Khushi, 344 Abbeydale Road, Sheffield
NOW cushy, as in cushy number, isn't a bit of slang you hear much of these days. It's back in Sheffield as the name of a new Indian restaurant called Khushi, but pronounced in exactly the same way.
"It's an Urdu word, for happiness. We hope that's what our customers will have with our food," says owner Mohammed Aslam at his 30-seater eaterie on Abbeydale Road.
British soldiers liked the word in the days of the Raj and brought it home. For them, it meant easy or comfortable.
Just in case you're wondering, when Del Boy said kushti in Only Fools and Horses, he was using the Romany word. And where did they come from originally? India.
It's surprising what you learn when you go out for a curry. This new place, on the corner with Avenue Road, used to be the old Chilli Chicken, which Mohammed also ran.
And in the last 10 years you might have encountered him at the Flying Chicken takeaway on London Road, Red Hot Chilli on Glossop Road and the Pizza Dora at Woodseats.
Khushi bills itself as a Punjabi grill restaurant and these and karai dishes feature strongly on the menu but it hedges its bets with Madras, vindaloo, korma, dopiaza and balti dishes, and so on.
There's also a grid which perms seven ingredients with nine cooking styles, giving you 63 choices, and when you turn to the back page of the menu you find pizzas, burgers, kebabs and English dishes.
"Pizzas were a mistake," says Mohammed ruefully but the rest of the food isn't.
Khushi is quite a slick affair in decor, with nine or ten black tables, high backed leatherette chairs, blue downlighting and big picture windows, and is midway between a fast food joint and a traditional restaurant.
The other side is taken up by the kitchen and display counters which would look better if there was more food on display.
When you find your table you are automatically given two poppadoms, three pickles and relishes and a jug of water free of charge.
I began with three lamb chops (2.95) which were more like cutlets. They were a little chewy but still juicy and aggressively and attractively spiced. They were studded with chilli seeds. As was my wife's starter, the fish masala (3).
This was a big fillet of some exotic fish. "It looked dry but it's crispy on the outside and moist inside," she enthused.
For our mains we ordered a half of chicken tandoori (6.95) and a kofta balti (5.70). They must have funny looking chickens in the Punjab because all I got was a wing with a bit of breast attached and a leg, so it was more a third than a half.
But as Colonel Saunders says, it was finger-licking good, and the best roast chicken I've had lately.
It came but didn't really need a tomatoey-onion sauce and a decent naan bread, in with the price.
For koftas, read Indian meatballs, bathed in a sauce closely related to my chicken.
We also had a portion of pulao rice (1.70) and some very toothsome tarka daal (3.50).
Now I don't know about you but halfway through a curry I sometimes get a bit bored and feel I've had enough.
But here the spicing makes few concessions to Western tastes and keeps you interested all the way through.
We washed it down with a glass of orange juice (1.60) and a slightly watery lassi (1.90).
And, after complimentary cups of Iranian tea ("Pakistan's border is with Iran and teas are the same style but they say theirs is the best," he says) we felt that going out to review Khushi was, indeed, a cushy number.
Khushi, 344 Abbeydale Road, Sheffield. Tel: 0114 255 8199. Open all week, noon-1am. Credit cards. Music. Disabled toilets. Street parking.
My star ratings (out of five):
Food HHHH
Atmosphere HHH
Service HHHH
Value HHHH
Indian restaurant. Do not compare ratings between places of different style or price.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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