Kabana

Back Turner St.
Nihari
Lamb Karahi £4.50 + roti 60p
 Aloo Keema, Karahi Gosht & Chicken £5.50
March 2012
Shook things up a bit this time - went for grill plus curry sauce action. Worked nicely actually and was good to have something to dip into. In a sense getting a bit of everything - the delicious charred meat from lamb tikka, a rich sauce from the rice & 3 section - and the usual roti. £3.20 for meat, 60p for roti and only 50p for the curry sauce. A real winner at £4.30.
 
January 2012
Routine, but very good, trip. Nothing out of the ordinary, but Kabana is always pretty good anyway. £5.50 was a tad expensive compared with others, but then Al Faisal has gone up to £6 and I think here is better. Good place. Lamb Karahi, chicken masala and channa were all tasty and distinctive enough - if not spectacularly interesting or challenging, but I don't walways want that, this really hit the spot.

Lamb Karahi, Chicken Masala and Channa

June 2011
First standard rice & 3 trip for some time. To be fair it was delicious - particularly the karahi lamb and the aloo keema. Companions weren't impressed with the daal - I wasn't with the chicken, but anything involving lamb was top drawer. As previously stated the prices here are ahead of the pack - £5.50 for rice & 3, 60p makes Kabana one of the most expensive around at the moment, but it's also some of the best food. Getting chopped ginger as an optional 'seasoning' instead of just chillies is a bonus.


May 2011
We like Kabana but the prices have always been a bit ahead of the rest. Rice & 3 is up to £5.50 - perhaps it's OK but we've always regarded the £5 lunch to be a bit of a psychological barrier, once through it what next? - well £5.50 apparently. Anyway, back to the plot, a smallish bowl of any of the curries is £4.50 with chapatti 60p extra. You need 2 really - so the cost of the meal (pictured bottom) was £5.70 in the end. A bit steep really. But the flavours are pretty good and the place is nice and relaxed. The meat quality was OK but the sauce was rather indestinct. It could have been any lamb curry really. They're getting up to takeaway prices here, for pretty small bowls of food - rather than the larger portions you get in foil trays. However, we'll be back - and of course rice&3 is the best option for a larger feed. However most of the other places nearby are still under £5 - we're not sure Kabana is so much better as to justify nearly 20% differential. On the other hand, what's 90p difference for a meal you like? - you see the dilema.
 
March 2011
For whatever reason Kabana has become the go to place for Nihari on a Sunday (pictured). Slow cooked lamb with the added accompaniments of ginger, chillies and lemon is hard to beat. Many places do this dish on a Sunday but Kabana is as good as anywhere we've ever tried.

02/09/10
Not much to add from this excursion - excellent range of curries available, roti fresh as a ..daisy? a chaptti? - anyway they were freshly cooked, nicely puffed up and crispy round the edges. The portions were of a decent size, rice well cooked and tasty. The chicken karahi was probably the star of the curries but all were good.  You get the idea - it's still on of the best curry cafes. Rice & 3 was a £5, even if choosing 3 meat dishes which is pretty reasonable, particularly as prices have been on the rise over the last year.


17/06/10
Cracking rice & 3 with the keema potatoes standing out as both tasty and different. £2.80 for 3 seekhs on a chapatti was an excellent alternative as something a bit smaller and cheaper. It was ready quickly as the seekhs were microwaved - this wasn't greatly detrimental and the chapatti was fresh.


23/03/2010
Kabana serves tasty curry dishes at reasonable prices. The standard 'rice & 3 curries' deal is £5 no matter what you have, and this is reduced to £4.60 if you have a chapatti instead of rice. There is a decent range of curries available, and these are clearly displayed on a whiteboard. The sauces are subtly flavoured and the meat is of a decent quality. The service is swift and the large dining area is basic and definitely adequate for this type of place. The pricing policy is less confusing than many other curry cafes, which helps matters when choosing between dishes and different types of food. The last visit was very good, with all the curries dishes being up to scratch.


28/02/10 - Being a Sunday Nihari is the only way to go - well OK with chops too.  The Nihari was excellent actually - really well spiced, but without destroying the flavour of the meat, one of the best I've ever had.  The extras on offer were ginger, chillies and lemon.  The guy behind the counter said I was a brave man going for the Nihari - I didn't know what he meant until I tasted it, the hottest I'd ever encountered and I'd already added plenty of chillies, assuming it to be mild (as normal).  So, there was plenty of heat, but this didn't detract from the taste.  It was all part of it.  Chapattis seemed the only proper accompaniment and I duly scoffed a couple down with it, whilst doing the bulk their washing up for them.  We had the Nihari whilst the chops were on the grill and when they arrived they were large, juicy and really tasty - again with plenty of heat in the marinade, but also an excellent flavour. No complaints. Prices: £4.50 for pretty small bowl of Nihari was perhaps a little high - though it's not much for a good Sunday lunch, which it was. 60p for chapattis and £3.90 for four chops was fine. A recommended experience, though I'll probably check some of the other places' Sunday offerings before returning.


Key Ingredients 17.0 (out of 20)
Other Food 7.5 (out of 10)
Service Setting 8.5 (out of 10)
Value for Money 3.5 (out of 5)
Range 4.0 (out of 5)
Average Rating 8.1 (out of 10)


View Larger Map

1 comment:

  1. i love the kabana most of the northern quarter curry houses are being ticked off my list can honestly say this one, up to now wins hands down.

    ReplyDelete