Lovers' tiffin

An old Glasgow favourite is back in business with a variety of spicy treats in bite-sized portions

BALBIR Singh Sumal is an endlessly fascinating man. He originally started up Glasgow's Ashoka chain and, after becoming burned out, took a step back from the fray and threatened to fade into retirement. That was more than a decade ago, but with time on his hands and a big family, he was never likely to be away for too long.

The first evidence of his return came in the unlikely surroundings of a mock Tudor mansion by the side of the A77, in Symington, Ayrshire. Balbir made a name for himself locally by providing a menu-free environment in which you turned up and were fed fantastically healthy food of his choosing, with the only variation between diners being the degree to which you made use of the bowl of fresh chopped chillis that accompanied each dish.

The building is now home to the Balbir family, and the restaurant itself has been transported across the road to a little emporium of culinary delights that once played host to a Little Chef. Nor is this the only change for one of Scotland's most interesting restaurateurs. As well as the Symington operation, he has also invaded his old stamping ground in Glasgow, first with a huge restaurant in the West End, which is run by his son Neki, and also through the more intimate Saffron Lounge, in the Southside.

Business is obviously good, and despite the economic downturn he has recently opened a fourth restaurant, this time on the doorstep of the original Ashoka. It's on Sauchiehall Street, and glories in the title Tiffin Rooms.

It's an interesting choice of name. For people from the sub-continent and those who know their Indian cuisine, it brings to mind the Mavalli Tiffin Room in Bangalore. For the rest of us, it is a quaint hangover from the days of the Raj, the term for a light meal around tea-time (it comes from an old piece of English slang – tiffing: taking a little drink or sip). For people like Balbir, who comes from the Punjab rather than the southern Indian heartland of tiffin, it mostly applies to lunch and has an everyday expression in the work of the tiffin wallahs, the poorly paid delivery men who serve thousands of office workers their little tin containers of curry, dosas and dal every day.

The Tiffin Rooms menu is split into two, with one half carrying the usual curry-house staples and the other hard-core tiffin – small, quickly prepared dishes that are perfect for lunch, a sort of Indian tapas.

We decided that it was only fair to judge the place on its chosen ground, so we ordered almost exclusively from the tiffin side of the menu. First, though, we started with the bhelpuri, a mixture of gram flour straws, fresh herbs (especially coriander) and chutneys, which is served with popadums. Balbir looked horrified when I described this as a wet-look Bombay mix, but I was halfway right; this is a Gujurati dish that has become synonymous with Mumbai. However you choose to describe it, this was one of the best versions I've tasted: a fresh, clean palate-teaser that was the perfect start to our meal.

From there the dishes came thick and fast. Balbir's tendency to use Scottish raw ingredients was in full effect, most notably in his use of mussels cooked in an eye-wateringly spicy and garlicky sauce that Bea – a vindaloo girl in comparison to her butter-chicken husband – wolfed down. Both of us agreed that the naan-style bread accompanying this dish was as good as any we had tasted.

I was more at home with the salmon bengali – big chunks of fish cooked in a rich sauce that was ripe with mustard seeds and rippled with deep, rich flavours. This came with egg bhurji, a sort of Indian scrambled eggs that is served with chilli, coriander and garlic. It's the sort of dish Balbir's wife, a vegetarian, produces immaculately, and at its best is a gloriously runny concoction. But this one had obviously been left standing too long and was slightly overdone.

Next up on the conveyor belt was minced lamb patties – beautifully simple discs of ground meat served with raita and a tamarind chutney. If that was good, the dosa – a light, crispy rolled pancake stuffed with spicy chicken and served with chutney and yoghurt – was even better. If any two dishes defined the word tiffin, it would be these.

Just to sample the more conventional side of the menu, we rounded off with a small dish of butter chicken and pilau rice. As ever, Balbir's insistence on cooking without ghee (he uses rape-seed oil instead) and artificial colourings ensured this dish had a nice light feel to it. This meant that, instead of waddling back to our car, we were able to march away, two satisfied customers.

VITAL STATISTICS

Tiffin Rooms

573 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow (0141 221 3696, www.balbirsrestaurants.co.uk)

Out of pocket Tiffin £3.45-£5.25

Curries £4.95-£6.95 Set menu £13.95

Rating 8/10