This week, I was lucky to be invited along to Swadish by owner and Head Chef, Ajay. Swadish is a modern Indian cuisine restaurant which opened its doors earlier this year in the lively area of Merchant City.

The restaurant is beautiful inside – bright, spacious and distinctive. The traditional features of the building enclose a mix of some conventional furniture with trendy bits of décor and modern lights. Altogether, the place feels like a perfect match to the food fusion offering.

 

Upon sitting on our table, we were presented with a delightful palate cleanser, it was so lovely it was hard not to drink immediately and let it rest for what it was for. We noticed how all-embracing the menu is. There’s a pre-theatre menu, a main menu, a lunch menu that offers really great value, and a separate comprehensive vegan list that can easily be one of the best vegan menus in the city. The choices are plenty, and so many options sounded so good to us that it really took us some time to make up our mind!

As beer drinkers that we are, we were also pleased with the range of beers on tap. Moretti is always a fine choice, and the super cold pints of this beer brought to our table set us up right for our exciting dining experience.

 

Our starters

The presentation of both our starters had a definite wow factor. Beautiful.

My choice was the Crispy Kekda – softshell crab on top of apple and fennel, baby samphire and avocado aioli on the side. What a fantastic dish it was, the crab was light but full of flavour, with the right balance of crispy and tender.  And the crunchy apple, fennel and creamy aioli were so tasty and felt like genius touches to the dish.

 

I have always loved crab meat but had never tried softshell crab before; it was a little bit daunting to just dive into the entire crustacean in front of me, but as soon as I did I could not stop. I felt very pleased to have had a delightful first experience with softshell crab.

 

Felix’s starter was the Sesame Fish Fried, which again was beautifully presented. The fish was lovely and light. Dipping the fishy strips in the tasty green salsa in the little jar was delightful – a great way to start the meal.

 

Our mains

The Mango Chicken was a very well-balanced dish, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The mango sauce was incredibly smooth, the taste of the mango was very rich, it went perfectly with the sharp hints of the fresh basil leaves.

 

More to our taste, however, was the Braised Hydrabadi Lamb Korma with Mint This dish was a taste sensation. The lamb was tender and bursting with flavour, the hints of cinnamon with sweet onion and fresh mint – this was nothing like other korma dishes we’d tried, and it was absolutely delicious.

 

On the side, we had lovely Pilau Rice to help soak up all the delicious sauces of our mains. We also had Truffle Kulcha with Wild Mushroom, which we intended to use mainly for dipping in the dishes, but so it happened that it was so incredibly tasty on its own, I personally opted for not mixing it with other flavours! Yum.

 

When it comes to pricing, considering how different the fusion of flavours is, how lovely the restaurant is and the amazing quality of the food, I think the prices are very fair. The pre-theatre menu, in particular, certainly offers fantastic options, such as the sesame fried fish and the delicious lamb korma, at a very competitive price.

We had a fantastic meal and a lovely dining experience. The service was faultless. The attentive Chef Ajay came to greet us at our table, and it felt like an honour to meet him as we were enjoying so much his wonderful food creations. He’s passionate about his concept and food, and I truly believe Swadish will soon become well-known as an unequalled place for an authentic yet distinctive Indian dining experience in Glasgow.

If you’re someone who enjoys Indian cuisine, I’d encourage you to try the refreshing and modern twists that Swadish has to offer. And if you’re someone simply looking for a unique dining experience, look no further, you will very likely love this place!