Shiraz - Sheer Authenticity

Newcastle's ever notorious Bigg Market. It's an adulteration of vulgar bars, weird 'clubs' and beyond drunk chavs ruminating on themselves. But thankfully, there are a number of brilliant eateries in the area that have upheld it's worth, as well as a fairly newly-managed Indian restaurant - Shiraz. Despite appearing to be oddly named after the wine yielding Syrah grape of Southern France, Shiraz is all about one thing - real, honest, authentic Punjabi food.

There are probably hundreds of lacklustre and pitifully weak 'Indian' restaurants in Newcastle, the majority of which hiding away in the depths of Fenham. Many of which plating up dubious meat in a variety of uninspiring sauces, most of which can only be differentiated by amount of stale chilli powder in them or the volume of oil they're drowning in. Shiraz, however, is the absolute opposite of these Asian abominations. They offer a comprehensive menu of classic Punjabi cuisine, encompassing brilliant vegetarian classics such as saag paneer and bhindi masala (okra), as well as tonnes of solid meat dishes. Their seekh kebab starter is also very much on point, as is the selection of desserts they offer, which thankfully includes homemade gulab jamun - the Fat Spoon's favourite. The menu doesn't feature anything too adventurous, but when your looking for authenticity in Punjabi cuisine, then Shiraz is quite possibly Newcastle's gold standard.

Oddly their website seems to have been suspended, but that certainly doesn't reflect their level of service. Shiraz offers personal service with a passionate knowledge of their cuisine as well as having that family-run vibe to it. The restaurant is clean cut and doesn't come coated in that layer of scabbiness that often surrounds lower cost Indian restaurants. The dishes are very fairly priced, but possessing a tastecard will reduce the cost of your curry feed to insanely little, bringing it near a rupee-like range and making for an absolute bargain. 83%