No trip to Leeds Kirkgate Market Foodhall would be complete without a visit to Manjit’s Kitchen & Bar, the brighly coloured Indian Vegetarian Kitchen located along the back wall of the hall draws the crowds and serves up some excellent food at exceptionally reasonable prices
We had been eating in and around the market for a few days now and each time we visited we got a glimpse of the food from Manjits Kitchen as almost everyone at that end of the market was dining from them.
It all looked good, the pakora wrap and the masala dosa seemed very popular when I asked people what they had got, but I wanted to try more so I picked out the Thali Plate as the thing to get as it seemed to have a little bit of everything
THALI PLATE
The menu was a bit vague describing the Thali as being made up of Cumin Rice, Mixed Salad, 2 Curries of the day and a Roti for just £7. I would have kinda liked to know more about which curries were on the plate but to be honest I was going to order it anyway so I just went with the flow and waited to see what I got.
I was very happy with my plate when it arrived, I am not sure what the names of the two curries were but they were both really good. If I was going out on a limb I would suggest that they were an Aloo Gobi and a Chana Masala maybe
The first one a thick potato and cauliflower effort with quite a thick sauce and all sorts of vegetables mixed togther. The second one a chickpea curry with a looser gravy sauce and a scattering of coriander leaf.
The spice levels was good, starting off gentle but then building up as you ate. Lots of great flavours, ginger and garlic seemed to permeate through everything.
The star on the plate was the vegetable pakora, which was a lot of fried crispy bits adding loads of texture to the dish. I enjoyed the cumin rice mixed up with the sauce from the chickpea curry, it was better than basic plain rice
The roti was good too, freshly cooked to order, it was perhaps a little bit greasy but that didn’t affect my enjoyment after all I was already licking sauce off my fingers so a bit of oil wasn’t really getting in the way.
It was interesting to have the fresh side salad but honestly apart from cooling down my palate from the spice it didn’t bring too much else to the party.
I really do love this sort of simple food, I like it so much more than when you go to a fancy restauarant and its just a curry, rice, and a naan.
This place reminds me of travelling across India when we just rolled of the tourist bus at random roadside stops to eat plates of simple vegetarian street foods. So much fun both for myself and for my taste buds
Manjit’s Kitchen is located in Leeds Kirkgate Market, Cafe E, George St, Leeds, LS2 7HY
There is also the brick and mortar restaurant Manjit’s Kitchen at 333 Kirkstall Road, Burley, LS4 2HD
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