We never really venture up Newington way to dine, but my goodness you wouldn’t go hungry – what an amount of restaurants and takeaway options are available in that neck of the woods. On this cold and wet December evening though we were heading to Voujon, a Bengali and Indian restaurant at 107 Newington Road.
 |
| Lovely bright airy restaurant |
On first impressions the restaurant is bright, modern and airy and the staff are friendly and welcoming. When we arrived, the restaurant was very busy with locals enjoying the tasty food – what a great sign for a damp Monday evening just before Christmas.
As we were choosing from the extensive menu more customers were arriving and each group took great delight in introducing their friends to the well-kent owner. This really feels like a valued local restaurant and after 12 years in business it seems to have built up a very loyal following and some excellent Trip Adviser reviews.
We decided to have some Poppadoms whilst choosing from the menu. They arrived crisp and with a tray of accompaniments – mango chutney, onion salad and lime pickles. Just the usual offering but very tasty and perfect with a chilled Cobra beer.
 |
| Poppadom |
For real starters I decided to have Annaj Pakura – Deep fried balls of gram flour, vegetables and spices £2.95 and Raymond had Voll Puri – lightly spiced chick peas and potatoes served with a Puri and tamarind sauce £3.55- a popular snack in Calcutta it seems.
 |
| Annaj Sakura |
No complaints over the portion size of my starter – 4 crisp balls of vegetables complete with a side salad that arrived on a lovely presentation plate. A jug of hot Pakura sauce accompanied the dish but wasn’t really necessary as I enjoyed them with the left over mango chutney from the Poppadoms.
 |
| Voll Puri |
Raymond also enjoyed his starter and as it was the first time he had tried the dish, received instruction as to how locals (to Calcutta) eat them. First of all you make a wee dent in the top of each bite and then pour in a little of the tamarind sauce, pop the whole puri into your mouth and then eat! Each bite was an explosion of texture and flavour – delicious. The portion size was again generous for the price.
 |
| Busy for a Monday night in December |
Slightly stuffed after our pre starter and starter we were hoping for a gap in service before our curries were served. Thankfully their arrival was timed to perfection so we managed to fit them in along with the pilau rice and plain naan bread……and another Cobra beer.
 |
| Green Herb Chicken |
I decided to go for the Green herb chicken (£9.95) which was a medium spicy dish of chicken with methi leaves, coriander and spring onions. The curry was very flavoursome with about 5 good sized chunks of chicken. The heat in the dish came more as a warm spicy glow rather than real fire which was perfect for my tastebuds. One thing I did find was the dish was quite salty – we tend to err on the side of little salt when cooking so can be more sensitive to the taste. It didn’t detract from the dish and others may find it perfectly seasoned.
 |
| Naan |
Raymond decided to try a lamb dish and went for Lamb Shatkora from the Sylhet area of Bangladesh. The dish is made with a local fruit – Shatkora which has a distinctive sour lime flavour.
 |
| Lamb |
Again this had great flavours and the sharp lime flavour of the fruit cut through the hot sweet chilli sauce – the flavour was intense and like nothing he’d tried before. The shatkora fruit had a unique taste and texture – this dish is definitely one to try again.
To finish with we were given a selection of Indian dessert treats to sample. Desserts at most Indian restaurants are never really that memorable so it was interesting to taste some proper ones. Each of the bites had a different texture and composition and are really quite unusual. One thing’s for certain if you enjoyed these desserts on a regular basis you would need a very sweet tooth and a very good dentist.
 |
| Dessert selection |
All in all we had a lovely evening at this warm traditional local restaurant and if you are in the area it’s certainly worthwhile popping in for a meal. They also do takeaway which seems popular with folks in the area, so this might be an option for you too.
Many thanks to Voujon and Crimson Edge PR for inviting us to sample the menu. We paid for drinks and service, but felt that the menu was very reasonably priced for the high standard of restaurant, service and food provided. All the comments about the meal are our own.
107 Newington Road
Edinburgh
EH9 1QW
Be sure to become friends on Facebook and add the restaurant on Twitter to keep up to date with all their special offers.