Sonar Gao - yet another good Indian takeaway/curry
Another week and another very good takeaway curry. This time Sonar Gao on Leith’s Great Junction Street was the recipient of The Edinburgh Blog’s trade. Sonar Gao is a Bangladeshi and North Indian Cuisine takeaway which, in addition to collecting your meal from their premises, offer free home delivery for orders over £8.
Sonar Gao’s pricing offers good value for the quality of food. We ordered mixed kebab (£3.50), chicken balti (£5.50), chicken Sonar Gao passanda (£5.60), two pilau rice (£1.95) and a plain nan bread (£1.80). The most annoying aspect of the order was, again, the lack of a complementary couple of poppadoms. Sonar Gao, like other Indian takeaways in Edinburgh, would encourage further repeat custom if they gave away a few free poppadoms.
Sonar Gao’s takeaway’s menu reads like a miniature bible of Indian cooking. When reading through the menu it does make me wonder why I don’t show a little more adventure than my usual bhuna or balti. If you are more adventurous than I Sonar Gao won’t disappoint.
Some special deals of note are:
- Meal deal for one: vegetable pakura, any chicken/lamb/vegetable curry, pilau rice or nan bread, chapati, plain poppadom and accompaniments. £6.95
- Any chicken or lamb curry with chips. £4.60
- Chef’s special: chicken kebab, mince lamb and egg with spices, garlic and capsicums. Served with pakura, pilau rice and nan bread. £11.95
In a change to the norm I picked up the takeaway order in person from Sonar Gao’s HQ on Great Junction Street. The takeaway is nice enough with a small seating area and counter. Bizzarely there was a washing machine wedged infront of the counter when we visited - a temporary storage place I hope! As said previously it was a fine meal. The mixed kebab was plentiful and served with side salad, although no salmon kebab like I’d enjoyed from Surichi Too.
The chicken balti was extremely good, perhaps the best balti I’ve had from any Indian takeaway in Edinburgh. The sauce was absolutely delicious and had the perfect balance between bite and taste. And the chicken passanda was great. This is the closest any korma-esque curry has ever come to converting me from the balti/bhuna allegiance. The incredibly creamy sauce was so ‘more-ish’ and delicious. Infact delicious enough to justify the necessary hours at the gym to work off this dishes calorie count . I’m happy to agree with Mr Nazrul Islam’s foreword on Sonar Gao’s takeaway menu which describes his meals as “mouth-watering dishes”.
Out of the recent takeaway curries I’ve had in Edinburgh of late I’d say Sonar Gao’s actual curries were probably the best. And at such competitive prices it’s well worth a try.
Sonar Gao is located at 191 Great Junction Street, Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 5LQ. Order your Indian takeaway on 2021 555 2424. Open 7 days a week, 5pm-11pm. 10% discount for students with ID (collection only).
Sonar Goa have put their prices up, the meal deal is now £7.95 and they still try to charge you 1.50 delivery for the 5p you are under! how stupid. still a great curry tho…
Sonar Gao is far and away the best curry I have ever had. Try the Green Bengal Chicken and Chicken Tikka Dal Massalam, unbelievable. The North Indian Garlic Chili Chicken is also wonderful, though order some raitha to cut the heat (especially with the CTDM). Sorry you didn’t get the free poppadoms, I’ve been ordering from them for years and always got them…
Sonar Gao is serving the best food in town. I had indian takeaway foods from many places in edinburgh, but i have never tasted anything like the curries served in sonar gao. Sonar Gao’s new menu has many exciting dishes, especially, the SPECIAL LAKNAVI, SONAR GAO’S MIX, SATHKORA GUSHT. Sonar gao’s new look menu also includes many exciting non-veg starters like lamb patties, hot puree, Imli-ka King prawn.After discovering sonar gao, i don’t think i will go anywhere else for my meal..sonar gao also gives complementary spicy onions, mango chutney and lime pickle with every meals i had so far and most of the time i also got papadoms free too!!…
I ordered the set meal. I have to say, i was not particularly impressed with their phone operator. He was very rude and rushed me through my order. I dismissed that hoping that the quality of the food would compensate.
The food arrived within 45 minutes which was good. I was however appalled by the food itself. The curry tasted like the onions in it were almost rotten. The Poppadom was soggy and i could tell that the oil they used had reached its refry limit. The curry didn’t taste right, it really had that old curry reheat taste. I couldn’t finish it which is very unusual for me as i am and indian food junky. About 2 hours after i’d forced myself to eat the out of date tasting food, i felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I decided that this was not normal and i should say something. I phoned them and the person who answered said in a loud voice “we have been open since 5pm today and we haven’t had a complaint”. He wasn’t apologetic about it nor was he even concerned. He was in fact, so rude! I told him that i thought he should know. And he just hung up! I was so disgusted and felt cheated. I cannot believe that this had happened and they’ve gotten away with this!
ABUSIVE TEXTS FROM SONAR GAO:
We have had a few very good meals. Had to phone them about the last meal. The menu stated medium strength. The received meal was incredibly hot and inedible. My wife phoned them to comment. Eventually after quite a while the very brusque woman at the other end said she would send a replacement. It arrived and was perfect. Just as my wife was tucking in she received two very frightening and abusive text messages from the woman my wife had spoken to at the Sonar Gao. My wife was completely shocked at the content, broke down in tears, obviously unable to continue with the meal.
The texts from the woman at the Sonar Gao were as follows:- “EAT SHIT”. The 2nd text that immediately followed said:- “Consider eating shit…Because lying for £8 quid, really really shit.” These were sent from 2021 925 6478. So much for the worthless personal comments from the owner Mr. Nazrul Islam, on his menus. His insincere menu statements are complete lies, and not worth the paper they are written on. I emailed him, in his eventual reply he stated none of his staff sent the reviling texts. A lie on his part, as all he had to do was check the senders phone number. I have sent him a further three emails, two letters and two texts and one phone call…all ignored by him. He will not reply to any of my communiqués whatsoever. He hung up on me when I phoned him on his personal mobile number:- 2021 963 2524.
So much for his menu statement wishing comments/friendly staff etc., etc., when all he does is ignore legitimate comments, allowing his staff to send abusive texts messages to people who actually make factual critiques. It is a awful shame he treats us, as one time loyal customers in such a disdainful manner. I wish to take my complaint further, but Mr. Nazrul Islam is not at all interested, and appears to condone his staffs discreditable behaviour.
If anyone can let me know how to escalate my complaint against the reviling behaviour received from the Sonar Gao staff, please leave a message. Sadly, such a one time very good takeaway, will never be used by us ever again. BE AWARE, NEVER COMPLAIN…..YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT THEY WILL DO TO YOUR NEXT TAKEAWAY!!!