Restaurant reviews

Shimla Pinks in Leicester

February 22, 2014

There are a lot of great curry restaurants in Leicester, and I am yet to visit even a fraction of them. That being said, I have visited quite a few in my time living here, and out of those, Shimla Pinks rates way up there (possibly number 2 or 3 on my list).

It’s not a traditional curry restaurant in that you don’t get the balti house feel. Instead, it’s a bit more contemporary inside which has its benefits and downsides. On the downside, there isn’t much of a down-home, authentic ambience, but on the upside, it’s a great place if you want curry but want more of an upscale date-type restaurant to eat at. That’s actually one of the reasons I like going there – it’s nice to get dressed up to go out for a curry for a change.

Last night we went to Shimla Pinks with a Groupon with a couple friends. The deal included (for each person) poppadoms, a starter, main, rice and naan. It doesn’t sound like much, but the portions are massive. For the starter, Andrew and I went for the veg thali which included paneer shashlick, vegetable somosas, aloo tikki, onion bhaji and mixed vegetable pakoras.

curry starter

curry starter

so… much…. food. But so good! Even though most of the starters we had were fried, they were done so lightly so it wasn’t too heavy to start with. And the onion bhajis were some of the best I’ve ever had.

Like most Indian restaurants, Shimla Pinks has a dedicated vegetarian section on the menu. For my main, I ordered the vegetable jalfrezi and a small side of tarka daal, while Andrew ordered the chilli paneer masala. We decided to split a mushroom rice, salad and paratha.

vegetarian curry

vegetarian curry

Each dish was incredibly flavorful, and so tasty that each and everyone of us at the table left feeling like we might possibly explode. And there were leftovers.

I would absolutely recommend this restaurant to vegetarians in Leicester looking for a nice curry restaurant for a date night. I didn’t get a chance to ask about vegan options, but I imagine if you ask to have the veggie curries without any butter, they would be fine.

And just to show how happy we were to be there – here are our smiley curry faces 🙂

IMG_6861

Visit the website here: http://4550.co.uk/shimlapinks/

  • Rainy Writer February 23, 2014 at 12:16 am

    When I first started going out with my wife, she refused to have Indian food. She said she didn’t like it. After about 3 years I asked her exactly what it was she did not like. She looked at me and told me she didn’t know as she had NOT ACTUALLY HAD Indian food before.

    Geez … and all that time she just THOUGHT she did not like it. I made her have a try of some and she was hooked! Naan … mmmm. Samosa …. (makes gurgly sounds in my throat) …

    Looks like you had a good time indeed.

    • lindsaybelle February 23, 2014 at 9:59 am

      Very funny! It’s good to always try and be as open-minded as possible when it comes to new foods – you might surprise yourself!

  • Restaurant Index | Leicester Veggie September 6, 2014 at 9:08 am

    […] Shimla Pinks, Leicester […]