We were ushered into Ushas (sorry…), the only all vegetarian Indian restaurant in Glasgow, early on a Saturday evening. We’d booked a table for four (One vegetarian, one vegan (me) and two non-veggies.) Shown to a cute little booth in the window, we settled in, but soon found that it was a bit too little to accommodate our ample frames, so we were shown to a more suitable table in the middle of the restaurant. From here we could appreciate the decor more fully and stretch our legs.

There’s been amazing attention to detail, from the silent Bollywood movie playing on a loop, to the Hindi writing on the wall to greenery and lights to delight all around. This cosy yet stylish place has only been open for five months at the time of writing (Nov 2014) but is already making its mark.

Of the many items on the menu, only a handful were not suitable for vegans, and of those which weren’t, some had a vegan option available. Luxury! I didn’t realise I was so indecisive until I’d been faced with such choice. I had to have a bottle of Cobra while I thought about things…(They also do a very palatable non-alcoholic version for the designated driver.) Incidentally, if you have any celiac friends (as I do) they will be overjoyed with the options too – there’s loads for the wheat intolerant, which is brilliant. As well as a fully comprehensive menu, you can also choose a spice level, which is great for groups. We just went for medium with everything, which gave a nice kick to the meal but didn’t have you reaching for the iced water.

I started with the Aloo Tikki which are little spicy potato patties, but the battered potato and aubergine fritters

went down very well indeed. We chose to share most of our dishes around, but as is the case in Indian restaurants generally, we over-ordered big time. Still, at least we got a taste of almost everything! Dhosas are a favourite of mine, delicate rice crepes with assorted fillings, but a new discovery was Uttapam, a lentil pancake. I had mine with roast Indian vegetables and all of us loved it. It’s served with a wide array of chutneys and there were actual exclamations of ‘ooh, yum!’ so I think the Uttapam goes down as the favourite of the evening.

We had a selection of curries to follow with garlic mushroom pilau rice and Zanzibar pilau (coconut and raisin) with Aloo paratha which is a speciality Indian bread.

It makes a nice alternative to Naan, although the plain naan on the menu is vegan, which makes a refreshing change as in most Indian restaurants, I often ask and they say the naan is made with milk.

To be honest, after all that, we were absolutely stuffed, and so when the waitress came with the dessert menu we just laughed.

None of the desserts are marked as vegan on the menu, but I’m sure they’d come up with something if you asked. They suggested we take a doggie bag with the leftovers and we gratefully accepted. They were packaged up promptly and expertly. The staff here are friendly and attentive and we never felt rushed, even though it was a Saturday night. All in all it was a very enjoyable dining experience. And as a bonus, we had the surplus for tea the next night. Nice. Really good value for a fun night out.

Ushas is at 2 Byres Road, Glasgow – a city which has been voted the most vegan-friendly in the UK!

Feel free to add your own review for Ushas Glasgow on the restaurants page: Ushas Glasgow Reviews.