#LeicesterLockdown continues: Mirch Masala takeaway

I wrote about Mirch Masala earlier this year because of their amazing re-invigoration after a devastating fire. I’m sure they can hardly believe that now 2020 has thrown not just a global pandemic at them, but also the additional pains of Leicester’s specific lockdown. Yes, while you are all out there enjoying a cool pint in a beer garden, here we are on day 22 of the additional lockdown measures. My daughter is 11 weeks old and still hasn’t met anyone but her parents. And we’re all fed up – which brings me to ordering delivery from Mirch Masala!

Pizza

The perfect pick me up, the menu is super broad – there really is something for everyone. They are based around a world street food concept which gives loads of choice for takeout. One thing I didn’t know they did before lockdown is pizza – and as they are a vegetarian restaurant (practically vegan – only the paneer dishes I saw were not) there are some really interesting toppings that you won’t see very often. We tried the paneer pizza on that basis and I’ll be honest, I was surprised how much I liked it! With peppers and sweetcorn too and a light tikka flavouring this was punchy and delicious. The base wasn’t too thick, and the topping went *right* to the edge, so you won’t be leaving your crusts (ergo you will get curly hair).

Enchilada

I don’t know about you, but when I get takeout I want it to do one of two (or both) jobs – to give me delicious guilty junk food fixes, or to be something that I cannot, or cannot be bothered to make at home. The vegetarian enchilada with chips ticked both those boxes for me. There are just too many elements to an enchilada for me to bother making it at home, and Mexican takeout always feels a bit naughty. In reality I would guess this vegetarian bean chilli was actually not quite so bad for me as I expected, but I really liked the spicing and the mix of textures. A squirt of sour cream on the side and you are ready to go. To keep the Mexican theme going we started with mozzerella sticks which were probably the least interesting dish, but you can’t really turn your nose up at fried cheese, can you?

Saag Paneer

We also got saag paneer with rice, which was another great dish to pick at. After all, they do Indian so well how can you resist. I asked for our order to be mild, because pregnancy has ruined my spice tolerance, but it was still really hot for me! I guess my tolerance is officially ruined! But despite that I really liked how you could taste all of the different elements in the dish, the balance was great and the paneer still had a deep creaminess that really came through.

A brilliant place to grab lots of picky bits to share (or eat all to yourself) – next time I want to hit up the Indian tapas menu with the range of puri and bhel, and maybe the South Indian menu, because I love me a dosa!! And should you be in any doubts about their quality Mirch will be celebrating their 25th anniversary next year. An incredible achievement for any restaurant, not least one that has been through what these resilient folks have in the last little while.

Which small businesses are you supporting through lockdown?