Prashad

I had been eager to eat at this place for some time due to its reputation for great food. I went with my wife and young daughter and I am disappointed to say the service was poor to say the least.
Staff were very dismissive towards us, if we asked for anything it seemed like a huge chore to them, we had to ask for plates to eat from! We ordered mixed starter and a thali for mains and had food plonked down with no explanation of what we were getting. If we went at busy time would accept some short coming in service but was Sunday afternoon and quiet.
The food we had was great but due to poor service would not be going back again

We were staying not far from Prashad and stumbled on the restaurant looking for some vegetarian option. What a pleasant and delicious surprise. We stopped in and looked at the menu and the manager suggested that we book a table if we were interested, which we did. The restaurant was chocked full and I see why. I like Indian food but my experience with the regional cuisines was somewhat limited. This was our first experience with the Gujarati style of Indian food. The food is spicy but not overwhelmingly so. We chose the Chef’s Thali, which was an assortment of starters and mains selected by the chef. We asked if they could give us two different Thalis so we could try a greater variety of dishes. We ended up with a great array of dishes and tastes. The only downside is if we come again, I am not certain which one of the mains or starters I would order again because I wasn’t sure what I had gotten on the Thali. Otherwise, the meal was great. Excellent wine selection as well. Service was friendly and understated. Although we enjoyed our meal and were quite full from the thalis, I would recommend trying the homemade vegan ice cream and sorbets, both excellent fire extinguishers and really tasty.

I originally thought this was a second branch but I now believe it is the only site Prashad operate from.
We’d seen this place on Ramsay’s programme a while back but only had an opportunity to visit recently. I have to say the food was a revelation. I am not vegetarian but I love vegetarian food, and I have to say this is about as good as this sort of food gets. I’ve certainly not tasted any better.
Initially things moved slowly. Menus and drink orders took a little longer than expected but the place was busy so we were patient. The food isn’t quick but then a great deal of care and attention goes into the cooking here so patience is required. I watched as plates were sent from the kitchen and on each occasion careful instruction was given from the kitchen staff to the waiters about how food should be served. That’s a professional touch often absent in today’s bustling dining rooms.
A glance down the menu left me feeling slightly helpless. Everything sounded very tasty and I ad no idea what to choose. Eventually I realised the best option was a kind of ‘lucky dip’ which was listed on the menu as ‘Chef’s Thali’. This is a selection of starters and mains with Chapatti bread. Someone else in my party ordered the same. When the food arrived nothing on our 2 plates matched, so we really did a huge variety of things to try. I loved the idea of the chef choosing what I was going to eat, and the aubergine and chick pea curries that came were absolutely delicious, as was everything on my platter. Someone on our table shared a very impressive looking Massala Dosa which was a huge pancake filled with onion and potato curry. It too tasted spectacular, but then so did everything we had. I really couldn’t fault anything about what we ate. And the waiters couldn’t have been more helpful in terms of their explanations of what everything was and it was very much service with a smile.
The variety of flavours on show demonstrated the skills Prashad have very impressively. All the dishes tasted different and had individual character. The sighs and croons of satisfaction from our table could be heard from other tables too. This is major league vegetarian food and we are already talking about going back.
As we left Kaushy Patel herself was sitting having her meal and caught our eye to say thank you with a big smile and we left with full tums and plans for a return visit.
Outstanding.

I went here last week with a few friends. I have heard so many great things about Prashad and have been meaning to go for years! So would it live up to expectations…
In one word, YES! In 5 words, managed to smash my expectations!
I could not fault the experience what so ever!
In my party was 3 veggies and one meaty, all of whom enjoy a good indian. But this was worlds apart from anything I have had before.
The food was so fresh and tasty, with spice but also FLAVOUR!
They have local beers from Ilkley available which wins them extra points, currently the new Dinner Ale.
Service — amazing. Professional, efficient, friendly. These guys love where they work and it shows.
Prashad’s is everything I wanted from Hansa’s. Hansa’s is great, but Prashad’s is just another league of it’s own.
Prices are phenomenal! Amazing value for the highest quality food I have ever had. This really is my new favourite restaurant.
The restaurant itself it done out so well, attention to detail is impeccable, even the toilets are amazing. It’s not the easiest restaurant to get to from Kirkstall as none drivers, but it means we can save it for special occasions… though I cannot wait to return!

Now located in Drighlington in a glamorous new restaurant! We have been twice since New Year and have had amazing, seasonal spicy vegetarian food each time.
Gujarati food is completely different to all the previous Indian meals we have experienced. Lots of intense and complex flavours and a complete world away from the tikka/​korma experience. Everything tastes extremely fresh.
The welcome at Prashads has always been warm and they are clearly passionate about the food and service provided. The new restaurant has several dining areas on different levels all very modern in décor, pink, turquoise and paisley is a theme!
So glad they have moved closer to where I live and that with bigger premises its easier to book a table.

Is this place the same as the one everybody is going on about? Went there a few weeks ago– were stuck in some weird room across the road from the restaurant that just had the Gordon Ramsay ep on a loop. Then after fifteen minutes of pretty much waiting in this strange, shrine to itself, we were ushered to our cramped little table. It felt like we were eating in a lean-​to. People were knocking elbows with the tables next to them. Nice.
Food was mediocre. I’ve been to tons of better vegetarian restaurants than this, the chutney wasn’t fresh. We had ice in ours. Waiter walked off halfway through taking our order, we had to call him back and then when our food arrived, it wasn’t even the right food.
All I can think of is that there isn’t much competition for this sort of cuisine around here because bizarre premises and non-​existent service aside, even the food wasn’t all that good. It was alright, I’m not raving about it. I’m thinking I’ve had way better at a dozen places on Belgrave Road in Leicester for less than half the price.
It’s massively overpriced. I imagine post-​Gordon the menu got a generous mark up and it certainly isn’t being reinvested in the staff or the ambience, both of which lend themselves more to a café.
I wouldn’t be so harsh except they’re just so darn keen to get you to finish up and leave. More than once we had to say we weren’t finish, they were just so antsy to clear the plates and get our cash.
Had a quick look at reviews on tripadvisor and the attitude of the owner absolutely stinks. Basically it’s «if you don’t like it, don’t come back» rather than addressing some of the issues that were repeatedly called out for criticism.
Won’t be back.

Been to this place a couple of times. Probably one of our most favourite places serving what we call Authentic Indian cuisine.
Saw this place on Gordon Ramsay’s Britain’s Best restaurant and I must say I agree with what the critics said about them. The food is Fantastic and the staff is very helpful and polite. Had a friend who is an absolute carnivore and he admitted that it was the first time he walked into a pure vegetarian restaurant and wasn’t dissappointed at all. The food is absolutely brilliant. My recommendation would be their award winning pethis if not anything else

Stunning food, way too cheap.
Really nice genuine people.
I saw the restaurant on Ramsay’s Best Restaurant and of course wanted to go. Thankfully I stumbled across it this week.
Amazing flavours and textures. You genuinely forget the dishes are vegetarian. Meat would get in the way.
I’ll certainly return and bring the entire family next time.

Tell me we are going for some Gujarati food and I immediatley salivate like a Pavlov dog. Undoubtably my most favourite style of Indian cuisine — street snacks and savoury munchies.
And within a 30 minute drive I can be indulging in my foodie dreams at Prashad.
Since seeing this family run business reach the final of Gordon Ramsay’s Best Restaurant I have wanted to try it for myself and I strongly advise you to do the same. The food is FANTASTIC, and having practically grown up eating awesome homecooked Gujarati food this is high praise indeed.
Super thin crispy papads studded with cumin started us off well, with a pickle tray of home made mango chutney; sweet and sticky and subtley spicy, mint raita, intense lime pickle and a version of cachumbar; corriander heavy and with just the right amount of acidity of lime juice to cut through the tomato pulp sweetness.
This was followed by the tasting platter (ideal if like me you just want to try one of everything!) big enough for 2 greedy people. Amongst the delights here were pattra — a steamed leaf spiral parcel of pungent spicy paste garnished with black mustard seed oil, katchori — crispy outer coating similar to chapatti dough encasing either a spicy pea and garlic filling or a semi-​sweet and chilli-​hot paste of lentil, samosas filled with paneer and veg — paper thin, flaky outer skins that almost shatter under your bite, and my favourite indulgence, dhokra — a kind of savoury sponge cake that is best friends with the utterly amazing green chutney served with the plate.
I couldn’t resist ordering my ultimate must have dish too, dahi vada. Now considering that to this date my mum makes the best dammned dahi vada in the known universe (in my unbiased and very humble opinion) I am afraid to say that she has been upstaged by the velvety loveliness of Prashad’s dish. Ultra soft and light as a feather vadas float unashamedly in a deep bath of cooling yoghurt and the most divine date and tamarind sauce that I have ever tasted. Sorry mum but you need to find another dish to excel in.
Although I could have quite happily moved onto more snack options such as the bhel, idli sambar or uttapam, we opted for curry and rice as our main dish and shared the bhindi (okra) and black channa & potato curries with jeera rice and a couple of perfectly cooked and ghee coated rotis. The bhindi was spectacular, perfectly yielding with just the right amount of texture and a light coating of sauce and the black channa gave an extra depth to the otherwise simple but unbelievably tasty potato curry. The rice was the only disappointment, I just couldn’t taste the jeera so next time I’ll stick to the plain boiled rice instead.
I would have loved to have had more room in my stomach to have tried the kadhi but that will have to wait until next time along with the dosas which will warrant a third visit at least, but I simply had to leave enough space to try yet another favourite treat of mine, shrikand. Again this excelled. Sweet and rich spiced yoghurt bejewelled with pomegranate seeds and festooned with thinly sliced pistachio and almond flakes and all washed down with a huge mug of masala chai. Perfection.
In Sanskrit, Prashad is a variation of Prasad meaning a gracious gift and it lives up to its name, the service is excellent and all the staff are so friendly, helpful and knowledgable too.
Oh, and did I mention it was a vegetarian restaurant? Trust me you won’t miss the meat!

Recently in the UK, enjoyed lunch at Prashad, as recommended by Ramsey in the light of his award. Dahi Puri was delicately presented but tasted exactly the same as the better value Indian Sweets of Redondo Beach, version. Masala tea was Yorkshire tea with some aromatic additions unlike the more authentic and less expensive tea of the local favorite. The service is excellent, the interior is more upscale but the food is the same as a value for money quality greasy spoon café version, namely, Indian Sweets.

I’ve been wanting to visit this place ever since it became a finalist in Gordon Ramsey’s Best Restaurant programme and even though I booked about a month in advance they only had a table left at 9:15pm for the date that I specified!
On arrival it was quite apparant why it was so difficult to get a booking; the whole place is really small and on this night it was fairly loud as there was a party of around 12 diners as well as another 4 or 5 separate tables that only seated 2 people.
Before ordering we were offered the customary poppadoms and pickle tray. We noticed from the menu that the poppadoms were gluten free and indeed they tasted quite healthy but to be honest I prefer the full fat unhealthy versions you usually get! For starters, the two of us shared the ‘tasting platter’ and it was both delicious and interesting. It contained all kinds of weird and wonderful delights, all of which I have forgotten even though the waiter took his time to explain and describe each one but there was just too much on the plate to remember what the waiter said about each one!
For the main meal we shared two dishes, Chole (chick peas) and mushrooms with spinach accompanied by garlic naan and veg rice. It was all beautifully presented and technically perfect and it is clear that the quality of the food is up there with the very best Indian restaurants but it is also rather difficult to compare Prashad’s with Akbar’s (my favourite!) as they are so different! For a start, Prashad’s is vegetarian, and for those of you who have read my previous reviews then you will know that I am a fully fledged carnivore!
As nice as everything was I just didn’t think it was worth the full five stars and this is not their fault but perhaps mine. I just felt that a bit of meat here or there would have enhanced the whole culinary experience! Or perhaps it was because I had such high expectations of this place after all the positive reviews that I had read? Whatever the reason, I did enjoy my food, there were lots of flavours in the platter that I had never experienced before and I will certainly visit again. After all it’s only a 15 min drive from me!

I’ve been to this place twice now, my second was a lunch-​visit, and equally as wonderful. But here is what I experienced on my first visit:
As a group of four (only one Veggie), we tried to book a table for early evening on a Tuesday night in January, but instead could only get a table at 9pm. Not to worry — one of us had been before, and I think we all knew it would be worth the wait.
We were received warmly as we entered the restaurant, and took our seats.
Being a vegetarian, I’m used to having only a few options to choose from when I go to a restaurant. This means that when I’m lucky enough to go to a vegetarian establishment, I’m overwhelmed by choice, and often ask the waiter/​waitress to choose my order for me.
This he did, and extremely well.
We all shared the ‘sharing platter’ (meant for 2, but we just wanted a tiny taster of everything) and were brought a complimentary (and highly delicious) dish too. The main courses were all cooked beautifully (and I got to try every one!) and were very filling.
When it came to desserts, we meant to decline, but we were interested to look at the menu. On it was a dish that came in a ‘Matka’, that you could then take home. Intrigued by this, we ordered one, and along with that beautifully delicate dessert in the complimentary pot, came a couple of yogurt-​dishes for us to try. Not only that, but when I said I couldn’t believe they gave these lovely pots away, the waiter checked in the kitchen and found me an extra one to take home too!
The owner (who I’d seen on Gordon Ramsey’s ‘Best Restaurant’) then came over to us, to see how our visit had been. We ended up chatting for well over 15 minutes. Little did I realise that we were now the only table left in the restaurant — not once did it feel like they were clearing up around us, or that it was time to go.
It’s personal touches like this that make a good restaurant a fantastic one.
Add that to the fact that it’s incredibly good value for money — our whole meal came to less than £60 in total, and as an alcohol-​free restaurant, nothing disrupts the taste of the expertly prepared food — and there’s no fuzzy head the next day!
I would definitely recommend a visit here, but just make sure you book ahead — even at lunch time, and don’t have too big a breakfast!

Excellent fresh food, friendly service. Space cramped. Has a monopoly on Indian Vegetarian food in Yorkshire besides Hansas in Leeds. The prices have gone up since they appeared on Moron Ramsay’s Best Restaurants, and now a dish of chick peas is £7.95 — the portion was pretty small — similar Paneer Masala dish at £8.95. This is IMHO too much for food that is served in such cramped surroundings, although very tasty and situated in the bowels of Bradford.
Childrens menu non existant (why not a childrens dosa for £2.50?)
In London there is a great vegetarian restaurant very similar food and ethics called Chennai Dosa they are famous with the Hindu community I think they have 8 places in London — Paneer Masala there is £3.25 and in London for same size portion. Having eaten in London at a number of similar vegetarian Indian places, I did feel a little ripped off.
Definitely worth a visit make up your own mind, but if they increase their prices I’m going to have to go out another night of the week compromising my dignity dressed as a woman to earn enough money to eat here.
It will soon be cheaper to get the train to London and eat in Ealing Road or East Ham!
Note to owners: please don’t milk Ramsay connection — your food is good enough to stand up for itself! Gordon Ramsay is a public menace and should be excluded from society for crimes against excessive botox use and alleged extra-​marital philandering. Amen.

Just watched the Ramsey’s Best Restaurants video clip on Prashad’s webpage and this reminded me why I wanted to try a vegetarian restaurant for a night out instead of an omnivorian restaurant where I have very little choice. Went there on Sunday12 Dec 2010 (after quite a tussle getting a booking I might add!) and after being told our guests were waiting for us in the lounge at the opposite side of the road (what a brilliant idea) we were seated within five minutes. I’d told a work colleague that every time I’d tried okra it tasted bitter and she said it was obviously being cooked wrongly. Nothing ventured — nothing gained (I’ll come back to that in a mo). I started with the Pethis — spiced shredded coconut with sultanas deep fried in a fluffy potato casing WHAT A CHOICE! This had a hot sauce accompaniment plus shredded vegetables. I followed this with Bhinda okra spliced & infused with Kaushy’s amazing combination of spices & seasoning & little pip things to make a dry curry WHAT A CHOICE!!. I made sure I made room for a pudding (not normally what I’d do but I was soooo impressed with the two first courses I thought it bad manners not to give it a go). So I had Carrot cake & Indian ice-​cream WHAT A CHOICE! A round ‘cake’ of shredded carrot with a syrupy texture (not at all what I was expecting) and the dollop of ice-​cream was just perfect.
My hubby said he was not having a starter ‘cos he wanted to be hungry for his main course. My friend said quietly We could do with a spare plate for Keith so that he can try ours 15 seconds later, the waiter was at his side with a small plate Just in case you want to try some of theirs and I swear my friend had almost whispered it so he couldn’t have heard her.
All I remember about my meat eating companions’ meals was sort of Yum, gorgeous, so glad we came here, let’s book again, must tell others etc. Very well done Prashad I think Gordon should have had joint winners!!!