CROSSING THE RUBICON

A CURRY AND BEER EXTRAVAGANZA!

It seems I’m a little late to the party when it comes to Crossing the Rubicon! Having seen endless posts about the place I decided it was somewhere I had to go! I mean other than food, beer is my second love and this place does both by the bucket load.

After some Instagram recon and several, yes several, viewings of the food and drink menu my mind was made up. What better way to start a bank holiday weekend after all than with beer and curry!

Some people may remember this place as The Squid & Whale many incarnations ago, if you don’t remember that place and you’re wanting to try Crossing the Rubicon then you’ll find it on Great Western Road serving up delicious Indian tapas and craft beer. You won’t be disappointed!

Now when I arrived at Crossing the Rubicon I was soaked through from the ‘great Scottish summer’ but my mood was not dampened and when I heard some indie classics playing as I walked in I knew I was in for a good night. Now that might have in part also been down to the smell of food from the kitchen and the selection of beers I could see as soon as i walked in.

The staff were friendly and very helpful. After getting us seated and explaining the menu they were quick to take a drinks order which is exactly what I was looking for on a Friday night. I’ll get to the food in a second but the beer selection in this place was something to behold. As an avid craft beer drinker it’s very rare that I get to indulge both my love of food and weird and strange beers in the same place.

Over the course of the evening I certainly indulged my love of sour and fruit beers. First up was a couple of sour beers; the Battlesour Galactica from Drygate and the Siren Pompelmocello grapefruit IPA. Both of these beers were great but the stars of the show were the Timmerman’s Framboise which was a raspberry fruit beer and the Bacchus Kreikenbier, a cherry fruit beer served in half champagne bottles. The beers were a little more expensive than your usual pint but for me it was well worth it as the fruit flavours went excellently with the food and certainly enhanced the experience.

Now lets get to the food, I could yammer on about the beers all night but this is Chris Eats not Chris Drinks and you’re here for the food!

We started off with a couple of classics, poppadoms with spiced onions and pakora. The poppadoms were crisp and fresh and the spiced onions had a nice little kick to them. It’s a simple dish but it was done well and it’s a classic for a reason. For the pakora there was a great selection including onion, fish, black pudding, veg haggis and crispy chicken. We went for the classic crispy chicken and the more unusual black pudding pakora.

The crispy chicken pakora was great, again it’s a classic for a reason. The black pudding pakora on the other hand was excellent. According to the menu it was mixed with coriander, cumin and green chilli and though I won’t claim to be able to taste all the ingredients it was certainly delicious. To top it off the pakora sauce was also great and finished off the pakoras perfectly.

Next up were the mains and the sides and I’ll start with the sides. Now I’m not a massive fan of rice so we went with the twice cooked chips and raita. For the naan bread there was only ever going to be one winner once I saw haggis and cheese was an option. Looking back I’d maybe have ordered a portion of rice or an extra portion of chips but having said that I was still thoroughly stuffed after the meal.

The chips were great, there’s not much else to say about them other than I thoroughly enjoyed them and could have eaten more. The raita was nice and refreshing and I’m reliably informed that the crunch in it that I enjoyed so much was pomegranate seeds which was something a little different. The haggis and cheese naan was next level though, I love haggis at the best of times but would never have dreamed of having it on naan bread. And well cheese makes everything better doesn’t it?

As with the theme of the night, I went for a classic curry and one with a twist. We ordered the butter chicken and the venison madras. I was also extremely tempted by the lamb achari saag and pork vindaloo so I guess that just means I’ll need to come back to work through the menu. When it comes to curry I love spice but butter chicken for some reason is the exception to this rule. The butter chicken here was no different, it was full of flavour and plenty of chicken too considering it was a smaller tapas style portion.

Now for my spice fix the venison madras delivered exactly what I needed. It was spicy but not too spicy and the venison went great with the madras sauce. This was the first time I’d had venison in a curry and it did not disappoint, in fact it made me wonder how the ox cheek bhuna would work. Another reason to go back as if I needed one. The curries also went great with the naan, I was worried there might be too much going on with the mixture of meats, cheese and bread but I needn’t have bothered.

Last but by no means least on this beer and food extravaganza was the vanilla creme brulee and what a way to finish. Now the menu promised creme brulee with ginger nut biscuit and the eagle eyed of you may have noticed there’s no ginger nut biscuit in the picture above. This could have derailed everything but it did just the opposite, instead it was accompanied with some sort of delicious cookie crumble and chocolate straws. I am still curious as to what happened to that ginger nut biscuit but at the end of the day I enjoyed the dessert and my first creme brulee certainly won’t be my last!

I’ll definitely be going back to Crossing the Rubicon, apart from the great food and ridiculous beer selection it was also very laid back and chilled out. I especially liked the atmosphere of the place with the cool wall art and indie music playing in the background.

Price-wise it was also very reasonable, the meal in this post including beers came in at just over £60 with £40 of that for the food and as I mentioned the beers were a bit more expensive than your average. But you get what you pay for and in this case that was a delicious meal complimented by some excellent beers in a great venue.

If you haven’t been yet then I highly recommend Crossing the Rubicon the next time you’re thinking of curry or hell just dinner in general!

CROSSING THE RUBICON REVIEW

Food: 4/5

Atmosphere: 5/5

Value for Money: 4/5

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