Koh-i-Noor, North Street, Glasgow

We got lured all the way up to some pokey little pub in the Charing Cross area for someones leaving do on Friday night. However, finding that there were no seats available, we ended up sitting at the bar and having a few drinks or three before saying goodbye and heading off for some food.

The Koh-i-Noor is one of Glasgow's oldest Indian restaurants, having opened back in 1964 in Gibson Street. Nowadays it's a stone's throw from the Mitchell Library and Charing Cross and, as we hadn't been in this one, we thought we'd give it a shot.

Inside is pretty big and there's lots of painted screens, murals, coloured glass and lacquered chairs as well as a central fountain, around which is arrayed the evening's buffet selection. Buffets are great so we opted for that right away. There were loads of starters - about four kinds of pakoras, chicken chaat, chana, aloo, onion rings, popadoms, etc. and you could easily just stuff yourself with that lot alone.

There was also a decent range of main courses, with a good few vegetarian ones too, ranging from mild kormas to fiery curries. Having stuffed myself with lots of starters as indicated earlier, I had some kashmiri lamb and chicken tikka masala with a side of boiled rice and nan bread and then went back and had some lamb korma. The meats were tender and well cooked but the tikka masala sauce was a bit bland for me - maybe that's a side effect of fast food buffet cuisine.

The sweets were good - chocolate cake, strawberry sponge, ice creams, fruit salad and gulab jamin so a little wedge of cake, some ice cream and a couple of gulab jamin suitably drizzled with syrup and cream saw me well full.

The staff were friendly and attentive and, aside from the somewhat bland masala sauce, the food was pretty good on the whole. The only downside to the evening was the arrival of a party of about 40 or 50, some of whom were pretty loud and merry. Thank goodness we got in before them though as the buffet just wouldn't have been an option - it was like a cloud of locusts descending and the waiters could hardly manage to keep the dishes filled before they were empty and the horde were howling for more. There's something to be said for small restaurants!

Cuisine: Indian
My Rating: 7/10