Shabab

I’m a massive fan of this restaurant. Now, I’ll admit, I get confused by Indian/​Pakistani food. All those curries just get jumbled in my head. But I do love it!
Now here’s why Shabab is brilliant:
The staff are really nice — staff in most Asian restaurants I’ve been to have been very welcoming, but the Shabab staff are in a league of their own. I did enjoy their staff-​as-​film-​stars menu.
The décor is over-​the-​top, but manages to avoid the Saudi Palace vibe of Mumtaz.
The food is fantastic. Loads of choice, a nice explanation underneath each formidable-​to-​pronounce dish name, and service is prompt.
But what I love most are the jugs of lassi. I love lassi. I love large amounts of lassi. I’m sold when there’s a jug in front of me.
They serve food late.
I also highly recommend their «Specials» page.
All in all, go there and feast!

I used to be a regular at their Eastgate branch right up until they closed down. I thought they had completely shut down and never knew why. The staff there used to be absolutely brilliant and we would never have to think about what to order. just let Jamil work it out for us. All we had to tell him was how we like our curries and he would bring things that were never heard of but tasted as good as one of the best curries out there.
Anyways, that is history. sadly, this place has gone down over a period of time. The staff have become lethargic and no one seems to be bothered except the owner a senior gentleman and a really nice person. The place shows off an open kitchen but the staff do not realise the side effects of it. For starters, we saw a couple of servers put their hands in a salad and eat straight out of it. little did they know they were seen. The food thankfully is still about the same quality as it used to be and tastes really nice but the way you are treated makes a BIG difference to your entire experience.
The ambience is not the best but does enough to soothe. The location is about right as it is just below the train station. Be careful if you are carrying vouchers from groupon or livingsocial or other sites though as they have a few hidden T&Cs like you need to book before 7pm if you are using the voucher and they wont let you use it even if the restaurant is 80% empty which does not make sense.
The owner did recognise us as old customers brought us a complimentary dessert which was great so if you are still reading this, loyalty is rewarded in this place :)
I just hope this place does not shut down due to the staff which were the best thing to this chain.

I’ll start by saying I am not a big fan of curries but seem to have them a fair amount. I always enjoy them but rarely fancy having one. Hence I won’t really give it too many stars for my taste.
Anyway this place was tasty — not too spicy (well a little but the yoghurt dip someone else had came in handy) and full of flavour. I had lamb and it very nearly melted in your mouth. Naan’s were big and rice was a small portion but was the right amount to share one of each between two.
The décor is hilariously over the top with every wall giving off a different décor theme. The lanterns that fill the ceiling were pretty and colourful.
Some may not like that it is in essence under ground so no natural light.
Service was good, we were a big table of 10 I think but food all came together and we could see them cooking it up which is always a nice feature. I did chuckle at the chef wearing what looked like a fish and chip shop white hat but the fancy/​simple gadgets they had made up for it.
Have a try, it’s more relaxed then most the Indian restaurants in town.

I’m a loyal fan of Shabab in Harrogate and the host at that restaurant told me I wouldn’t be disappointed with the Bishopgate branch if I found myself looking for a curry in Leeds. He was spot on. SUPERIOR service! I had a rough day coincidentally due to bad customer service (see review on Bib and Tucker) and when I came to this place they made it all better. The owner recognizing that I was a loyal customer bought us a round of drinks! WOW! Then our waiter Ollie was friendly, helpful, and attentive, exact qualities one wants in restaurant service.
I brought two friends that have never been and converted them to Shabab fans, one confessed it was the best curry she’s ever had. I like to think so myself. The food is so flavorful, the attention paid to the food’s preparation especially sauces and spices is evident. Makes all the difference to me. Combined with the superior service, it doesn’t get better than Shabab for me. You won’t be disappointed!

Note to self: gin tastings will mean that you have the hunger of a wolf come the end of the night. Second note to self: Shabab is open late and serves food even beyond 10pm. That right there is enough for me to love the place –it’s been quite some time that I’ve taken the fancy to go and actually eat a meal in a restaurant at such an obnoxious hour, but thankfully Leeds is just about busy enough as a city to house restaurants that cater to the whims of a wee gin-​happy lass like me. Happy days!
Yes, it was after a gin-​fuelled evening of delights that I decided that I required some solid sustenance before departing homeward, and having commented that I’d never been here prior, we decided to give it a chance. It may well be situated underneath the train station, but even so there’s a veritable palace of a restaurant to be discovered within. The décor is certainly resplendent, and makes for a lovely welcome, as you’re greeted by rustic woods, quirky carved tables, statuettes and many a decorative lampshade.
Service was instantaneous, although it has to be said we were amongst but two other customers, so anything slower paced would have been silly. We sat and ordered a mini feast, as you do when you’ve partaken of a few tipples, and ordered some Kingfisher and a Mango Lassi to drink alongside our food. The lassi was lovely, although not quite as ridiculously divine as that of Grove Café, but even so it’s a solid choice.
We decided to go for the makhani chicken, one of their recommended dishes, and the lamb gohst. Both came with a ton of meat, good quality so far as I can tell, and the lamb in particular was pretty succulent. Neither dish was smothered in coriander, another bonus, and both were really rather flavoursome. In fact, if you’re going to share meals (as we did) mixing the rather spicy and savoury gosht with the creamy rich makhani was a winning formula –I don’t mean literally mixing the dishes, but every time the gosht got a little hot I’d temper it with the makhani and that seemed to work out very nicely!
We picked an alternative to a nan bread, as it stood out on the menu, and that was particularly noteworthy to me. Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten the name of it, but it was about a quid more expensive and it was an unleavened flat bread, cooked in oils. It was just delicious, akin to a savoury pancake, and so much nicer than a regular nan. I highly recommend it! Sadly, the mushroom pilau wasn’t as nice as I’ve had in other restaurants (how, I’m not sure– I’d have thought rice was easy?) but even so, the meal overall was brilliant. The menu has a fair few choices, with some being classd as ‘must try’, but if you’re unsure I’m sure the staff could recommend a thing or two.
In all, the damage came to about thirty pounds, and for a full meal at such an hour with beer, I thought that was fantastic. Good curry, great service and a lovely place to dine. I’ll likely be back, especially if I’ve been on the gin…

Having prompty left our Indian restaurant of choice after deciding the experience would not fulfil initial expectations, we took a Taxi into Leeds city centre. We stopped at a few of the other potential choices; Shabab on Eastgate (full of trailer trash and larger louts), Aagrah (1.5 hour wait), Nawaab (canteen/​noodle bar layout with red neon lighting!) then out of desperation and determination to dine at an Indian style restaurant, we ate at Shabab next to the Train Station as I have been there before late.
Shabab’s décor and layout is impressive. As we arrived at 9:30pm it was inevitable that a lot of the clientele would be drunk and because of the cuisine style there were many groups of jolly males and group of totally intoxicated males + a few soba types who had just finished at the Theatre The service was as poor as last time; after 3 requests I had to go to the bar to get a jug of tap water, I had to go and order a second round of drinks, our roti arrived very later with the starter, our mains arrived whilst we were eating the starter etc. This ignorance (we were not acknowledged and the Waiter’s were not busy) could of been excused but the Waiter’s were so disinterested and made no attempt to apologise or even make an excuse! The staff had no service structure, we had many different Waiters with no sense of urgency (or manners) so we had to repeat the same requests over and over again. Managment was unclear and the more Senior members of the team seemed to be constantly on the restaurant phone (I have an idea or two about what was being discussed).
The food choice was very limited and according to my friend not traditional. The flavour was poor too. Luckily the company was great and we had a lovely time. We joked that the best thing about the £42 bill was the roti as it was delicious and fresh and the after dinner mints!