Indian inspired Lounge Café based in Sheffield City Centre, offering delicious, fresh Indo-Western cuisine in a welcoming and homely venue. Recently having refurbished their cellar to provide an even more relaxing and inviting area, you can come and enjoy great comfort food and drinks here.

I was recently invited as part of a Sheffield Foodie Socials evening to The Charka Lounge’s newly refurbished venue, where they had opened up their downstairs area into an inviting and relaxing space where you can come meet friends for a meal, or simply grab a drink and catch up on some you time. The staff here kindly stayed open after their usual hours to let us sample some of their delightful new menu too.

We were firstly presented with a sweet glitter chai which was very warming and very sweet so obviously went down well with me. The food we tried was superb. I decided to treat the meal as a two course meal so I could indulge in as much food from Chakra as possible, trying a “small dish” and a “large plate” – soon realising that the small plates aren’t small and the large ones are huge!!

I started off with the Maggie Noodles £5 – Curry flavoured ramen with packet noodles, onion, tomato and peas, topped with a fried egg (extra). This noodle dish was not only aesthetically pleasing but very comforting with great flavour and also a bit of a kick to it. A big portion for a small plate. Small plates are priced between £5 – £6.50

For my main meal (big plate) I went with the Saag Meat Curry Plate (GF) £11 – Spicy lamb cooked with spinach in desi ghee served with rice, salad, mango chutney and mini poppadoms. You could also add to this with a naan bread, fried egg or chips at an extra cost. I am glad I didn’t add to this portion personally though as there was a mountain full of food – enough rice for 2 people I feel, but everything was superbly delicious. The lamb wasn’t too spicy but had a lovely warming kick to it, the salad was tangy too and made the dish very refreshing. As I say a MOUNTAIN of food, not that it stopped me from pretty much nearly eating it all!

Ben opted for the IFC Burger £11 – Indian fried chicken burger with rainbow slaw, Amritsari chutney, lacha onions, salad and chips. An outstanding plate of comfort food and a whopping burger to get your chops around – the piece of chicken itself being very chunky! The burger was spiced well and was yummy. All dishes we chose are highly recommended by us. Big plates here are priced between £8,50 – £11, a bargain for the amount of food really.

We were then treat to a free dessert, a little like a churro but less sweet, with a condensed milk sauce. A nice end to our great meal out. All of the staff were really inviting, friendly and attentive making us feel at ease straight away.

Chakra’s menu also offers Breakfast dishes, quick bites s and a great range of fresh, homemade drinks too. The café is open 9am – 5pm Sunday to Fridays (Closed Tuesdays), and open until 6pm on a Saturday. There are lots of vegan and vegetarian choices on the menu but they also cater for meat eaters too so everybody is welcome! It’s also great to see that they work with @toogoodtogo.uk ensuring as little as possible food waste! Great stuff.

To find out more about The Chakra Lounge, visit their website here.

I hope that you enjoyed my review and it has inspired you to give this restaurant a visit. Please check out my other reviews, and my recipes too! If you have any restaurant/pub/café suggestions for me to try, please leave a comment below. If you are a restaurant/food vendor and would like to collaborate with me in any way, please just email me at jensfoodblog@gmail.com!

Happy munching!

Jen

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