The Regency in north London was originally set up as a members’ club in 1991 but don’t be mistaken into thinking it was an exclusive joint. The licensing authorities didn’t trust a bunch of Gujuratis who descended from India but moved to the UK from Kenya in the 70s and made them operate a member-only policy with blacked out windows - ghettoising their business. It was a huge success despite this and fast forward to 2023 and now the Regency offers the dining splendour of a decadent East Africa where fiery curries and sizzling grills are so popular that evening bookings are now a must.
Most crucially your dining and drinking - there’s a bar where uncles sit - experience has been expertly curated so even the smells are important. A wooden-shack-style open kitchen pumps out dishes and the spice aroma it produces mixes in with a sandalwood, vanilla and cloves scent which is wafted into the air with incense sticks.
This is a desi pub (a British-Indian boozer) which offers something different and instead of the usual industrial lagers you can have a Rothaus pilsner with your food. Sadly, most other desi pubs offer the beer range you’d expect in a local curry house despite the food being a step up from the British institution that relies on pre-made sauces and colourings. Cobra’s marketing of lager as the ideal pairing with a hot dish, though, has meant most people believe it - or Kingfisher - to be the best match with a saag, korma or karahi.
As the Regency’s incense sticks show, spices can - and should - be delicately balanced with other flavours. So when you’re eating a curry it’s important to consider what spices are in it and match them with a beer which has corresponding tones. For this I think pale ales are excellent especially if the different flavours in the drink are subtle as they really can bring out the spice in your food. (It’s worth noting that often people will often call curries “spicy” when they mean “hot from chillies” and here I’m talking about spices you will find in your cupboard like cumin, coriander, fenugreek and cinnamon.)
Belgium-inspired Single Fluffy Rabbit (or SFR 5% ABV) brewed by Sheffield’s Saint Mars Of The Desert is a great example of this subtlety. Delicately fragranced with a range of floral (elderflowers), citrus (lime) and fruit (strawberry, lychee) tones it can work with a lot of Indian dishes that are finely balanced. Anything citrus-y, lime-y would complement dishes that contain ajwain (or carom) which has a thyme-like taste - fish pakoras often use this and, in fact, any spiced fish dish would work perfectly with SFR.
Unbarred x Bird & Blend: Amazonian Zing Beer (2.5%), is a collab between the Brighton brewery (the former) and a tea company (the latter) that specialises in loose leaf tea blends. The low ABV Berliner Weisse (which isn’t a pale ale but then rules are meant to be bent, right?) means it’s perfect with drier meals and the lemongrass and ginger flavours will dovetail with any dish with cardamom - I particularly enjoyed it with a chicken biryani.
Abbeydale Brewery’s Moonshine may have a daunting name but it’s actually a sessionable 4.3% classic pale ale. It had a pleasant citrus flavour - again great for fish or even marinated chicken, like tikka pieces - but the standout subtlety of its grapefruit tones makes it even more versatile as a pairer. Grapefruit is a bitter taste on my palate so it worked well with turmeric - found in most curries, especially deeply coloured ones - and any dish with amchoor (mango powder) common in certain aubergine dishes or samosas.
None of the three pairings are based on hard and fast rules and - above all - I recommend experimenting with different beers with different spices. It’s time to look past heavily carbonated lagers and embrace the subtlety of craft pale ales. If it’s spicy - go pale!
David Jesudason is a freelance journalist, he writes a weekly essay on Desi pub culture here davidjesudason.substack.com and you can read more powerful and superbly written pieces HERE on the Bangladeshi legacy of the British curry house to IPA’s colonial identity and more. Which led him to be named Be Inclusive Hospitality's Writer of The Year in 2022. His first book has just been released covering Desi pubs which guides the reader through pints, food and the culture of this British-Indian institution (available to buy at Hop Hideout). Not all the beers mentioned in the piece above are available, due to being specials, however Abbeydale’s Moonshine is a regular beer and can be purchased HERE. However you can follow David’s beer and food pairing principles to find plenty of other tasty beers in our online shop, buy HERE.