Karachi

This famous old stager is one of Bradford's original curry cafes. These were cheap, basic all-day (and late into the night) canteens, which opened in the 60s and 70s to serve the Asian textile workers who had recently arrived in the city. Reviewers have a tendency to go a bit OTT when describing Karachi. Certainly, it's best described as a no frills operation. Yes, some of the chairs are a bit ripped and the tables a bit chipped. No, it doesn't look like it has been redecorated for years. But it's neat enough, service is swift and friendly, you get a jug of water and a few serviettes as you sit down, and no one is going to sneer at you if you use cutlery, rather than scooping up your meal with your (three complimentary) chapatis.

There is a tray of knives and forks on the counter, by the open kitchen. Which you will certainly need if you order one of Karachi's meat ball curries. For £6, the basic version consists of four large dense lamb balls, robustly seasoned with chilli, in a lightly blended, not too oily, spicy gravy of onions, garlic and tomato that also has a quiet, almost carroty sweetness to it. It isn't the most sophisticated plate of food in the world, but it's certainly tasty. Elsewhere, the menu takes in the full gamut of subcontinental curry variations, from bhunas to vindaloos. When Rick Stein featured Karachi in his Food Heroes TV series, he enthusiastically wolfed down the chicken and spinach karahi.
• Starters £1-£4, mains £5-£8; 15-17 Neal Street, 01274 732015

International Restaurant

It's of a similar vintage, but compared with Karachi, the International is positively upmarket. With its black chairs, purple walls and mirrored panelling, it has a very 70s discotheque aesthetic that might, once, have passed for chic. The menu is a pound or two more expensive than Karachi and, on this evidence, the cooking is a few notches tighter, too. A minty, highly perfumed raita is a hint of what is to come, but the main – channa murgh, a rich, slow-cooked stew of chickpeas and chicken – is truly sensational.

It is gently spiced, not particularly hot, speckled with fresh herbs and full of long, warm savoury flavours. The fenugreek gives the dish a distinct Asian earthiness, but in its intensity, in its lip-smacking, soul-stirring umami depth, it is perhaps closer, in spirit, to a radically reduced red wine jus or a butch Sunday lunch gravy than it is the spicy aggression of the typical curry. It is by far and away the best thing I ate in Bradford. The accompanying naan was likewise magic.
• Starters £1.95-£4.50, mains £5.50-£9.50; 40-42 Morley Street, 01274 721449

Prashad

A finalist in the last series of Channel 4's Ramsay's Best Restaurant, this vegetarian Indian is a venue on the up. Whilst sat in the smart lounge (opposite the main restaurant on Woodhead Road) waiting for your takeaway, you can peruse multiple framed newspaper cuttings extolling Prashad's virtues or watch looped footage of Gordon Ramsay putting Kaushy Patel and her kitchen team through their paces. Despite this recent boost to the restaurant's profile, prices remain keen. For £10, you can just about take away two courses of Prashad's expertly spiced, dizzily aromatic food (eat-in restaurant mains from £7.95).

The menu is something of a melange of dishes from Gujarat, the Punjab and southern India. It ranges from roadside snacks such as chaat and "bhel supreme" (a tamarind-laced, sweet and sour salad of potato, chickpeas, chopped samosa, puffed rice, etc) and incredible bite-sized finger foods like pea kachori (heady, cinnamon-spiked balls of pea mash, wrapped in pastry and deep-fried), to mains like masala dosa, the onion and tomato chickpea curry, chole, and that Punjabi favourite, aloo gobi. It is all light, cleanly executed food with serious complexities of flavour. I also liked the list of famous vegetarians at the bottom of the menu. It is the only time you'll ever see Larry Hagman, Yasmin Le Bon, Einstein and Ghandi accorded equal importance.
• Takeaway starters from £3.25, mains from £6.86; Horton Grange Road, 01274 575893, prashad.co.uk

Shimla's

Split between a modern takeaway kitchen and a restaurant proper, Shimla offers a full menu of curry dishes, but the star attraction is its grilled meats. Its tandoor-cooked lamb chops, fantastic juicy seekh kebabs (bursting with fresh onions, herbs and green chillies), and its remarkably good "donners". Donner kebab, of course, is a phrase which, in the UK, usually indicates huge, sweating "elephant legs" of dubiously reconstituted meat revolving on a spit. Not here. Shimla is the real shawarma deal. Its meat tower consists of layer-upon-layer of carefully marinated real chicken pieces, which are generously shaved into a beautifully fluffy, lightly-charred naan, that is then stuffed with zingy shredded salad, great chilli sauce and a surprisingly light, well-judged garlic mayonnaise.

It isn't particularly cheap at £4.90 for the basic chicken donner, but my sampler – with added seekh kebab (£5.90) – weighs as much as a small child and could hold its own in any of the eastern Mediterranean kebab capitals. There's no grease to speak of, everything tastes pointedly fresh and that faintly sweet, spicy marinade on the chicken is fantastic. If the only time you're ever tempted to eat a kebab is after eight pints of strong lager, then come, sober, and marvel.
• Kebabs £4.10-£5.90, mains from £6.30; 121-125 Great Horton Road, 01274 723992, shimlasthetakeaway.co.uk

Treehouse Cafe

The only paid member of staff at this otherwise voluntary-run vegan/vegetarian cafe is a kitchen co-ordinator. That salary is a wise investment as, on this evidence, the Treehouse's food is considerably sharper than many comparable ethical enterprises. A sample sandwich is a veritable doorstep, the thick-cut slices of daisy fresh bread from Kolos, a local Polish bakery, enclosing a wad of good quality organic cheddar and a varied, bright-eyed mixed salad garnish. Washed down with a mug of strong tea (from 90p), it was just the ticket as the rain lashed against the windows. Staff are bright, chatty, eager-to-please and the space itself is a pleasant oasis of calm. The menu includes fresh soups, salads and homebaked cakes. Part of the Bradford Centre for Nonviolence, Treehouse was the UK's first Fairtrade cafe.
• Soup from £1.90, sandwiches £2-£3; 2 Ashgrove, 01274 732354, facebook.com/treehousecafe

The Sparrow

This being Yorkshire, Bradford has several fantastic real ale pubs. The New Beehive Inn (171 Westgate, 01274 721784) is certainly worth a pint. What the city has thus far lacked, however, is one of those new-fangled craft beer bars, like Manchester's Port Street Beer House or Brewdog's Scottish bars, where Bradford's younger beer enthusiasts can enjoy indie tunes, vintage soul and interesting art exhibitions, good snacky food and speciality coffees, whilst working their way through a comprehensive selection of real ales, fashionable craft keg beers and interesting Belgian and American bottles (pint from £2.40).

That is where Les Hall and Mark Husak's fledgling bar, the Sparrow, comes in. Food-wise, they're keeping it nice and simple: a plate of hand-raised pork pie, tasty Wensleydale and pickle; a couple of fat deli sandwiches each day, such as Krakowska ham, beetroot horseradish and gherkins on rye; cheese and meat platters. It's all good beer food, basically, sourced from trusted local suppliers. Crucially, a sample pint of Darkstar's Pale Ale was in sparkling condition. It positively bristled with dry, fruity hop flavours. Note: food currently only served from 12-2pm. This is soon to be extended.
• Food £2-£4.50; 32 North Parade, 01274 270772, facebook.com/thesparrowbradford

Towngate Fisheries

This spruce, modern black and white tiled chip shop, high on a hill above Bradford, is very much of the new wave. Its fish is sustainable, the key components (mushy peas, batter) are prepared fresh on-site, its chips are made from good quality Lincolnshire Maris Piper or Markies potatoes. That attention to detail has been rewarded with five-star awards from national bodies, Seafish and the National Federation of Fish Friers. Given that build-up, I was ever so slightly disappointed with my lunchtime haul (Monday-Friday lunch deal of chips, fish and mushy peas, £3.90). I presumed Towngate would be frying-to-order for optimal freshness – it wasn't, and the chips while fat and fluffy were fractionally underdone. They lacked that ideal shattering glass exterior.

That said, the rest of the meal was top notch. The skinless haddock in a beef dripping batter (it's the Yorkshire way) was superbly fresh and sweet and firm, the crisp almost greaseless batter delivering that magnificently moreish, savoury beefy tang at the edges. And mushy peas, spiked with a squirt of mint sauce, were fantastic. A world away from the musty muck you get in tins, these – steeped overnight, cooked fresh that morning – had a vibrant flavour and a luxurious silky mouthfeel. In the right hands, mushy peas are the comfort food of the gods. These were certainly worthy of the minor deities.
• Meals from £2.60, fish and chips from £4.10; 56 High Street, Idle, Bradford, 01274 612032, towngatefisheries.co.uk

Pickles Delicatessen

If you're heading north through Shipley, this deli-cafe in pretty Baildon is definitely worth a visit. Straight out of the pages of a Sunday supplement, it occupies two tastefully modernised floors of a handsome old stone building. The upstairs tea room (pictured) is relatively expensive, but the budget traveller will find plenty of affordable grub in the ground-floor shop and takeaway. Fully tuned in to the modern foodie ethos, Pickles prides itself on freshly prepared foods made from local, seasonal ingredients. There are good things to eat and drink everywhere you look, from Keighley-brewed Old Bear beers (£2.25) to huge glistening vegetable fritatta.

The menu takes in the usual soup, sandwich and salad suspects, as well as cakes and other bakery goods. At £1.75 the large, deep individual quiches are particularly good value. My sampler was generously packed with sweet, sweated-down onions, cheese and roughly shredded pieces of real ham. A small, delicate filo pastry pocket of pine nuts, feta and spinach (also £1.75) was interesting, but less filling and perhaps a little under seasoned. Pickles' customer service, incidentally, is exemplary.
• Takeaway, soup, sandwiches and snacks, from £1.40-£4.50; Towngate Rooms, 13 Northgate, Baildon, 01274 587204, picklesdelicatessen.co.uk

Massarella

The Victorian village of Saltaire, a Unesco world heritage site, is one of Bradford's busiest visitor attractions. The principle draw is Salts Mill, a hub of swanky shops and galleries, best known for its permanent David Hockney exhibition. I had intended to eat at the well-regarded Vicar's (79 Victoria Road, Saltaire, 01274 597818) which – doh! – is shut on Tuesdays and Sundays. Ellen Massarella's art gallery and cafe, however, made a fine substitute. A simple bowl of tomato soup, served with rather run-of-the-mill white baguette, had a vibrant, freshly-pulped flavour and a similarly homemade, remarkably moist slice of lemon polenta cake was very good. As the menu warns: "We serve fresh food, not fast food, this takes time. We thank you for your patience." The drinks menu ranges from homemade lemonade to bottled beers from Saltaire Brewery (£3.25). Although, on a sunny day, a pint of their refreshing Blonde (£3.10) is perhaps best enjoyed on the banks of the River Aire, just down the street, in the Boathouse pub (01274 585690, theboathouseinn.co.uk).
• Cakes £1.95-£2.95, sandwiches £3.75-£5.95; 14 Victoria Road, Saltaire, 01274 580129, massarella.org

Cheese and Chutney

A further five minutes' walk from Salts Mill, you will find Matthew Coxon's deli, where fine British artisan and local ingredients (breads from Otley's award-winning Bondgate bakery, cheeses such as Dunsyre Blue, Appleby's Cheshire, Holmbury's vintage cheddar, Patchwork patés, good hams, charcuterie and chutneys, etc) are used to assemble superior takeaway sandwiches. If that all sounds a bit pretentious, staff will also happily make you a crisp butty, albeit one made with Pipers' excellent handmade gourmet crisps. If you are looking to put together a picnic, Cheese and Chutney carries Yorkshire-made quiches (£1.50-a-slice), pork pies from Voakes' (£1.49), beers from Rodham's, a local micro-brewery, and cakes from Huddersfield's renowned Propermaid.
• Cakes/ snacks from 99p, sandwiches from £1.99; 59 Bingley Road, Saltaire, 01274 597008, cheeseandchutney.co.uk

• Tony travelled from Manchester to Bradford with Northern Rail (northernrail.org)