Verified in 2 cities.
Chicken tikka masala is tandoor-charred chicken in a spiced, creamy tomato sauce, and Glasgow claims to have invented it; in United Kingdom we have verified places to eat it in Glasgow and London.
Chicken tikka masala is tandoor-charred chicken in a spiced, creamy tomato sauce, and Glasgow claims to have invented it. Whether or not that holds, the city cooks a definitive version.
The most-repeated origin story credits Shish Mahal in Glasgow's West End, where in the early 1970s the chef is said to have loosened a customer's dry chicken tikka with tomatoes, cream and spice. The dish spread through Britain's curry houses to become the country's unofficial national dish. Rival claims exist across the UK and South Asia, and the truth is contested, but Glasgow's claim is the loudest and the city cooks it with real conviction.
Where to eat in Glasgow:
Where to eat Chicken tikka masala in Glasgow: the editor picks
Marinated tandoor-roasted chicken in a creamy spiced tomato gravy with butter and fenugreek. Britain's most-ordered curry, claimed by London and Glasgow alike since the 1970s.
Chicken tikka masala is a British-Bengali invention of the late 1960s or early 1970s. Multiple Glasgow Pakistani chefs claim the dish (Ali Ahmed Aslam at Shish Mahal is most frequently named), and London's Brick Lane curry houses popularised it through the 1980s. Robin Cook, then Foreign Secretary, called it a 'true British national dish' in a 2001 speech. The dish marries north Indian tandoor cookery with a milder Anglo-Indian gravy: tomato puree, single cream, garam masala and dried fenugreek leaf. Brick Lane's Bengali-run curry houses (Aladin, Sheba) and the Tayyabs Pakistani tradition both still serve it; Dishoom and Gymkhana plate the modern restaurant versions.
Where to eat in London:
Where to eat Chicken tikka masala in London: the editor picks
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