Flavour-packed trout and a rich fish curry are a delight for lovers of all things piscine as Tim Hughes discovers

Fish. Considering that it’s a staple food source back in watery Bangladesh, it’s remarkable how little fish features on curry house menus.

And that, for lovers of all things piscine, is a bit of a shame.

So, hearing that one of Cowley Road’s long established Bangladeshi restaurants was also the place to go for an authentic fishy taste of the Subcontinent, I pressganged a pair of pescatarian pals to the far end of Cowley Road.

Malikas is one of those confident breed of ‘Indian’ restaurants who have shrugged off the flock wallpaper, red carpets and shrill music, and gone all contemporary and minimal – with plain white walls, soothing tunes and artfully placed potted palms.

Visiting midweek, we found it pleasantly quiet, though the kitchen seemed to be doing a roaring trade in takeaways – always a good sign (the manager insisted a good half of business came from deliveries).

I started with that old staple a Cobra beer, though my classier friends insisted on a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, which they proceeded to make light work of. Popadoms were of the crumpled parcel variety and came with the comfortingly predictable quartet of dips (they work, so why change?). We skipped starters, having learned harsh lessons on overeating on previous OX4 forays, and handed control to award-winning chef Nazrul Islam – the one proviso being that fish should feature heavily.

He came up with two creations – both his own recipes, but, we were assured, popular dishes back home in Sylhet. First up was trout. Forget about the lightly flavoured British variety, though, this was a carnival of flavour. Served filleted, blackened and topped with a rich, chunky coriander and cherry tomato sauce, it was moist, meaty and packed with flavour, complemented, not overpowered, by a warming medium-spice heat.

It was joined by a real Bengali staple – a tilapia fish curry. This was milder but equally rich – firmer than the trout and again accompanied by a freshly prepared sauce.

For a bit of balance we also shared a malikas speciality, murgh chilli Bombay, a juicy chicken dish in a light sauce, served with a whole boiled egg – inspired! This we devoured with pilau rice and a couple of Peshwari naans.

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For a bit of greenery, we also had a side dish of saag aloo (spinach and potato) which instantly became the highlight of the meal – servedas a tower, and garnished with long curved ‘petals’ of carrot and a sliced tomato. It looked great and tasted fresh, firm and healthy – just the thing to cut through the rich heat of our fish curries. It couldn’t be more different to the sloppy vegetable side dishes we are used to.

Maintaining the home-cooked theme, pudding came in the shape of creamy kulfi ice cream – not the packaged cones served at practically every other curry house, but lovely big scoops, in natural, mango and pistachio varieties, drizzled with honey and topped with chopped nuts.

After overeating on endless cloying, bulked-out curries, Malikas’s fresh breezy creations were a revelation.

The menu is inventive enough, but if you want something bespoke, or just a surprise, go off-piste and leave it to chef Nazrul. He’ll only be too happy at the chance to show off.

Malikas
218 Cowley Road, Oxford
01865 723029 malikasrestaurant.co.uk