Café Red

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Café Red is the new venture from the Southside curry house Shimla Pink’s. Slap-bang in the middle of Byres Road, Café Red is a cosy little space – red-patterned wallpaper, high stools and low leather couches, with a mezzanine for extra seating that provides excellent opportunities for people watching through the plate-glass front. A juice bar offers mango lassi, homemade smoothies, freshly squeezed juices and other concoctions. True to its West End café raison d’etre, the menu includes soup and sandwiches, paninis with continental-style fillings and a full breakfast for £3.95, but it is the curries that mark Café Red out. These are affordable and are served in lunchtime portions, light and well balanced, each coming with a little heap of brightly coloured rice and a miniature naan. While there are meaty options, such as lamb bhoona or chicken tikka, the main emphasis is on vegetarian dishes. Saag paneer is satisfyingly rich and earthy, chunks of Indian cheese hiding in a thick spinachy sauce, while the tabli chaana, chickpeas in a sauce of tomatoes and coconut, is delicately spiced and filling. Café Red makes the effort to offer something different from the ubiquitous filled baguette and coffee, and it makes a welcome change.

• High point: Well-presented, light lunchtime curry
• Low point: Menu not so much fusion as bi-polar