Barinda Restaurant - Stylish Dining in Hull





The team at Barinda

The Curry Life team recently visited the much underrated city of Kingston upon Hull where we were pleased to see the stylish and modern Barinda restaurant firmly established and prospering.

It seems the city’s inhabitants have taken the restaurant to their hearts. Fittingly for its location, near the old football ground at Boothferry Park, former Hull City manager Phil Brown used to be a regular in the days of Hull’s premier league status and was even transported to and from the premises by restaurant operator, Syed Muazzel Ali. Past and present Hull footballers including Brian Horton, former manager and Hull City midfielder, like to unwind at Barinda after a match.

Having successfully run restaurants and takeaways in Sunderland for 20 years, including top notch venues, Indian Style and Greendon Tandoori, Ali first came to Hull in 2009 to develop the business for his family who also operate restaurants in nearby Market Weighton, York and Cottingham. The move wasn’t initially relished by Ali but it’s one that is starting to pay off – with added dividends of reasonable rates and a low cost of living. And Barinda has gone down very well with the local clientele; Ali and his son Nadim who works front-of-house both have soft “Geordie” lilts (or, as Sunderlanders prefer, “Mackem” accents) and obviously enjoy plenty of friendly banter with locals: “It’s the kind of place where you have a laugh with customers,” explains Nadim as he serves us our starters.

Ali, who is also originally from Bangladesh, agrees that all staff at Barinda attach great importance to their relationship with clients and go out of their way to make sure customers enjoy a relaxed, quality dining experience. With 100 seats, the interior of Barinda is striking – an unusual green and ebony theme predominates with wooden flooring, marbled effect window ledges and ceiling panel with colour-changing lights. A wide-screen TV showing Bollywood films adds to the modern atmosphere. Food on offer is firmly rooted in the traditions of Bengal with a contemporary twist; Barinda is the first restaurant in the area to offer this style of cuisine. This is due in part, to the influence of Barinda’s excellent chef, Kayrul Hoque Kamali. Originally from the village of Shaharpara in Sylhet, Bangladesh, Kayrul has worked at restaurants in Kent and London, including the Anurag and prestigious Spicemaster group of restaurants, before moving to Barinda two years ago where he has created a menu that is a cut above the rest. “I decided to take the best influences from London and Bangladesh and brought them to Hull,” he later explains.

With a repertoire that includes Indian and Nepali recipes, Kayrul’s signature dish is Tawa Gost; a dish of lamb with soya, tamarind sauce and fenugreek leaves. He places great emphasis on the quality of the food at Barinda (the name means “kitchen” and reflects the home style cuisine available) – all lamb is the best that New Zealand has to offer and halibut – an unusual dish on an Indian menu, is as fresh as it comes.

“People don’t mind paying more as long as the quality is all right,” explains Ali. “Our curries are totally different from any in the area. We also sell more fish than anything else – we offer sea bass cooked in a tandoori oven, charcoal roasted salmon, halibut, shark steak and of course, Bengali fish. My aim was to make a multicultural restaurant; now all the Hull restaurant owners come here to eat whether they run Italian or Chinese establishments.”

Another unusual feature on the menu is the selection of duck dishes – Duckling Zoytun; duck breast pieces, green pepper, tomato and onions char-grilled, covered and served with a medium sauce with black olives is served sizzling from the kitchen. A range of recipes are also cooked in an iron wok or lowari as in a traditional Bangladeshi method. We feasted on the array of starters of the Bengali platter including Suka Golda Chingri; a large king prawn with tamarind; tender lamb chops from the tandoori oven and Mushroom Bahaar; whole mushrooms served with spiced lamb mince.

For mains, we had a typical Sylheti dish of Shatkora lamb cooked in Bengali spices and a Goan speciality: Lamb Xacuti, cooked with roasted fennel leaves, cloves of garlic and chef Kamali’s very own secret spice blend. Pilau rice made from the finest Basmati, Sag Paneer, fluffy nans and Bengun Massala were a perfect accompaniment.

As one of the best restaurants in the area offering Bangladeshi cuisine, Barinda is the idea venue for traditional Bengali weddings and offers a service guaranteed to create a special day.  Ali tells us that the Sunday Mega Buffet (eat as much as you like for only £9.95), twice weekly Banquet Nights and regular music and karaoke nights have proved to be a crowd puller while the venue has also become popular for corporate events – only the previous week, 45 doctors arranged a booking after a conference meeting and as we all know, doctors know best; Barinda Restaurant recently received an “A” for excellent rating in the Scores on Doors classification for clean premises and good hygiene practices.

So, Hull has embraced Barinda but has Ali embraced Hull? “I still miss Sunderland but we had a target and we have created a good market here,” he says. And in Barinda, he has created something very special indeed.

Barinda, 61 Boothferry Road, Hull HU3 6UA Tel: 01482 500800

Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 5pm till late, Sun 3pm till 10pm.