Kirkstall Brewery announces partnership with popular Indian restaurant for new bar concept

Opening Summer 2023.

Much-loved local brewers Kirkstall Brewery has joined forces with five star Indian restaurant Dastaan, based in Adel, to bring together a fusion of Indian street food and IPAs, in a brand new setting.

Kirkstall Brewery announced it would be taking over the former Banyan site on New Road Side in Horsforth last month.

But this new opening is going to be far from your usual suburban boozer.

Karobar, the working name for the new bar partnership, plans to bring together the best of Kirkstall Brewery’s beers with ‘modern fusion’ Indian street food that’s been inspired by trends seen back in India.

The idea is that all of the food on the menu will be based on Kirkstall’s IPAs and the flavours for each dish will be shaped around the beers – a rare but exciting way to work, and by working in tandem with the flavours in both food and drink, it promises some seriously exciting pairings.

To give a glimpse of what lies ahead for the new bar concept, Dastaan has begun to work on an impressive street food menu with innovative dishes like Pani Poori, puffed semolina shell with chickpeas paired with Kirkstall’s 3 Swords and potato tornado chaat with white pea ragda, herb yoghurt and taramind chilli chutney to serve with longtime Leeds favourite Virtuous, an Aromatic Session IPA with grapefruit peel, lemon and lime.

Like the rest of the award-winning menu Dastaan has to offer at its restaurant in Adel, everything is homemade, right down to the whole wheat tacos individually filled with pulled masala jackfruit, Punjabi paneer bhuriji and pulled masala pork before being garnished with pickled ginger, raw mango marmalade, Tekhi chutney, tadka yoghurt, onion tomato kachumber and potato salli. Naturally there’s a Mango IPA and more crisp, bitter West Coast IPA, Spokane that goes perfectly.

Hoping to bring some of the food trend spotted on a recent trip to India, the team at Dastaan is working on fusing together popular street food items with the more traditional Indian curries found on the menu.

“Bao buns are trending, tacos are trending – but you’re not seeing that in the UK yet and it takes time for things to filter through” a spokesperson for Dastaan told The Hoot Leeds.

Elsewhere on the working menu, you’ll find Pao Sliders with potato vada, Amritsari fish and Chicken 65 pakora inside, as well as Tandoor Se, a lamb seekh kebab or tandoori soya chop as a plant-based alternative, with sirka onions and mint chutney, ideally paired with a Belgian Blond.

Kirkstall Brewery announced that they “believe in tradition, authenticity and innovation and this is an opportunity to show us what we can do” with their new partnership with Dastaan.

Read More:

• Kirkstall Brewery confirms takeover of Banyan Horsforth following closure
• Dastaan: The new fine-dining Indian restaurant opening tonight in North Leeds
• Inside IF… Rooftop: Leeds newest rooftop bar with frozen margaritas and panoramic city views

And for those wondering about the name, Karobar translates to ‘business’ in Hindi and is the popular term for street food stalls, amongst other businesses, in India. “When you put a shop on the street, it’s ‘your Karobar’, it’s your business” – so it perfectly encompasses the partnership between Kirkstall Brewery and Dastaan, as well as hinting at the street food element of the menu in a single word.

Work is now underway to bring Karobar to life, with plans to open this summer – and we can’t wait to hear more.

Feature Image – The Hoot Leeds