Christmas is time for turkey in most places but not at V Deep for they’ve just launched a new menu and there’s none of that dry boring meat in sight, this is Indian food with a few twists but sadly there’s no sage & onion dhal or Brussels sprout pakora yet (maybe next year!?).
V Deep new menu – Mixed Pakora
But they do have plenty of regular pakora in various guises (Fish / Potato/ Chicken / Mushroom / Haggis ). I got to sample a few of them and the fish, salmon in fact, was my favorite but they’re all crisp and non-greasy nor soggy and come with a tomato and chilli dip. It’s £4.75 for 5 or £8.50 for 10 and you can pick one type or go for a mixture.
V Deep new menu – Hipster Vindaloo
The hipster vindaloo didn’t have a beard or flat cap so I’ve no idea how it got its name but I do know that it will set you back £7.50 and comprises slow-braised pork shoulder with masala vinegar & Roisin Tayberry beer from those chaps at William Brothers. As far as vindaloos go it was manageable, i.e. spicy but not kick you in the face and runaway spicy.
V Deep new menu – Haggis and Cheese Naan
The haggis naan is huge and slightly obscene. This beast will set you back £4.40 and the more I stared at it the more I thought I saw Jesus staring back at me a la Turin shroud…anyway if you love melted cheese and love haggis then I’m sure you’ll love this, this was a big meaty naan though tearing slices off was understandably quite messy!
V Deep new menu – Black Ball Ribs
My favorite item on the night was/were the ribs. Like the meat in the hipster vindaloo the pork here is also made with beer, on this occasion a marinade of Black Ball Stout also from Williams. Add in some chilli, tamarind and garnish with onion and coriander and you have some really flavoursome and sticky meat for £7.
V Deep new menu – Paneer Mutter
There are two paneer dishes on the menu and this curry dish was big on contents and low on sauce with large chunks of Indian cheese, plentiful peas and a good dose of cumin for £6.75. It’s good to see more paneer dishes out there, and incidentally for vegetarians just over half the menu is veggie-friendly and they also host the occasional vegan night (in fact the next one is tonight) and a number of the dishes are gluten-free too!
If none of the dishes above take your fancy then they sell plenty of other things at varying spice levels. One of the interesting menu features is that whatever the staff are eating that day is also available to customers for £7.50. I understand that a few items on this current menu started life as a staff curries which went down well with the regulars and thus became regulars themselves!
The beer selection is great too (they have 3 on cask, 5 on keg and a load of bottles too), I washed my food down with ales from two breweries I’d never sampled before, Industrial from Edin Brew on tap and a bottle of Blonde Ale from Bottle Cap in Aberdeen (who we sadly missed on a trip there earlier this year). Both were really rather good.
And not only was I able to try the awesome food and drink some excellent beer but I also got to take part in the weekly pub quiz, narrowly losing the deciding game of er, Ker-plunk. That’s the second time I’ve been a runner-up at V Deep. Bah! Toilets were also checked and were clean and tidy.
So, if you want something a bit different over the Christmas period in Embra then head to V Deep. They do actually have a proper xmas menu here. For general info on their website head here.
