One of Dundee’s oldest Indian restaurants has been put up for sale – after more than four decades of serving the city.
Balaka, on Perth Road, has been in the same ownership for 44 years and was one of the first Indian restaurants to open in Dundee.
The venue has been put on the market as the owners are retiring.
A listing on the Shepherd Chartered Surveyors website says: “For sale, an established and well-known restaurant and takeaway.
“Rare opportunity to acquire property and business on busy Perth Road. In same ownership since 1977.
“Sale due to retirement.”
The property is being advertised for offers in excess of £200,000.
‘It was always the place to go’
Local journalist Alan Wilson said great service and excellent food made him a loyal customer for 40 years.
Alan, who lives in the West End, said: “It was always the place to go after you went out in the West End, after frequenting the local pubs. It was the place to go for a late-night curry when I was younger.
“Things were different then, it used to be you would leave the pub earlier and go for food then, now it’s more the other way round, people eat before they go out for drinks.
“The Balaka has been a mainstay of the West End through those 40 years.”
Alan, a freelancer who previously worked for DC Thomson, added: “We had our staff nights out there for more than a decade. It was just a great place.
“You could always get a table, the staff were always brilliantly friendly and you got a lovely welcome. It was just always the place we’d go after a few drinks in the West End.
“You would always see your mates in the pub in there too, it was a focal point of that area, an institution even, and still is to this day.
“And of course, the food is always excellent. It’s a brilliant place. If it is to close in the future it would be a shame because it’s an institution in the area.”
‘The best Indian restaurant in Dundee’
People have been reacting to the news of the restaurant’s sale on social media.
One wrote: “Any time I was back in the city, I would visit, and the head waiter would greet me as an old friend.
“I remember when he had his first child, a daughter, and the last time I visited, a couple of years back, he showed me pictures of his beautiful grandchildren.
“Farewell, old friend; your bhuna lamb was off the scale good – never tasted better.”
Online reviews also sing the restaurant’s praises.
One wrote: “The best Indian sit down eatery in Dundee. Classic interior, great menu, relaxing atmosphere – food to die for.”
Another said: “The best Indian restaurant in Dundee, really nice and friendly staff. I have been going since it opened in 1977, the greatest biryani ever.”
Owners celebrated 40 years in 2017
In 2017, boss Samsur Rahman celebrated 40 years of dishing up a flavour of India to diners at the restaurant.
Coming to Dundee from Bangladesh in 1970 as a textiles student, he couldn’t find a job and was unable to return home, so instead opened Balaka in 1977.
He said in his 2017 interview: “I was able to cook and I thought my only option was to open a restaurant — and we are still here today.
“The people have been very good to me over the years. Dundonians are very welcoming and friendly.
“A lot has definitely changed in Dundee. The Perth Road is still kind of the same but the whole landscape is different and that is good for the city.
“But we haven’t changed and I think that is one of the reasons why we have been successful.”
