I didn’t expect to find amazing curry next to a dog groomers

I’ve been in Liverpool nearly 25 years, and in that time I’ve eaten a lot of curries.

From the golden days of Gulshan, Passage to India and Yukti to ever-reliable modern-day favourites like Holdi in Woolton, Aigburth’s Light of Bengal – which I raved about here – or Akshaya in Kensington, I’d like to think I’ve got my finger on the pulse when it comes to Indian food in the city.

Well, evidently not – as one of the best-reviewed takeaways was a completely new one on me. It’s racked up hundreds of five-star ratings to reach the dizzying heights of a 4.9 average on Google, and I’d never heard of it. Worse still, it’s not far from my house and I must have driven past it countless times.

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To be fair to me, the Indian Kitchen Liverpool is easy enough for anyone to miss. Tucked away on a little parade of shops on Garston Old Road, it’s in between the Country Kitchen sandwich shop and Mucky Mutz dog groomers.

The tiny unit’s frontage doesn’t give much away, but it’s on all the major delivery apps and the online menu was enough to get me intrigued.

Whereas I’m always a sucker for a chef’s “recommended” or “special” dish (hard to know which one the chef really rates when they have both on the menu), there’s no such messing about here. Most of the curries on offer are what you might describe as traditional Indian (or at least British Indian) classics.

There’s a bhuna, a balti, a dansak, a vindaloo. Most of the familiar favourites are there, with chicken or lamb options on offer. There’s also a comprehensive vegetarian menu, which I noticed many online reviewers were particularly impressed by.

I went for a chicken rogan josh – keeping it about as simple as it gets. My wife opted for saag lamb, a dish densely-packed with spinach and garlic. We shared mushroom rice and garlic naan as well as poppadoms and chutneys. The Indian Kitchen, pleasingly, kept to the time-honoured tradition of adding an extra poppadom to the bag.

There really was very little to fault with either main dish. Both were restaurant-quality and came in good-sized portions. The naan was a thinner variety than many places offer – closer to a paratha in depth and crispy rather than doughy, but tasted great.

The mushroom rice was rice with mushrooms in – and that’s what we asked for, so fair enough.

Does the Indian Kitchen Liverpool live up to its sky-high Google rating? It’s fair to say it does. If you’re after simple, traditional curries cooked with care, then look no further. It won’t be long before I’m trying a few more of the classics on offer.

Indian Kitchen Liverpool

170 Garston Old Road, L19 9AQ

Open Tuesday to Sunday, 4.30pm-10.15pm

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