Tuk Tuk Indian Street Food, Southside, Edinburgh

George Drummond, my ultimate hero from 18th century Edinburgh. Six times Lord Provost, city improver and Moses-like visionary. It was he who championed the idea of the New Town to the north. Like Moses he didn't live to see his promised land.

You may be pondering the relevance of this to a quirky and delightful restaurant selling Indian street food. Well, I'm trying to get it into your head that this is the south side branch near the university. In Drummond Street, that is. The original, also named Tuk Tuk, is in the Tollcross area, Leven Street to be precise. Make sure you know where you're meeting up.

I've now been here twice. On both occasions it was because of its proximity to the Festival Theatre, but it well merits a journey for its own sake. Had I reviewed after visit one, I probably would have written, delightful little restaurant, and would have been very wrong. Through the back and down a few steps is another, larger room. This just makes their logistical nimbleness even more remarkable.

The menu is divided into two sections, Roadside Plates and Street Curries. The plates are small: since the most expensive dish is twelve pounds, with most under a tenner, it could hardly be otherwise. For me, this is one of the many delights of the place. Indian food is meant for sharing.

From my limited knowledge I'd say that the starters are definitely street food classics. Bhaji and samosa and chaat and the like. The food emanates from the kitchen at a terrific rate, but with no sense that anything has been hanging around. On visit one it was busy-ish: visit two (first week of the Festival), it was like Paddy's Market. The business model is obviously low prices and quick turnaround. To achieve that yet still produce food of this standard you need a talented and very well organised cooking team. I should say that for a group of four they want your table back after an hour and a quarter: book for two, and they specify an hour.

Beetroot bhaji were fine examples. If you are going for chaat, choose the samosa version, the sauce zinging with yoghurt, tamarind and mint. But not as much as the appropriately named puri yoghurt bombs, impossibly crispy little hollow shells from which spiced potato and yoghurt explode into your mouth. Top tip: eat them with your fingers.

There are fourteen mains on offer, including a biryani at just eleven pounds. Nearly half of them are vegetarian. I chuckled at the name Unauthentic Chicken Korma. It was a simple, mild, coconut based sauce. It was much enjoyed, and I don't think any of us was expert enough to comment on the authenticity.

More jokes with the names, Dhaba Wallah Lamb and Tuk Tuk Wallah Staff Curry. A wallah is simply someone who does a job, and a dhaba is a roadside eatery. I thought that the latter must be for the people who look after the tuk tuks; however, the staff recruitment page on their website invites you to join the Tuk Tuk Wallah Club. For anyone who doesn't know, a tuk tuk is a motorised tricycle taxi, ubiquitous in India and much of the east. Traditionally underpowered, its name comes from the stuttering noise of the two stroke engine.

Anyway the aforementioned were fine dishes both, with lamb and chicken on the bone respectively. I love the story behind Railway Station Lamb Curry, which I'm taking to be related to Railway Carriage Curry. Dating back to the days of the Raj, the story is told of a British officer who complained a dish was too spicy for his taste. The cook toned it down and it became a standard on the menu.

Everything we ate was great, though I'd give higher marks to the starters. We had a couple of dishes of rice and a couple of naans. It's a BYOB place (beer and wine only) for which they charge a staggeringly cheap £2 per head to cover recycling. But why not give your liver a rest and investigate their own imaginative drinks list. In addition to lassi and more obvious soft drinks, there are some wonderful mocktails. I had a shikanji, tangy lemon with some spicing, imported from India I was told.

Looking at the website I noticed an interesting thing. There is a set menu which wasn't offered on either of our visits. For £22.50 per person you can choose (from a smaller range) a selection of starters  and four curries plus rice etc for the table. Great for two or three, but our group of four with one starter and one main each paid slightly less, including our BYOB supplement and a voluntary donation to Scottish Love in Action. (That's an Edinburgh based charity supporting vulnerable children in India.) What is commendable and surprising in equal measures is that no service charge is added to the bill for groups of fewer than five people. Amid the chaos the serving staff were lithe, slithering through the tiny spaces like well organised cobras, yet still unfailingly charming.

I read that the original restaurant was founded as long ago as 2012 by Rizvi Khaleque. As ever, it's taken me a long time to get to the party. As I've mentioned, it's not a place for a lingering date night, but for the right occasion it's hard to better. Note to self - must get out (to the south side) more.