Here are three dishes that don’t live up to the reputation that some Indian food has of being oily and unhealthy.  Whilst we can’t deny they aren’t on the Weightwatchers approved list – they are lovely grilled flavoursome meats without the sauce.

Clay Oven Assorted Tandoori

This is one for the carnivores – a wide range of meats with various spices grilled to perfection and ideally served with a lovely fluffy naan.

Chicken Shashlik

According to the internet – the largest Shashlik was 120 metres long and used over 400kgs of meat.  We know that ours don’t quite meet that size – but are definitely going to taste better.  A shashlik is a kebab of lovely marinated meat roasted in the intense heat of the tandoor.  It is then served with a fresh accompaniment of roasted pepper and onion, salad and lovely fresh sauce.

Tandoori Raj Chingree

Chingree – King Prawns to you and I – are marinated in sharp lemon juice, yoghurt and our chef’s blend of herbs before being skewered and made perfection in our clay oven.  No greasy sauce – just perfect tasting charcoal roasted king prawns.

Do you sometimes struggle to choose the perfect present?  Have you ever offered to take someone out for a meal and just not managed to get around to it?  Have you ever wanted to buy a gift voucher and struggled to work out what was the most appropriate to go for?

Whether you agree with any of the questions above – we can offer you the perfect solution.  The Clay Oven Indian Restaurant gift vouchers are the ideal present – after all what could be better than going out for a meal without having to worry about the cost?  Not only that – just think how easy they are to mail!

Our gift vouchers are available in any denomination – but to make sure that special person gets to enjoy the perfect range of Indian treats and delicacies we would recommend a nice round £30 to £40.

Along with multiplexes all across the country – Edinburgh’s best cinema the Dominion will be showing Toy Story 3 from July 23rd.  Just a 2 minute walk from the best Indian Restaurant in the city is an opportunity to see the third in the Pixar series of what are undoubtedly the best animated films about.

Sunday Matinee Mela

Whilst we’re sure lots of our customers will go and see it with their friends – we reckon that the best way to enjoy a proper family film like this is by going to a matinee – followed by a nice meal out to complete the day.  While the kids are off but you have to be back to work on Monday – go on a Sunday – and then come and enjoy eating as much as you can at our all day curry buffet.

Alice’s Midsummer Night’s Curry

A couple of plays have caught our eye – firstly an American take on the Shakespeare classic A Midsummer Night’s Dream complete with the promise of rude mechanicals which runs from 09/08/2010 to 14/08/2010!

MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

A rollicking and romantic mix of dance, text and original music combined in a hilarious, over-the-top production of Shakespeare’s fantastical play. Demonstrating that American teenagers have the acting chops to tackle the bard. Featuring a dance prologue, whimsical costumes and rude mechanicals hamming it up during the play within a play, this fast paced production weaves three stories of young love, magical creatures and home-spun doofs in a moonlit forest on a midsummer’s eve. An exceptional acting ensemble. Appropriate for all ages. ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is a wonderful play to introduce young audiences to Shakespeare.

The second is a Texas school’s take on Alice in Wonderland with a Scottish twist running from 10/08/2010
to 14/08/2010.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

An absurd, random, quirky, outrageous, humorous, creepy version of ‘Alice’ (with a Scottish twist) performed by a small troupe from a tiny school located slightly north of oldest town in Texas: Central Heights High School, Nacogdoches. This version of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ was originated by the Manhattan Project under the direction of Andre Gregory. Mister Gregory indicates that the essential thing is to use the script as a trampoline for the imagination. Our production is hopefully a seemingly improvised collaborative ensemble piece that reflects Mister Gregory’s original intention while incorporating the artistic spirit of our players.

Cheeky Korma

Both of these sound a bit cheeky – and what could be better than a cheeky curry before or after to complete your evening of culture.  As we are talking about a Scottish Summer evening we’re expecting rain but don’t worry.  We’re so close to the venue even a theatre programme held above the head will provide enough cover.

Curry on a bike

If you don’t fancy coming to collect food – we offer a delivery service for free within 3 miles of our restaurant for orders over £10.  The areas we deliver to include the beautiful Edinburgh locations of Bruntsfield, Tollcross, Merchiston, Polwarth, Marchmont, The Grange and Fountainbridge.

If you don’t live in one of these areas – give us a call on 0131 447 9724 and we’ll let you know how we can help.

Indian Lunch

So what do you get for your money?  A light starter of mixed vegetable pakoras followed by any one of a range of curries to suit your appetite for spice complete with rice and naan.  To finish enjoy some nice ice cream or freshly brewed tea or coffee.

Indian Restaurant at Lunch?

The Clay Oven is open Monday to Saturday from 12pm to 2pm serving our lunchtime meal – so give us a call on 0131 447 9724 and book a table whether you are dining alone or in a group.

On a Sunday, try out our all-day buffet served from 12pm to 10pm.  Only £9.95 for adults and £5.95 for kids.

Our Featured Dish for July is the fantastic Chicken Tikka Biryani.

The biryani is a meal in itself – combining basmati rice with meat which are then cooked with flavoursome herbs to create a fantastic dish.  This is then served with a curry sauce of mixed vegetables to give a filling meal in every sense.

Historically, a biryani is a classic Muslim dish – and originates from the Persian word ‘Birian’.  Birian means ‘Fried before Cooking’ – and this comes from the original technique of frying the rice used in the dish in ghee.   Ghee remains a very important ingredient dish – and the lovely buttery flavour permeates through the whole dish.

This month we are encouraging you to give our Chicken Tikka Biryani a try.  We follow the recipe above – but use lovely chicken tikka – freshly barbecued in the tandoor (clay oven) to give that classic Indian taste.  Because of the combination of rice, meat and vegetable curry this is one you can enjoy without any additional dishes (that is why it is a bit more expensive than our standard dishes).

Being big eaters – this is one dish we can’t resist eating with some lovely fresh chapattis – perfect for ripping pieces off and wrapping up some little parcels of flavour – you won’t even need to use cutlery!

Birthday Curry

We have a hard core of regular curry lovers who we see every week because they just can’t get enough – and also every week we see lots of new faces coming to see what the fuss is about.  We’ve also seen people give our gift vouchers to their friends and colleagues so that they can come and spice up their Sundays!

A Bountiful Indian Banquet

Curious people out there – be curious no longer – here is a typical range of the dishes you can eat till you drop!

Starters

Some of the classics – Samosas, pakoras and lovely spicy chicken wings – and one of the all time greats – Chana Puri – lovely spicy chick peas with beautiful puffed bread.

Meaty Main Dishes

We’ll serve dishes ranging from the very mild to something with a nice bit of spice.  Expect a range of chicken and lamb dishes featuring the household names like Chicken Korma and Chicken Tikka Massallam – as well as some dishes you maybe haven’t had before – but really have to try like Methi Ghosht.

Vegetarian Treats (and something to tempt you meat eaters)

A range of indian dishes including great vegetarian curries such as Vegetable Dupiaza as well as the chance for everyone to sample one of Indias classic ingredients Panir Cheese, such as in the delicious Sag Panir.

Sounds great?  What else?

Well – there will be mountains of lovely flavoured Pilau rice as well as enough fluffy naan to make a cloud.  Follow your meal with a nice cup of tea or coffee or some palate cleansing ice cream.

What do I need to do then?

Give us a call on 0131 447 9724 to book a table – or pop in and buy some gift vouchers to treat a friend.  Be quick though – tables are filling up quick!

If you want to know what others think – it seems we are starting to get quite a web presence across a wide range of Restaurant review sites.  The following links are just a few:

• Qype – Indian Restaurants
• Sugarvine
• The List
• Urban Spoon

Our regular customers – please feel free to take a second to add your thoughts to any of these sites too!

We’re slowly catching up though – we have our website – and now we have our own place on Facebook.  Like all you fanatics – we want lots of friends too – so find us and click the like button – we’d be delighted.

We’re good to our friends – and if you do ‘like’ our page we’ll make sure that you are the first to hear any news relating to our restaurant – and more importantly that you are kept informed of any offers we have on the go.