A Craving for Bagels

I travel, on a fairly regular basis (perhaps one a week on average) between Leeds and London by train. On most occasions I wake up too late to have breakfast at home and end up grabbing a coffee and bite to eat at the station, generally a cheese and Marmite panini and Americano with an extra shot, from Starbucks. Now, I am no fan of Starbucks – their coffee is generally poor and their food is vastly over-priced – but, when I’m in the station and expenses are available, it seems like the best option. Well it’s that or McDonalds, so the choice seems clear.

This morning, however, I had a craving for serving a bit different and I remembered that there’s a Bagel Nash at the station – not near the entrance I use, but for once I had the time to make the detour.

As I walked through town I mentally assembled my dream breakfast bagel: savoury bagel, cream cheese, smoked salmon, black olives, avocado, rocket, dill, black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Doesn’t that sound good? I certainly thought so. I didn’t expect to find it, but I knew smoked salmon and cream cheese would be a safe bet, bound to be accompanied by one or more of my ingredients list.

I rocked up with time to spare, found a salmon and cream cheese option on the menu, neglected to read the other ingredients, and ordered, including a coffee.

I’ll start with the coffee. Crap. Weak, tasteless crap. Worse than Starbucks. Enough said.

The bagel turned out to be a combo of smoked salmon, cream cheese, black olives, raw red onion and black pepper. Now, that ticked most of my ingredient boxes, but one thing stuck out – raw onion. What on earth was that doing in there? Who is writing these combos? A perfectly reasonable, mellow bagel, overpowered by harsh, raw onion. I’m not against raw onion, with roast beef it’s a delight. It works well with other salad ingredients. It’s a good partner for cheese. But not for smoked salmon. Not when that smoked salmon is paired with other, delicate flavours (even the black olives were the mild kind).

All in all a very disappointing breakfast. It just didn’t work. Now where shall I go for lunch?

UPDATE: I believe what I had was a New Yorker. Looks like I wanted a Smoked Salmon Deluxe. My advice, steer clear of the American.

Khyber Balti

There are very few curry takeaways of note as far as I’m concerned. Living in north Leeds the crop of places targeted at students is incredible, but to this day I have not had a decent curry from any of them. In fact, I’ve barely had a curry from them as the standard fair seems to be generic sauce coating a very small quantity of meat. No veg, no real spice, no taste, just heat.

When I want a curry at home I do occasionally I pop out to Aagrah (although my nearest is Pudsey and I’m not sure how welcoming they will be to takeaway requests at the slightly over the top new restaurant up near the Odeon between Leeds and Bradford) or, if I’m in town perhaps the original Shabab (I don’t rate the new one by the station) for a take out.

But now I have a great local curry house in Armley who will deliver to Headingley and Kirkstall, that turns out food to rival any of the bigger chains.

Khyber Balti is your typical takeaway. Relatively cheap food, curry alongside omelette on the menu, coke by the gallon, but with one crucial exception. The food is fantastic. I’m not saying it’s ‘posh meal out at the weekend’ fantastic, but for a takeaway that delivers to your home where main costs under a fiver, it is absolutely amazing.

There’s a great selection of mains (just ignore the fried chicken, pizza and burgers) which go beyond the usual combo of korma, balti, madras, etc and includes some more obscure dishes. There is also a good selection of sides and very generous freebies which they don’t mention on the phone, like free chapattis or rice with every main and free bottle of coke with orders over about £10.

They don’t have a website, but you can call them on 0113 263 0786 or call in at 22 Whingate Rd, Leeds, LS12 3DS (although, it’s not the most attractive of locations).

UPDATE
Here’s the link to the menu on 118menu.com… thanks to Mark for pointing me in the right direction. http://www.118menu.co.uk/khyber