8848 Aberdeen Review

Before the lockdown and these very strange and uncertain times that we have found ourselves in, I had never visited or ordered food from the 8848 Restaurant who specialise in serving Nepalese and Indian cuisine. Since lockdown, well, we have probably ordered 3 or 4, maybe 5 times.

I had been aware of The 8848 Restaurant on Union Street in passing but honestly, I don’t know much, if anything, about Nepalese cuisine and although I’m not a fussy eater, I get incredibly anxious through my own lack of knowledge and also with being in unfamiliar surroundings… added with feeling the pressure to order and/or potentially making the wrong choice and feeling extremely uncomfortable, it can all get a bit overwhelming, very quickly, which I know is a feeling that many of you with anxiety will appreciate and understand!

So, for me, something really positive that has come out of this situation (in terms of that anxiety and not so much my waistline) is that I have pushed myself to try new foods and new local restaurants in Aberdeen, only it’s from the comfort of my own home and as we have all been spending more time inside and with the almost too easy option to order online, the occasional food delivery has been the little luxury needed to create some light and normality during this difficult situation.

We were browsing the Just Eat website looking for a takeaway and I was using the filters on the side to narrow down the options because firstly, I’m indecisive and secondly, given the current circumstances, I thought the 5* hygiene rating was of high priority and there are surprisingly few options left once you click that button.

8848 Menu

On our first order, we were keen to try some Indian food as it was something that we both knew and we were looking for ease and comfort. Two things that I have really craved during this situation. Just, no fuss. With that said, we went totally basic and judge all you like, we went for that British favourite, the tikka masala. And as it’s a favourite, it’s the option I will review in this post and hopefully continue to add further 8848 Aberdeen reviews, including some of the Nepalese dishes in the future.

So, here’s the funny thing. It doesn’t mention on the menu whether or not that comes with rice (that we could see). I usually find with the majority of takeaways that the menus either mention whether or not rice is included or you can gauge by the cost of the main but we couldn’t in this instance so to avoid disappointment we ordered a side of rice along with our main along with the usual papadom and chutney, naan and the Bombay spiced chilli chicken starter. Perfect.

8848 Food

The food arrived in half the time that we were advised it would which was a much-added bonus that I could not complain about and this is actually something that we have experienced with each order placed, although I don’t want to make any guarantees that you will also experience this but I would perhaps use it as a good indication of the service!

Back to my point, the food arrived, it looked fresh, the dishes were still piping hot and we couldn’t wait to get stuck in. Excellent.

We noticed that it came with two sides of rice so we thought, OK, great, now we know that we won’t need to order a separate side of rice again next time as it does come with part of your main. Only, the next time we placed an order under that assumption, there was no rice! And it was the same with the chutney, we didn’t order any on the next occasion but we still received some. We would receive different style chips, different style rice to what was ordered or what we had received in previous orders. It became a little bit of a running joke. Certainly no issue, although perhaps we would view it differently if we had any food intolerances, to us it is just an ‘I wonder what this time!’.

Upon dishing out the food, I was writing this post in my mind and trying to consider the kind of things that I think I would like to know if I was reading reviews. I’m always a little sceptical of what I see online because it’s usually the best or worst experience if people choose to leave a review so you often have to use your own judgement in reading between the lines.

Depending on the size of appetite of those eating, I would consider one main and one rice big enough for 2 people. I tend to be more interested in the sauce than I am in the chicken but each time I have counted around 8/9 chunks of chicken per main which I think is very reasonable. Each meal also comes with a lot of sauce which you can portion out to your preference, we usually have plenty leftover and as I said, I’m more about the sauce so I always take more of that and the fact that there is still some left, that’s saying something!

The curry itself is a very creamy consistency with that orange colouring as you would expect but it certainly doesn’t have that rich almost artificial sweetness that I have found from other takeaways. That’s not to say that it lacks in sweetness or flavour, it does still have plenty of both but on a much more understated level which again feeds into that experience of having something familiar, a home comfort.

With the starters, I noticed that we tend to receive a quantity of four which again, seems very reasonable. The Bombay spiced chilli chicken was delicious, then again, mention any kind of garlic sauce and I’m already a fan. This starter is something that we both enjoyed and I would highly recommend ordering a portion of it!

The makai piyazi are like large onion bhajis and another British Indian favourite and filled with flavour but I would not be as keen to order again as I would the Bombay spiced chilli chicken. Although nice and very large, they just weren’t too memorable.

If you are someone that likes to order chips as a side along with your meal, like me, because I am that typical Scot, everything with a side of chips please… well, I can confirm that you receive a huge portion from the 8848 Restaurant which I imagine could easily feed 3, again, with a healthy sized portion but they are not your typical takeaway chips, they come salted for one but they are almost what I would consider shoestring fries.

So, while the 8848 Restaurant may not be consistent with what additions you can expect with your food, they are always consistently good and I would not hesitate to visit or recommend others in the future and I now consider one of the best Aberdeen Indian restaurants!

I can’t wait for the restaurant to reopen because as someone who is always looking for places to eat in Aberdeen city centre, it has definitely made its way to the top of my list and I would love to have the full experience, see the surroundings and be able to comment on the staff and the service received from the restaurant perspective, but for now, the takeaway is great!

If you are not a meat-eater but looking for Indian restaurants in Aberdeen with a good vegetarian menu, or have a vegetarian in the group but a bit worried about restaurants serving the same 2 options then I would recommend taking a look at the 8848 Restaurant as they offer just over a handful of vegetarian dishes each using different flavours. I often prefer to choose vegetarian options so this is something that I would be keen to try and write about too.

In terms of cost, I think for the time waiting and the quality of food received that it’s more than reasonable, although I think if you were to order for a large group it could add up very quickly. But again, for the quality and for the fact that I think one meal does serve two people I would have no complaints in paying.

Make sure to check out the restaurant offers available before placing an order for takeaway as I believe that they currently offer up to 30% off if pre-ordered before 5 pm! And who would pass up the opportunity to save some money!

Where to find 8848 Nepalese & Indian Kitchen?

8848 Restaurant
347 Union Street,
Aberdeen AB11 6BT

8848 Aberdeen Discount Code

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