Simla, Newcastle

39 Side, 

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE1 3JE

(0191) 2618800.

simlarestaurant.net

There's been a Simla at the bottom of Newcastle's Dean Street for almost as long as I can remember. My first (and only previous) visit was in the 1980's in a large group of friends after a few beers, the type of clientele which the restaurant seemed well-equipped to cater for. But the hard-drinking and raucous Quayside has changed over the years, so when I began hearing tales of the Simla having undergone a similar transformation, and detected a real buzz about the quality of the food on offer, I decided it was time for another visit.

I don't recall if the original Simla had flock wallpaper and a paisley-design carpet, but if it did then the new Simla is cut from a very different cloth. Inside is cool, chic and contemporary, with soft lighting, art on the walls, wooden floors and dark wood tables. The interior has been cleverly designed; you almost have the impression of sitting within the brick arch of a bridge and that lends an enclosed and intimate feel to the place.

We arrived early on what was clearly going to be a busy Thursday night. We hadn't booked, but the waiter politely suggested that he could offer us a table providing we were able to finish our meal before the next guests arrived at 7.30. We agreed and he showed to us a table.

The menu is fairly short, but there is still plenty of choice with a few interesting and entertaining elements. For example, as well as offering the customary poppadums and pickles as a pre-starter we noticed they also offered two different chat dishes, so we decided pass on the poppadums and opted to share a bowl of Bombay mixed chat instead. We weren't sure what to expect but what arrived was a dish of chick peas and potato dressed in chilled and silky yoghurt sprinkled with chopped red onion, drizzled with sweet tamarind sauce and topped with a layer of crunchy chick pea noodles. It was sweet, savoury, cool, crunchy and utterly delicious.

The vegetarian starter menu offers only four choices – crispy pakora, vegetable tikki, paneer garlic chilli pepper, and mango green salad. We opted for the vegetable tikki, a dish which friends had strongly recommended and which the menu described as a mixed vegetable cutlet with potato, beetroot and carrot, an intriguing combination that I'd never seen the Indian cooking before. My fellow diner chose the paneer garlic chilli pepper.

The vegetable tikki was extraordinary, the cutlets – there were two of them – softer than I expected, and an unexpectedly deep purple colour thanks to the beetroot which also imparted a sweet earthy flavour to the dish. There was a hot chilli edge to it which really sharpened the senses plus a drizzle of tamarind sauce to add punches of sweetness. All told, this was a beautiful dish, quite unlike anything else I'd eaten in an Indian restaurant.

The paneer was also something of a revelation. Expecting chunks of marinated paneer roasted in a tandoor, we were surprised to see the paneer had been folded into a light, glassy sweet chilli sauce dressed with strips of soft green pepper. The peppers added a slight pungency which gave a sweet and sour flavour to the sauce, and once again a decent dash of chilli served to sharpen the flavours. The effect was absolutely delicious.

None of the classic selection of curries on the menu – which included Jalfrezi, Madras, Korma and Karahi – seemed to offer a vegetable option, though I suspect the chef would have cooked you one if you asked. However, the vegetarian selection of 8 dishes offers plenty of choice, with unfamiliar dishes such as paneer butter masala, which has a rich silky tomato sauce flavoured with fenugreek, and aloo posto which boasts a poppy seed masala.

I opted for the classic aloo gobi with peas accompanied by a saffron pillau while my fellow diner chose the Bengali channa with a vegetable pillau. All of the vegetarian dishes are available as either a main of a side dish, so we also ordered a small dish of the mixed tarka dahl with a spicy potato nan to accompany it.

The aloo gobi was utterly perfect. I've eaten cauliflower in dozens of restaurants and in too many cases it has been white, mushy, and entirely without taste or texture. But not this – the cauliflower was cooked to absolute perfection with a slight firmness of bite and an avalanche of flavour. The aloo and the peas, too, were very slightly firm and equally full of flavour, giving the impression that this had all been cooked to order rather than pre-cooked hours before. What brought it all together was a sauce which was rich and deeply flavoursome, with each of its component spices appearing to stand out and command attention. It's rare to get something as perfectly balanced as this; the chef has taken something that should be a fairly simple and ordinary dish and elevated it almost to the level of haut cuisine.

The channa was equally delicious, with a profusion of nutty, earthy chick peas sitting in a rich, hot sauce. Once again, the favours of the sauce really stood out, producing something that was light, complex and deeply satisfying. Honestly, this is great food and a considerable amount of care and attention has clearly gone into its making.

We ladled on spoonfuls of the rich, thick and flavoursome tarka dahl into with we plunged chunks of the spicy potato nan which proved to be the perfect accompaniment. In fact, a large bowl of the dahl and three or four of these potato nans could have kept me happy for the rest of the day...

Simla has been in the same family since it opened in the 1980's, but was recently passed on to the next generation and it was they that have transformed what had been a good curry house into something altogether more upmarket. And it works. 

The reason it works, though, is not just down to the stylish décor, the elegant presentation or the attentive and friendly staff. It's the attention the restaurant obviously gives to the quality of the food leaving their kitchen that makes Simla really stand out. 

This is some of the most interesting and sumptuous Indian food I have tasted this year and I recommend it highly.