TATTGOC's burly founders may like to cultivate the impression that they know everything about curry, but the fact is their knowledge – such as it is – is strictly limited to Glasgow. So when they came up with the idea of dedicating a month of posts to Scotland's "other" major city, they were canny enough to realise they couldn't rely entirely on their own experiences. And so they decided to reach out to some of the capital's notable faces and foodies for some curry knowledge ... the sort of people who have lived, worked and loved in Edinburgh. The brief was simple: tell us a little about your experience of curry in Edinburgh, and then nominate your favourite Edinburgh curryhouse.

The response was so passionate and voluminous that we had to split them up into two posts. The first installment is available to read HERE, but here's our concluding part, featuring yet more love for the Kebab Mahal, a wide range of recommendations from all over the city (one of which extends all the way to Dalkeith!) and a delicious detour into the world of bhangra burgers.

The Tramps offer up a very special TATTGOC salute to everyone who took part in our survey ... you are all now honorary members of our Curry Club ... 

Owen O’Leary – author/editor of The Locals’ Guide To Edinburgh

“Khushi” means happiness, but then not all happiness is equal. There are three different Khushi's in Edinburgh all vying for the title of happiest curryhouse in the city. While I can't vouch for the staff I'm pretty sure customers of Khushi's on Broughton St are well content. Actually the staff seem pretty happy too. This Edinburgh institution has been around for over 30 years and not fires, floods or traffic redirections can stem the flow of trade through its doors.

When I moved into a flat a few doors down it became my local curryhouse and to be honest I didn't think about it too much. I knew I was going to go there and it wasn't going to matter whether the food was good or not. After years of living in Stockbridge I was used to the “OK but not great” options so wasn't expecting much. The first meal at Khushis was all the better for it. Huge portions, delicate flavours and naans the size of a cricket bat! The old menus used to actually have that written on them. Cricket bat comparisons weren't the only curiosities on the menu, lovers of fish and chips were told where to go ... straight to the dishes marked “L” for learners, while loyal customers were thanked again and again and again.

"Naans the size of cricket bats ..."

“How did I get here?” It’s a question people often find yourselves asking, either in wonderment or slight apprehension. For the Tramps, sat at opposite ends of a large T-shaped arrangement of tables, surrounded by good curry and even better pals, it certainly felt like the former. But how exactly did Glasgow’s self-appointed curry ambassadors find themselves at the wrong end of the M8? What was the chain of events that had led them to convene at Assam’s Café on Leith Walk on a notably rainy Sunday afternoon and essentially hijack the whole joint? At one point, they couldn’t even conceive it happening. But experiencing it in the moment, it was hard to imagine how it might have turned out any other way ...

Assam's Cafe, Leith Walk


Now, for two people who have been banging on for what seems like months about investigating Edinburgh’s curry culture – even appearing on Radio Scotland’s Kitchen Cafe to drum up interest in their unusual August adventure – the fact that TATTGOC’s hyped and historic capital outing ended up at the relatively-new eastern outpost of a long-standing Glasgow curryhouse might seem like a clerical mix-up, a clanging error or even a sly dig at the whole idea. Charitably, you might concede that the Tramps, while giving it all bluster and fire in public, were privately too timid to leave their self-constructed comfort zone of Glasgowness, like foreign nationals in an unstable country fleeing to the sovereign soil of their embassy.

The real story, however, is a little more prosaic.

TATTGOC's burly founders may like to cultivate the impression that they know everything about curry, but the fact is their knowledge – such as it is – is strictly limited to Glasgow. So when they came up with the idea of dedicating a month of posts to Scotland's "other" major city, they were canny enough to realise they couldn't rely entirely on their own experiences. And so they decided to reach out to some of the capital's notable faces and foodies for some curry knowledge ... the sort of people who have lived, worked and loved in Edinburgh. The brief was simple: tell us a little about your experience of curry in Edinburgh, and then nominate your favourite Edinburgh curryhouse.

The response was so passionate and voluminous – over 4000 words and counting – that we had to split them up into two posts, with the second installment (featuring restaurant critic Richard Bath, veteran journalist Jonathan Trew, TATTGOC's own Edinburgh curryspondent The Poppadominator and more) landing in two weeks time. But first, here are the detailed, impassioned responses from our first responders, who have kindly opened up about their experience of curry in Edinburgh. One particular curryhouse gets a lot of love, but there's also room for pop-ups and imagined apocalypses along the way. And there's a very special TATTGOC salute to everyone who took part in our shambolic survey ... you are all now honorary members of the TATTGOC massive. Take it away!

Vic Galloway – DJ, presenter, promoter, raconteur, dude

Although I'm a contented resident of Auld Reekie and a huge fan of the city in general – with its small population, grand architecture, green spaces and annual festivities – I have always been of the opinion that Edinburgh doesn't do curry as well as some other cities. It is hugely cosmopolitan in outlook and has great ethnic diversity, but it just doesn't cut it in the same way Glasgow does. You can eat well in Edinburgh, but when upping the ante on the eastern spice front, it's not quite there yet. Having said that, I've filled my belly many a time and had little to complain about afterwards.

Honourable mentions should go to Khushi's on Broughton Street where I've scoffed excellent Punjabi cuisine that made my taste buds tingle; Bombay Bicycle Club off Tollcross with its sumptuous tandoori delights; and the wonderful Rivage on Easter Road which may have the most fresh and zingy Indian cooking in the city. In fact, Rivage would get my vote as my new, favourite curryhouse in Edinburgh, with its Dal Makhni (Black lentils), Shish Tawouk (chicken cooked in a Bhatti-open fire grill) and Saag Gosht (boneless lamb and spinach) were it not for one place: Kebab Mahal.

"She may not look like much, kid, but she's got it where it counts ..."

Anyone who calls Edinburgh their home or visits regularly, and has any interest in spicy food, knows all about Kebab Mahal. A great example of “don't judge a book by the cover”, this innocuous little shop on Nicolson Square may look a little run-of-the-mill, but it's an absolute revelation! I clearly remember my first visit there and my last, a few weeks ago. The menu looks somewhat uninspiring. The usual names abound – pakora, tikka, bhuna and biryani – with familiar ingredients, uneventful photography and brief descriptions. The staff are friendly, modest and down-to-earth, and as a Muslim establishment all the food is halal with no alcohol served. This matters not a jot, because as soon as your food arrives, all your preconceptions are shattered. Not only are the prices right – nothing on the menu exceeds £7.50 – but everything is cooked to perfection. The dhal has just the right amount of spice and heat; the fish pakoras are mouth-watering and the various combinations of saag, aloo and bindi are delicious. However, what Kebab Mahal specialises in is ... the meat!

(The TATTGOC brotherhood extends around the globe, and we welcome reports of curry expeditions beyond Glasgow – so when we embarked on our month of Edinburgh coverage, it made sense to start with a missive from this most foreign of lands. And so Trampy teamed up with veteran curryspondents Lord Of The Dansak and Thali Ho for this special report ...)

This main pic is borrowed from The List, but in fairness they owe me £35

While TATTGOC has forever been focused on Glasgow, there has always been an internationalist flavour to the blog. From the early days of bhuna baby-steps, various Curry Clubbers have downed tools, upped sticks and headed off around the world, dutifully filed detailed culinary reports from where they've ended up. Thus we've featured Foreign Curryspondent reports from all over the globe, from Japan to Bolivia and lots of places inbetween. (The collected curryspondence is tabulated in the menu bar on the right.) We've all enjoyed hearing how curry – or at least our very particular, undoubtedly preconceived idea of curry as it is served in Glasgow – is presented around the world.

Lord Of The Dansak and Rockney-obsessed pal

So when it came to kicking off our month-long examination of Edinburgh curry, it seemed natural to treat it for what it was, philosophically: a foreign country. And when you're a stranger in a strange land, it's a good idea to try and hook up with some people who are even stranger. And so it was that I, Trampy, recruited veteran curryspondents Lord Of The Dansak and Thali Ho – who have already filed from Bath and Barcelona in the past – to help gather my thoughts for this first stab at curryspondence from the wrong end of the M8.

Sometimes, you wake up and it seems the world has been made anew. It can feel strange, unfamiliar ... but a little exciting. That's the situation we find ourselves in at TATTGOC HQ this week, where not only has the entire blog undergone a spruced-up redesign in mustard yellow and electric pink, but we're also updating on a Wednesday, after years of firing spicy salvos across the internet on a Thursday. What the blazes is going on?

The answer is simple. In August, the eyes of the world swivel towards Edinburgh, home of the biggest arts festival in the world. And after four years of covering Glasgow curry culture – week in, week out, shish it all about – the Tramps thought it was about time they investigated what was happening at the other end of the M8.

Glasgow institutions like Mother India and Kama Sutra have opened successful capital outposts in the capital, and there's also been a steady stream of interesting curry news wafting over from the city, from the thriving supperclub and pop-up dining scene to a chilli-eating contest that hospitalised contestants. That sounds like our kind of place.

So for one month only, TATTGOC is going wagons east ... and here's what you can expect in this very special event, starting tomorrow:

August 2: From Our Foreign Curryspondent ... Dateline: Edinburgh!

August 9: Edinburgh Foodies Recommend Their Favorite Curryhouse – Part The First

August 16: The Official Report From TATTGOC's Edinburgh Curry Outing

August 23: Edinburgh Foodies Recommend Their Favorite Curryhouse – Part The Second

August 30: Probably Something About Glasgow, If We're Honest (Or The Podcast)

So as well as TATTGOC's own writings about their curry experiences in Edinburgh, we'll have contributions from people who know the city's curry scene, from bloggers like MyMonkfish and restaurant critics like Scotland On Sunday's Richard Bath to well-kent faces like Vic Galloway and Stephen Jardine. We'd also like our regular blog visitors to get involved, so if you have a special Edinburgh recommendation you'd like to make, drop us a line HERE and tell us about your capital curry experience.

We have been to Edinburgh on official TATTGOC business once before – when we visited the Caledonian Brewery and enjoyed a curry on the premises. But this next month feels like uncharted territory, so we hope you can join us on the ride.

(And be forever grateful we didn't call it Trampy And The Tramp's Capital Of Curry ...)

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