Best curry houses in Bradford

21.07.2023 - 08:03 / roughguides.com / Helen Abramson

Bradford in northern England has been voted “Curry Capital of Britain” for six years running. Our very own spice-obsessed editor, Helen Abramson, went to find out where is the best curry in Bradford.

The information in this article is inspired by The Rough Guide to Yorkshire , your essential guide for visiting Yorkshire .

At 9am on a grey, blustery Saturday morning, I’m on the outskirts of Bradford city centre, in West Yorkshire. In front of me is a plate of steaming chana (chick pea curry), a seemingly unending pile of freshly cooked puri (puffed deep-fried unleavened bread), a tray of homemade chutneys and pickles, and chunks of halwa (semolina-based sweet).

I’m embarking on a 24-hour exploration of Bradford’s curry houses to get a literal taste of why this city is so renowned for its Indian and Pakistani food. Three meals in three restaurants – all family run and started from similarly humble beginnings, but all diverged into very different establishments.

Bradford may not be overrun with tourists – but this handful of restaurants really does draw the crowds. I want to find out if this northern city is worth the journey.

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The heavenly traditional Kashmiri breakfast I’m wolfing down has been served up here, at The Sweet Centre Restaurant – a Bradford institution – for over half a century.

It’s a bargain at under a fiver, including a cup of masala chai or coffee.

Kashmiri breakfast — a worthy contestant for the title of best curry in Bradford

The faded-grandeur dining room is simply furnished, the floor carpeted. By the entrance, brightly coloured cakes and Indian sweets line the shelves of a sparklingly clean glass cabinet. Deliverymen walk in and out carrying sacks of minced meat, bags of flour and boxes of vegetables.

From my all-too brief taster, Bradford easily lived up to its crowning of Curry Capital of Britain

Regulars drop in, order takeaways and chat with Dr Zulficar Ali, who manages the place with his son, Wakar. Dr Ali calls out orders in Urdu down a flight of stairs to an unseen chef on the floor below. I feel like I’m on the Subcontinent.

A Londoner my whole life, I’ve been blessed to live in a city with an enviable array of Indian restaurants. But there's nowhere like this. The Sweet Centre is where the curry revolution began in Bradford, and the city is now home to more than 50 Indian restaurants.

Dr Ali’s father and uncle came to the UK from Kashmir in the 1950s, when there was a high demand for jobs in the mills, which were suffering from a diminished male workforce after the end of World War II.

The team at the restaurant which serves one of the best curry in Bradford

Another wave of workers came in