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• First Man in Space?

That'll be 'Yuri' Gagarin not 'Ury'. A Ury is a Kerali word for a rig that is attached to a ceiling with coir ropes used to keep and preserve food for longer periods in clay pots at a certain height above ground level. This comes from the Ury website, which is both very informative and beautifully designed. First of all, the vegetarian and vegan choice here is excellent, if not astonishing. There is an array of meat free starters, traditional Southern Indian curry main courses, dosas and side dishes. It's glorious. We arrived at their Newcastle quayside location at around 2pm on a Saturday for lunch fully aware of the 3pm closing but at no point during our epic 100 minute dining experience did we feel rushed. To start we had the Kathrika ("Finely sliced pieces of aubergines dipped in a special batter, blended with coriander and chilli, before frying. Served with fresh tomato chutney"). They were delicately delicious. We also had a few samples of the other vegetarian starters. They were all superb but I'd like to highlight the Banana Pori as being quite exceptional ("Ripe plantains dipped in rice and chickpea batter with tampered black sesame seeds served with peanut and ginger chutney"). For the main course we had the Masala Dosa which in my opinion deserves an award as the best dosa I have ever had ("A paper thin pancake made of rice and black gram folded in half with a filling of spicy potatoes cooked with onions and ginger and served with sambar and coconut chutney"). The crispy exterior was a gastronomic delight and the filling equally as good. We also went for the Cheera Parippu Curry ("Fresh spinach and toor dal cooked in thick sauce of garlic and green peppers, flavoured with curry leaves") served with boiled rice. This was very subtly spiced and full of goodness. Yuri clearly take vegetarian / vegan cooking extremely seriously, they even hold vegetarian cooking demonstration evenings where you get to sample the finest creations from their top chefs. Without a blink of an eye we will be back. The staff are friendly, welcoming and very proud of their restaurant. If this place was 100% meat free I would have given 5 happy cows if it was permitted on the website but of course I am only able to give it 4 which is due to the fact that meat is also served on the premises.