Bilash, Cullercoats

Bilash

5 Station Road, Cullercoats,

Tyne and Wear

(0191) 251 3891

www.bilashcullercoats.co.uk

A couple of friends had mentioned Bilash to me in passing, but somehow I'd never followed it up. Then, when I did eventually drive past to take a look, it seemed rather small and unimpressive. That was my first mistake. My second was in waiting so long to visit, because when we did eventually make a trip there it proved once again that great things really do come in small packages.

Bilash is tucked away off the seafront in Cullercoats in what was clearly once a corner shop. It's not entirely off-the-beaten track because it's front door is within a chapatti throw of the entrance to Cullercoats Metro station, but unless you arrive by Metro you'd be unlikely to stumble across it.

As a one-time corner shop you'd expect it to be fairly snug inside, though it's not as tight as you might expect. In fact, someone has been pretty clever with the conversion job and it's deceptively roomy inside. The décor is clean and simple, bright and comfortable.

We found the waiting staff to be incredibly friendly and helpful, suggesting dishes we might like and even offering to go off-menu if there was anything we particularly desired. They also offered quorn as an option, though this doesn't appear on the menu. Not that it needs to, as there is already plenty of choice for vegetarians.

We counted nine different veggie starters, a list that included the familiar - onion bhaji, vegetable samosa, vegetable pakora – and the less familiar, such as ragda pattice which is a street-food dish of potato, chick pea and onion served with a tamarind yoghurt sauce (we'd tried this previously and it was very good). On this occasion I chose another unfamiliar dish, shabzi shurwad which is a combination of sliced baby aubergine, potatoes and okra on a freshly-cooked puri. I shared this with my fellow diner and we found it thoroughly agreeable – rich, flavoursome and beautifully spiced. Cooked aubergine can be a little slimy to some people's tastes, but we found it moist and delicious.

The rest of the menu offers a wide range of choices. There are 5 vegetable specialities, a choice of 16 'classic' curries which are available in either vegetable or paneer tikka options (so that's 32 different curries) plus a separate paneer tikka dish and a vegetable biryani, and 13 vegetable side dishes.

I opted for the sabzi avail speciality from the specialities menu, a dish which combined mixed vegetables, fresh okra and spinach. This was supposed to be medium hot but actually seemed a little milder than that, but I really enjoyed the delicious green flavours of the okra, green beans and spinach which blended beautifully with the spicy tomato base. This is a fairly dry dish but we'd already ordered a dish of tarka dahl and the two worked beautifully – and really good dahl, by the way.

My fellow diner ordered rogan josh paneer tikka which arrived in the customarily lurid red tikka sauce. It was delicious, though, rich and well spiced with large chunks of creamy paneer sloshing about in the sauce. It got a big thumbs up.

We both opted for vegetable pillau and this was light and delicious, too, as was the nan which was dry and fluffy. The Bilash menu offers a range of breads including pudina nan which is made with fresh mint – we'd tried this on a previous visit and it went down a storm.

Bilash has quickly become one of our favourite Indian restaurants. It is cosy, friendly, unfussy and its attentive and friendly staff ensure that Bilash always feels homely and welcoming. And the food is definitely well above average. All in all, it's something of a hidden gem and despite its relatively small size, this is a restaurant that clearly punches above its weight.