Today is Diwali Day, when, annually, tens of thousands of people gather in Leicester to celebrate the festival of light and the start of the Hindu new year. Here are some of the city's best budget eateries, on Belgrave Road and beyond.
1. Curry Capital of Britain
Technically, Leicester only holds the crown by default. It won the title in 2007, and, until this year (a new 'capital' will be announced in December), that's the last time the competition was held. However, no-one would deny this city of masala magicians its extended moment in the spotlight. I've highlighted a few specific venues, below, but, in Leicester, the curry-loving budget traveller is spoilt for choice - particularly along Belgrave/Melton Road, centre of the Diwali Day celebrations. The local Asian population is predominantly Hindu, which means the city has an unusual number of fantastic, cheap vegetarian cafes.
Mirch Masala (Market Street, +44 (0)116 247 0080; mirch-masala.co.uk) does a curious sideline in Mexican and Italian (paneer pizza etc.), and the discerning foodie will have to break one of the golden rules (never eat anywhere that displays pictures of its dishes in the window) at Star Vashnu Dhaba (94 Narborough Road, +44 (0)116 255 3093), but along with Mithaas (103-105 Narborough Road, +44 (0)116 254 1588; mithaas.co.uk) and the popular Dakshin (110 Belgrave Road, +44 (0)116 266 4996; dakshin.co.uk), these are all places where you can eat your fill of fresh, seriously tasty home-style tarka daal or aloo gobi for around £5, with a drink.
For meat eaters, the £6.95 lunch/dinner buffet at the Curry Pot (78-80 Belgrave Road, +44 (0)116 262 6777) and the £7.95 business lunch at Khyber (116 Melton Road, +44 (0)116 266 4842; khybertandoorirestaurant.co.uk) are recommended. Those with great self-control might just sneak in a mains-only evening meal at the award-winning Curry Fever (139 Belgrave Road, +44 (0)116 266 2941; thecurryfever.co.uk) or Ashoka (257 Melton Road, +44 (0)116 266 2185) - which has interesting things like tandoori trout on the menu - for around £10-a-head.
2. Bobby's
First time on Belgrave Road? Then Bobby's is a must. Established in 1976, although you wouldn't know it - the restaurant space is neatly contemporary; the staff are bright, energetic and super-friendly - this Gujerati vegetarian produces some of the sharpest food in the city. Try Bobby's fulsomely flavoured, surprisingly spicy chickpea channa masala, the soul-stirring savoury pleasures of its various lentil dals, and its intriguing bhel and chaat starters - salad-like mixtures of crushed samosa, nuts and other "savouries", chickpeas, onion and potato, topped with yoghurt and chutney. Bobby's is also famous for its mithai Indian sweets, which during Diwali (also celebrated by Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists) take over the whole groundfloor of the restaurant. Prices are pretty keen throughout, but the all-day buffet (£6.99/ £9.99 for two) or takeaway will offer the most variety, at under £10 a head.
• Main with rice, from £6 (eat-in). 154-156 Belgrave Road +44 (0)116 266 0106; eatatbobbys.com
3. Bombay Bites
Ingenious, this. From a tiny corner takeaway in the city centre, Bombay Bites serves a short menu of curries, over rice, in dinky red 'n' yellow takeaway cartons, ready-to-eat on the street. A lamb curry - plenty of tender lamb, in a somewhat indistinct but tasty medium-hot gravy - comes over good long grain rice, sprinkled with fried onions, and is really lifted by a sparky, blitzed lime pickle, or "green chutney". For £3.95, it's a bargain. Take your pot around the corner to the town hall gardens and tuck in.
• Snacks from 50p, meals from £3.25. 41a Belvoir Street, +44 (0)116 285 2299; bombaybites.co.uk
4. Shivalli
The average British curry house deals in a repertoire of stock dishes which revolve around the twin poles of marinated grilled meats and thick, spicy sauces. For greater variety, you need to head south, to Kerala and Goa, where the food is, generally, lighter and the spicing and seasoning a little more sophisticated. Down south, even the hottest dishes offer variegated layers of flavour. In Leicester, people are currently raving about Kayal (153 Granby Street, +44 (0)116 255 4667; kayalrestaurant.com. Lunch thali £5.95), whose Nottingham and Leamington Spa branches I've mentioned previously in this series. Anjuna (76 Highcross Street, +44 (0)116 2512229anjunarestaurant.com. Goan speciality mains from £6.45) is also notable for its Goan specialities, such as soportel - belly pork and liver cooked in fiery spices and vinegar - and its hot, sour tamarind-laced shark curry. Less challenging, but no less interesting, Shivalli is a vegetarian Karnatakan restaurant, where you'll come across numerous filled dosa, fantastic rice sides (mixed with nuts, lentils, fresh curry leaves, mustard seeds etc.), and lesser-spotted, often milder curries like the beetroot sasami. Even the puddings, like kesari bhath, a very sweet, buttery pat of semolina studded with raisins and cashews, are interesting. And don't turn down the hot, fluffy, almost-sweet fried bathura breads, they're delicious. The lunchtime buffet, £4.95, is very popular with local office workers.
• Main with rice, from £5.74 (eat-in). 21 Welford Road, +44 (0)116 255 0137; shivallirestaurant.com
5. Mem Saab
A soaring cliché in glass and polished steel, Highcross Leicester is the kind of soulless, big-statement shopping centre that makes living in the woods and weaving your own shoes seem like a good idea. Naturally, most of the major British restaurant chains are present, and depressingly busy. Swerve them and, instead, if only to remind yourself that you are actually in Leicester, head to Mem Saab, a swanky Indian with a surprisingly simple, understatedly elegant dining room. The two-course lunch is a very competitive £6.95. If you can't stop, you can also pick-up takeaway salads and tandoori naan wraps from the champagne bar. The latter come with a bag of quite terrible chips - bin them, straight off - but the wraps themselves are great. The naan was good and while the meat could have done with a more robust marinade, the waiter's suggestion of mixing the lamb and chicken tikka together in the same wrap was inspired. It was a carnivorous humdinger.
• Wraps/salads from £4.50 (eat-in/ takeaway, midday-4pm), 59-59a Highcross Street, +44 (0)116 253 0243; mem-saableics.com
6. Criterion
From the outside, the Criterion looks like a typically shabby 1960s boozer. Another back-street pub marking time until it's boarded-up. This might possibly be a deliberate policy, to keep the idiots out. For, in reality, the Criterion is a busy hive of boho activity, aimed at two of the last remaining groups of people who will still leave the house in order to drink: Camra members and music fans. Nine guest ales (from £2.50 a pint; the Bishop's Farewell, from Oakham Ales, brightly crisp and fruity) and a busy programme of gigs, music and film events are the main draws, but the Criterion's stone-baked pizzas play their part. The dough is made fresh, daily, and the exemplarily thin bases have a good chew factor, a nice light char, and are topped with decent, fresh ingredients. Remarkably at these prices, the ham is real pig and not some reconstituted pap. The whole place has a real generosity of spirit about it. Staff are friendly, it's comfy, a little bit quirky, and - but for some beer memorabilia - defiantly unstyled. Oh, and as it's also British Sausage Week until 8 November, the Criterion is serving a variety of locally made sausages on buttered rolls (from £2).
• Pizza from £3.50 (9"). 44 Millstone Lane, +44 (0)116 262 5418; criterionvenue.co.uk
7. Currant Affairs
A small kitchen at this "natural food store" turns out wholesome vegetarian snacks. There are first-rate cakes (try the tangy carrot at £1.10); simple, generously filled savoury flans and quiches - a mushroom and cheddar slice is light, eggy, packed with flavour and has a great grilled cheese crust atop (£1.69); mushroom pate and hummus sandwiches, and some very unappetising looking tomato and garlic "sosage" rolls. It's not too worthy, though. You can also pick up a bag of Tyrell's crisps or a bottle of Fentiman's pop to have with your lunch.
• Snacks from 89p, sandwiches from £2. 9a Loseby Lane, +44 (0)116 251 0887
8. The Case Champagne Bar & Snug
A champagne bar? In a budget eating guide? I know, I know, but bear with me. At night, and certainly at weekends, this chic bar (attached to one of Leicester's best restaurants, the Case) is all bling and bellinis, but, over lunch (11.30-2.30pm), it doubles up as a cafe-bar offering solace, salads and sandwiches to weary shoppers. Upmarket fillings include the likes of grilled lemon and thyme chicken with rocket and parmesan, or slow roasted pork belly with peppers and apple. The Case bar also does a good line in interesting burgers, like its venison patty with a red onion, orange and coriander mayo. It being November, it's of little use right now, but the covered outdoor seating area - essentially, the pretty alleyway that leads to the entrance - is a lovely shady hideaway in summer.
• Sandwiches from £3.45, salads from £5.75. 4-6 Hotel Street, +44 (0)116 251 7675; thecase.co.uk
9. Yesim Pattisserie
A scruffy jumble of shops, takeaways and 24/7 traffic, Narborough Road is unlikely to figure on many tourists' itineraries. More fool them. There is a cluster of good bars at its town end, along Braunstone Gate; it's home to some interesting retail outlets - from a Polish delicatessen and Asian supermarkets to second-hand book shops - and it has several good and cheap places to eat. See above, for info on Star Vashnu Dhaba and Mithaas. Turkish bakery-cafe, Yesim, is another such find. A laid-back and cosy, dimly-lit space (all exposed wooden beams, jewel-like lamps and Ottoman ornaments), it offers sweet relief from the chaos outside. You can linger over baklava, borek and, of course, formidably strong coffee. A sample poca (an oval stuffed bread, like an open pasty) was fine for £1.20 - the tomato and herb filling needed more lamb - but a piece of su borek or water borek (the thicker one, with parsley) was tremendous (£2). It had a crisp filo texture without, but, inside, it was all soft, billowing furls of pastry (boiled briefly, so it has the consistency of sheets of lasagne), around a good layer of that pleasingly dry, tart sheep's feta. A portion of this, and you won't need to eat again for hours.
• Snacks from around £1.29 Narborough Road, +44 (0)116 247 1120
10. Mrs Bridges Tea Rooms
Loseby Lane is crammed with cafes, but the veteran Mrs Bridges stands out. Quaint without lapsing into kitsch - it's got a clean monastic aesthetic going on, rather than the usual tea room chintz - it serves a menu which, at this level, and for all its old-school touches, is quietly ambitious. Among the usual filled jacket potatoes and flans, you'll find, for example, a poached salmon, apple and salted broad bean salad, eggs Florentine, and a roast beef, red onion marmalade and Stilton sandwich. Incidentally, you've got to love a cafe that offers to spread dripping on your sandwich bread before it's toasted. Bliss indeed. The homemade cakes and puddings are a highlight, the sampler plate of five desserts (£5.20) offering a serious sugar rush. Coffee is so-so, and they could do with reprinting the rather dog-eared menus.
• Sandwiches from £3.25, meals from around £5. 17 Loseby Lane, +44 (0)116 262 3131
• Tony travelled from Manchester to Leicester with First TransPennine Express (tpexpress.co.uk) and East Midlands Trains (eastmidlandstrains.co.uk) EMT runs regular services from London St Pancras to Leicester, from £22 return.
