Lala's on the outskirts of Bradford has garnered a lot of hype and attention in recent years. The consensus is this is one of the best curry houses in Bradford. Many people have been recommending it to me. However, I was sceptical: the entrance was just far too lavish (you feel like a celebrity walking in) which implies a massive markup somewhere, and the dishes recommended were westernised meals such as butter chicken1. Nonetheless, it was getting far too many positive and serious reviews for me to ignore. I went.
One can broadly define the Pakistani food scene in Bradford as two sets of markets. One, exemplified by Akbars or International, is your typical large-scale restaurant operation, and Lala's certainly competes with them. The other, characterised by the Sweet Centre, takes on a more café-like format and specialises in Pakistani homecooking. Indeed, I was the only solo-diner in Lala's last night: everyone else was in a couple or family. On the other hand, me eating alone would not be out of place at the Sweet Centre.
The large-scale of the operation, the large menus catering for everyone, and the lavish entrance with chandelier were the only heuristics broken. As typical, I ordered the Magaz. It was cooked karahi-style; typical for most of Bradford (Sweet Centre uses the balti method). However, the chef was unique in his method. The brain was infused with the sauces and the ghee, and this blend I haven't encountered. Over time, it solidified into the scrambled egg texture that it should take. The taste improved as time passed, which is a core characteristic of brain cooked well.
I would say this is the second-best Magaz in Bradford I've encountered so far, and the only reason it's not the best is because Jinnah's produces a top-10 in the world level Magaz. To compare everywhere to Jinnah would be imposing unrealistically high standards, like comparing every fine-dining chef to Heston Blumenthal or Gordon Ramsay2.
Impressed, I decided to get the butter chicken, which is where the fame and reviews really stand out. This dish has the reputation as Lala's highlight. It was the best butter chicken I've ever had. Not sweet at all, with a gravy-like sauce that again stabilises over time.
Here, you clearly have a chef that cares about food. You notice that both dishes improve with time. This is deliberate, to accomodate the large families and couples socialising. This means that it's possible in the production process to actually cater to the very thing that was previously considered a negative, at least for Pakistani cooking (quality is strictly decreasing in time for most cuisines).
The food was pricey, yet the portion sizes were also larger, so one should normalise. Moreover, if we account for economies of scale in food consumption within a family, then one or two large dishes with breads serving a whole household could be surprisingly good value and invert this markup logic. I reckon, as a solo-diner, my presence cross-subsidised the families.
Moreover, I was wrong to discount large family-catering operations. The place saw plenty of Pakistani families, which could indeed support high quality Magaz on the menu. I was far from the only person ordering it. If I'm not the only person in a curry house ordering brain masala, then this is the heuristic I use to judge if it's good.
Just as I claimed that authenticity can be arbitraged (Piassa in Leeds ticks the superficial boxes yet does not serve its kitfo raw or even leb-leb), I discounted the possibility of a pooling equilibrium arising in décor, at least for large-scale operations. Takeout prices were substantially cheaper, yet the dine-in experience means this cannot be regarded as a simple arbitrage opportunity. Therefore the lavish entrance serves an economically important function to justify the business as a restaurant as opposed to a takeaway. This heuristic therefore needs to be revised to account for the existence of delivery apps.
For me, it's far more important to look at the demographics of the customer base, and what they order. Note this is correlated but distinct from the demographics of the area. Leeds has a larger South Indian population than Bradford, yet Tharavadu (mostly British customers) was awful. Bradford has hardly any Tamil presence, yet Kurumilagu is full of South Indians (a lot of Keralans) eating dosas. Looking at what is ordered is vital too: MyLahore gets plenty of Pakistani customers yet eating mostly burgers and chips.
Heterogeneity in the food preferences of the Bradfordian Pakistani community also confounds. Magaz is not universally accepted. Some swear by it, and some prefer butter chicken. Older, more devout generations tend to love brain curry. Younger, more Westernised, tend to like butter chicken. Therefore, a successful Pakistani restaurant in Bradford needs a menu and operation that caters to both tastes. The presence and popularity of “unauthentic” dishes cannot be held against a place at all.
My main complaint lies in the quality of the breads and drinks. The lassi was store-bought and pre-made, with a bland homogenised taste. The chapatis were also bland, and you were better off eating with cutlery than with chapatis. To the extent there has been a decline in quality as the restaurant scales and standardises in volume, it has been in the cross-subsidies rather than the main dishes. However, everywhere but Jinnah compromises on chapatis. Given the fact that customers tend to get annoyed at the wait required to produce a fresh lassi, only Kurumilagu does it. In this sense, Lala’s is no different from most others.
The main lesson I draw is that, if enough people recommend somewhere, you should trash whatever heuristics or guides you have in the bin and go. Other people's preferences encode valuable information too. I still stand by my model, as it predicts some excellent places to visit, yet it can miss some excellent establishments too.
Of course butter chicken has a developed history within the gastronomic scene of Delhi, and is ubiquitous across the subcontinent. Yet in the West this dish is too readily adapted towards dishes like takeaway pizzas, watered down, and sweetened. Ideally you should have a mild gravy stew.
In general I eat better quality food (with better portions!) than regulars of tasting menus at three-star Michellin's get. My tastes and experience is more diverse too. These experiences have turned me sharply against the guide, which I increasingly see as an excuse to rip people off, yet you get the metaphor here.