with a nice meal, and Bird fits the bill perfectly.

I read today that James Martin is opening up a restaurant in Alea soon. I can’t wait to try it when it does but really hope it is not replacing Bird.

Edit:  Turns out the James Martin restaurant will replace Fig, not Bird, and will be opening in March.  Can't wait!

Deeva, Farsley

A. has a strategy with big menus. He can’t be bothered to read through them so only reads three things and picks from them. Some Indian restaurants have extraordinarily long menus. So it is refreshing to turn up at Deeva, a fairly new Indian in Farsley, and find a nice simple menu – a choice of 12 starters, 7 starter specials and 10 curries with a choice of meat or veggie.

Drinks were taken at the bar, a lovely pinot grigio was on the wine list and the barman actually offered me a taste before he poured it, which I thought was a nice touch.

The popadoms were brought to the table with the usual dips. Lovely to pick at whilst perusing the menu.



I decided to forgo a starter, as I am in the habit of leaving lots of curry uneaten. The dinner guests (A, Robster and Gembear) had Shami kebab, lamb chops and chicken tikka respectively. All reported to be excellent.

Chicken tikka.....

I ordered Lamb Korma, pilau rice and keema nan. I like a creamy curry so Korma is often my first choice. All the food was excellent and I can report that this may be the first time I have ever cleared my plate in an Indian restaurant. The keema nan had lovely chunks of mince in it, rather than the lamb paste you get in some restaurants. The lamb in the korma was tender and the sauce full of flavour. All the other dinner companions were delighted with their dishes too.





Deeva has an open style kitchen, so you can see the chefs hard at work. The service is friendly and efficient, our second round of drinks was quickly delivered and the bill was presented with no held-hostage moment. An all-round excellent experience. Go!

East, Pudsey

We weren’t supposed to be having a curry but ended up in East after an aborted attempt to finally visit Diva Italiana in Booth’s Yard, Pudsey (It was still closed for the Easter holidays). East is a modern Indian restaurant on Richardshaw Lane that we have visited several times before. It is spread out over two floors, with three “lounges” for drinking and a good outdoor raised terrace out back, with seating and umbrellas.

On arrival, we headed straight upstairs to one of the lounges for a drink. Although not technically open yet (it was 6.30pm) the barman happily served us our drinks and we took a seat on the terrace. After ten minutes of looking at the sky and trying to establish whether it would rain, we went down to the restaurant to get a table.

We were quickly seated and menus provided. The East menu contains the familiar dishes – Bhuna, Korma etc – and some house specialities. Popadoms and pickles were brought to the table as we made our selections.



Starters were very traditional – I had mushroom bhajis (£2.95) and A had seekh kebab (£2.60). Both very good.





We decided to get two mains – Chicken Biryani (£7.95) and Hydrabadi (chicken and lamb in a medium sauce - £7.95)). We had two keema nan breads on the side (£3.20 each).
Main dishes came in bowl-style plates and because we wanted to share them, we asked for additional plates to eat from. These were swiftly provided. Chicken Biriyani was a new one for me and was our alternative to ordering rice. It is a tasty rice dish with a sauce that comes separately and is poured on the dish at the table.



The keema in the nan is more like a lamb spread which I have come across before, but I prefer the minced filling you get elsewhere which I believe has more flavour.



Two nans were clearly too much and we were offered a doggy bag for the one we didn’t eat.


We weren’t offered the hot towels at the end of the meal which I believe I saw other diners using.

East is quite a buzzy restaurant and it can get quite loud on a weekend. It seems to do parties and celebrations very well and there is always a large table of people having a “do” whenever I have visited. There is a pianist in the corner who provides background music and also a round of “happy birthday to you” when required.
The food and service are very good. Strong competition for the ubiquitous Aagrah.