Chowrasta, Gosforth – Indian Street Food Served with a Twist

Back in India, the word chowrasta translates as roundabout and it’s usually where the locals all meet for delicious samplings of Indian street food.  But in Newcastle’s Gosforth suburb, Chowrasta is a friendly little restaurant near a busy set of traffic lights where North East locals meet for ales and cocktails followed by a restaurant of their choosing – and while you might be spoiled for choice, we’re about to tell you why this upstairs eaterie is Gosforth High Street’s best new offering.

This authentic Indian restaurant whose owners are friends and foodies, have spent years sampling the street food in their native countries. Now (and luckily for us), they’re bringing warm and friendly hospitality to Newcastle, along with Indian food that comes with a twist.

With the growing trend for more authentic Indian food now firmly established,  restaurants serving sweet tikka masala sauces designed for the 1980s British palate have been fully and thankfully pushed aside. Yes, of course Chowrasta has a menu with the UK crowd pleasers on it, but you’d be doing yourself a disservice to come to this gorgeous little place and order ‘the usual’.

Chowrasta’s menu mixes things up a bit. Along with the regular Indian starters you’d usually find, there’s a fancy fusion of forward-thinking new favourites. Think keema nachos where Indian meets Mexicana – crunchy tortilla chips topped with savoury spiced lamb mince, an addictive sweetness, and a velvety Indian-fused cheese sauce.

With several vegetarian options on the menu, the pineapple and paneer shashlik was perfect for a lighter bite, with charred creamy cubes of paneer and alternate chunks of caramelized pineapple which had been slow-cooked in the clay oven.

Fish koliwada was a definite standout and true to its coastal origins, this Maharashtra inspired dish featured super soft and succulent batter-fried fish marinated in a bold blend of chilli and garlic.

Puri chat are available in other Indian restaurants, but we loved this particular recipe of delicate crispy shells filled with a vibrant mix of chickpeas, potatoes and sweet tangy chutneys with a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds. While the yoghurt and chutneys can sometimes drown the puri chat, this was just the perfect combination of flavour and texture, and not too sweet.

We were so impressed by the range of starters, we welcomed the main menu – which following suit, was full of new and interesting dishes. Not for the faint hearted, the kadhai lamb naga is a dish we’d not tried before, featuring tender chunks of lamb (which you could tell had been slow cooked for hours), along with bell peppers and the fierce aromatic heat of the legendary Naga chilli. While it was hot, it definitely wasn’t unmanageable and the layered combination of spices was really delicious.

Goan fish curry transported us back to the coast for the second time that evening, balancing the richness of coconut milk with the sharp, acidic tang of tamarind mixed with Goan spices. We loved this earthy, fresh curry.

Out of habit, we felt we just had to try the butter chicken to see what Chowrasta’s version was like. This silky crowd-pleaser is always a good measure of the chef’s ability we find, and we loved the tender chicken tikka and the rich, tomato-based gravy. You could see the melted butter on top of the heavier sauce waiting to be stirred in when the dish arrived.

Accompaniments were fresh and light – our pilau rice tasted great on its own (no heaviness or stickiness), while you could tell the garlic naan bread was straight out of the tandoor and onto our table – soft and puffy with slight char and crisp and a tonne of garlic – just how we like it.

We were far too full for dessert after our extremely satisfying curry banquet and downing a decent and well priced bottle of Malbec, but there was a good selection to choose from and a fully stocked bar for any night caps.