Review: Oxfordshire's vegan Punjabi takeaway V-gyian

Not only that, but it was one of the new style of takeaway services which prepare dishes and then ask the customer to finish cooking them at home.

What’s more, Mr Gill’s entire menu is vegan.

READ MORE: Vegan restaurateur brings decades-old Punjabi dishes to Oxfordshire

To say the concept is innovative is an understatement. This is a man who has launched a new business riding the crests of several different cultural waves in the middle of a global pandemic.

The menu on the website is deceptively simple: just one page with 31 thumbnails of exotic-looking dishes.

Vegan Punjabi takeaway food from Bicester-based V-Giyan. Picture: Pete Hughes

An Okra and bell pepper curry from V-gyian. All Pictures: Pete Hughes

Mr Gill and his family are Punjabi by descent (from northern India), and many of the ingredients and dishes on this menu are nothing like what you would see in most ‘Indian’ restaurants.

A neat feature of the site is that each dish has its own page which not only tells you how many calories it has (Katie was very excited by this), but also a full list of ingredients and even the home-cooking instructions (usually just two or three minutes in a microwave).

This is very much a takeaway for the modern consumer.

Read also: Oxfordshire pub delivering draft beer in lockdown!

In the end, Katie and I decided to order a ‘low-carb just like Mirchi chicken curry’ (£6.90), a vegan matar (pea) and tofu paneer curry (£6.20), some tandoori slow-roasted Brussels sprouts in fenugreek, lemon and chilli masala (£3.90), a large portion of vegan Punjabi bhaji (£10.95), some aloo tikki with green chilli and mint chutney (£3.95), a pot of homemade tamarind chutney (£1.90), a small pot of Oxfordshire chilli, lemon, carrot and garlic pickle (£1.50) and two baked earth naan breads (£1.50 each).

Spoiler alert: No, we didn’t eat all of that in one night, or even the next week, and I think we’ve still got some at the back of the fridge.

Vegan Punjabi takeaway food from Bicester-based V-Giyan. Picture: Pete Hughes

Two of the team brought it to me in Oxford, and when we got it home and started to unpack it, we were delighted to discover that almost every bit of packaging was cardboard, with just a couple of plastic pots.

Most of the pots had a blue microwave sticker on, saying either two or three minutes, but the website has instructions for each dish anyway.

The only struggle (largely because we had far too much food) was working out what order to do the microwaving in, so that everything was as hot as possible when we sat down to eat. It was a little hard to concentrate on calculations with our bellies rumbling and our mouths watering, but we got there in the end.

Vegan Punjabi takeaway food from Bicester-based V-Giyan. Picture: Pete Hughes

I tried a Punjabi bhaji first and it was an instant success: aromatic, salty, chewy and crunchy. I dipped a hot bhaji in my sweet tamarind sauce and it was a marriage made in heaven.

The little aloo tikki cakes were crumbly, moist and sticky, with whole peas sticking out. Dipped in the accompanying mint chutney, they were another instant hit.

The braised Brussels were also a very neat idea that gave a burst of freshness.

Vegan Punjabi takeaway food from Bicester-based V-Giyan. Picture: Pete Hughes

But those were just the starters.

I then dipped some naan into my ‘just like Mirchi chicken curry’ sauce. My first impression was that it was another delicious, aromatic and fragrant creation – then a sensation began spreading across my tongue and the rest of my mouth. This was hot. It was really hot. I got a pint of water.

It wasn’t too hot for me to say it was delicious, but it was a serious kind of heat that just sat in the mouth not going anywhere.

It was this dish that made me realise the very full descriptions on the website aren’t just for virtue-tallying. The description for this curry (had I read it before ordering) clearly states that it is intended for ‘spice lovers who would normally order a madras or hotter’, and I am a spice coward. However, the flavour was delicious, and the imitation chicken was really good.

Vegan Punjabi takeaway food from Bicester-based V-Giyan. Picture: Pete Hughes

Then Katie tried the pickle. Now this didn’t come with any spice warning on the website – but it needs one. I tried a piece of carrot the size of a pea, and if I’d had any more I wouldn’t have been able to taste anything for the next 24 hours. Again, it was tasty, though!

I ran back to the tofu paneer curry with my tail between my legs and was extremely grateful for its mild, korma-like sweetness.

Every step of getting this takeaway was a fun adventure, from choosing the dishes to the game of spicy minesweeper.

Mr Gill hasn’t just set up a high-quality takeaway, he’s set up a business which feels like a whole new type of eating experience. And, at a time when fun new experiences are in short supply, I highly recommend it.

Find out more at veganpunjabi.delivery

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