Hard cover menus are laid reverently on the table, waiters in white tunics with a gold monogrammed A unfold napkins across our knees and from out of left field a waiter arrives with unordered poppadoms and a pickle tray.

That'll cost us, I think and you know what? It doesn't.

Sheffield is Aagrah's 11th restaurant and only the second in South Yorkshire in 30 years, after Doncaster where we had a poor meal a decade ago. We must have been unlucky.

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The entire first page of the menu is devoted to the curry empire's food and business awards, right down to boss Mohammed Sabir's MBE. They've probably got an award for the most awards.

The restaurant is down a few steps in a basement below Platillos in what old boys and girls remember was the dining room for the Central Tech and Grammar Schools.

Take time out to inspect the display of wet fish on ice because they do a good line in marinated and grilled fish, from sea bass to halibut and cod to marlin.

The dining room has a large chequerboard floor with massive brown colums rising here and there like giant chess pieces. The room seats 200.

We look at the menu and blanch. It is as long and complex as a tax return and there is the temptation to just stick in a pin and hope for the best although the choice is narrowed down marginally by 36 hours required to order the whole stuffed lamb at £210.

Looking more closely we see some items are starred.

These were dishes eaten by Bollywood stars when the International Indian Film Academy came to Yorkshire - and there are pictures on the walls showing Shilpa Shetty at Aagrah's Leeds restaurant.

We've cracked it. We'll have what Shilpa had.

The freebie pops and pickles are fine and we begin with a special, chicken chaat (£2.80) chalked on a school blackboard. This is a popular street food: imagine strips of spicy chicken with a crunchy coating.
Our other starter is prawn paratha (contains nuts and/or gluten, says the helpful menu) which is a fair stash of garlicky and gingery prawns wrapped up in the flaky bread for £3.75.

Both dishes get our approval. Waiters zoom by constantly. Catch their eye and they'll beam back a big smile and home in.

An arm sneaks around a pillar and removes the fish menu from the table but leaves a heap of other literature: the wine list, cocktail list and comment card.

My wife's sea bass (£9.95) has been marinated in, among other things, nutmeg, mace, chilli and lime, and comes grilled with Bombay potatoes, pilau rice and a big salad, all on the same plate.

The fish, with its crisp skin, is pretty good although I can't help thinking that all those spices overwhelm the subtleties of the fish. My wife, who is eating it, is untroubled by this.

I have Hyderabadi lamb (£7.70) which is not only an award-winning house speciality but also a Bollywood dish - as might have been eaten by Shilpa if she wasn't on a diet. A double whammy!

I can see why it wins awards, plenty of tender meat in a rich cream and yoghurt sauce, flavoured with cardamon and cloves. Shilpa would have loved this. Then I realise it is a bit girlie.

And now a whole paragraph for the Aagrah pilau rice which is so good you could eat it by itself. Every grain is separate, gently spiced and dry with a faintly nutty flavour. And very manly.

Tarka daal (£2.90) is disappointingly stodgy but the aloo naan (£2.50), sesame studded bread with a spiced mashed potato filling, has plenty of interest.

For sweets, we have pleasant ras malai, milky dumplings in flavoured milk, and a tasteless mango mousse which was served rock hard. It needs more work and more mango. Both were £3.25.

Our bill with one beer and a couple of lassis, came to £44.10, a bit more than your average Indian but then Aagrah is not your average Indian.

Rather good.

Service is splendid but Aagrah could brush up its cloakroom procedure. Coats are dumped in a closet and you're invited to help yourself on the way out.

Leopold Square, Sheffield. Tel : 0114 2 79 5577. Website: www.aagrah.net
Open Mon–Wed 5.30 –11.30pm,Thurs–Sat noon – midnight, Sun 4.30-10.30pm. Credit cards. Disabled access and toilets. Ethnic music. Street parking.
My star ratings (out of five):
Food 4
Atmosphere 4
Service 5
Value 4
Indian restaurant category

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