Sowerby Bridge, Indian Restaurant Guide

“Superb, homemade Indian food” is the hallmark of this vast, 500-cover curry house, founded by Mumtaz Khan as a tiny Kashmiri shop in 1979 and now a Yorkshire institution with a branch in Leeds and national brands of ready meals and halal babyfood! – “there are a number of good Indian restaurants in Bradford but this is different”, and “the decor makes it suitable to entertain guests”. Top Menu Tip – look out for the ‘Mumtaz Differently’ dishes, playful takes on pasta, lasagne and doner kebabs.

“If you want to know how the best Pakistani curries taste, come to Akbar’s” – a “fun and buzzy” spot that, according to one local reporter, is “the curry house I always tip to visitors” (“the authentic section of the menu is full of the most incredible flavours”). Charismatic founder Shabir Hussain (known to friends and admirers as ‘Bash’, ‘the King of Curry’) sadly died in 2024; his funeral attracted 5,000 mourners. He started out with a 28-seat canteen, which he expanded over three decades into a group of 10 venues from Birmingham to Glasgow.

2023 Review: Mohammed Sabir was still working as a bus driver in Shipley when he launched his Kashmiri curry business as a mobile takeaway from his Commer van, the ‘Spice Box’ in 1976. The next year he opened his first bricks-and-mortar restaurant Aagrah, which still wins consistently solid marks for its food and has nine branches across Yorkshire.