When is a pub not a pub? When it’s The Lansdowne in partnership with Mother India.

An old favourite west end basement bar has been spiced up and turned into an Indian restaurant but still retaining the pub element with the bar. This had to be worth investigating.

So I pointed the Buick in the direction of Kelvinbridge and called the Moll to meet me there.

Her ladyship duly arrived and was accompanied by the Mini-Moll, home from university for food, laundry and motherly love.

Students, as we all know, live on beans and alcohol for nine months of the year and when they come home they eat like brown bears before hibernation.

So, it was just as well this place had a wide menu and when the waiter advised the portions are quite large, but not to worry doggy bags were available, I could see her thinking ‘that’s tomorrow’s breakfast’.

The portions were indeed large and they all come out one after the other so it is ideal for sharing.

We asked for the mini poppadoms to share as a starter which arrived with three little dipping pots.

It looked like a bag of supermarket snacks had been tipped on to a plate. At £5 a pop it was not impressive.

The rest of the menu however, was a success.

For smaller sizes we had the green chilli hummus with pitta, the smoked aubergine bharatha with fritter and the crispy okra.

We also ordered the Bombay style vegetable curry, gram flour fried haddock, and a spinach broccoli and grilled paneer.

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Most of the dishes come with bread and some with rice, so ordering extra rice or breads was not necessary which makes it even better value.

Take the vegetable curry, it was a sizeable portion which came with a little portion of rice, plenty for one, and a kameeri roti bread. At £7.50 that has to be a bargain.

The paneer dish was with a spicy but subtle sauce, not too hot that it overpowered the grilled cheese.

And the haddock was a little bit of chip shop magic. Small pieces in a light batter, with a flavoursome tahini sauce. I could have had it all to myself as a main course and been a very happy diner.

When the desert menu arrived we were all too full to think about anything else but they had a surprise.

Ice cream oyster and double nougat. I could almost hear the ice-cream van chimes.

Two big scoops of ice cream, two nougat filled wafers, three spoons and silence until it was gone.

The service was pretty quick and efficient, but the selling point here is the value. It is very reasonably priced and well worth it.

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And yes, someone left with a doggy bag and yes, it was eaten the next morning.

BILL

Food

Mini poppadoms £5.00

Green chilli hummus £5.30

Crispy okra £6.50

Bombay veg curry £7.50

Aubergine bharatha £8.50

Spinach paneer £8.50

Gram haddock £8.50

Double nougat £4.50

Drinks

White wine 175ml £4.50

St Mungo’s beer £4.80

Total = £63.60

REVIEW

FOOD - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

ATMOSPHERE - ⭐⭐⭐

SERVICE - ⭐⭐⭐