Markaz, Bradford.

It is dominated by giant concrete-eating machines working by the light of floodlights to demolish the old police headquarters. Opposite City Hall curves the square's prestige leisure development and towards the end, where there's a giant TV screen, is Markaz.

Out-of-towners should not expect to find it straight away. At around seven-ish there are precious few people to ask if they know where it is. A couple at a table outside Starbucks, braving the damp chill for the sake of a cigarette, did not. It turned out to be right next door, hidden behind a square marquee which obscures its name and entrance. There's an interesting reason why.

Markaz is a restaurant offering Indian and Arabic dishes, which in itself is by no means run-of-the-mill. But in addition to that it provides shisha – or hookah – pipes at 9.95 a time with specially-prepared apple and cherry-flavoured tobacco mixtures. Hot air drawn down from small coals evaporates the mixture, producing smoke. Once the shishas could be enjoyed in a comfortably-furnished room behind the main part of the restaurant. The 2007 smoking ban led to a court case and the smoking room's eventual closure. Hence the tent with its soft chairs for lounging in and a serious loss of income to the business.

On our visit the two of us were the lone diners. Solitariness is especially noticeable here since the dining room is vast. Designers of prestige leisure developments seem to have it in their heads that thousands of people will be milling around every night of the week looking for somewhere to eat – rather than just two. Consequently, interiors that are big enough for six-a-side football.

A small fountain plays in the middle of the dining room whose dcor seems more Arabic than Indian. There's some decorative fretwork and there may have been a picture on a distant wall.

Our visit was intended to coincide with a new menu, but the manager explained this was still in the offing. For the purposes of this review I don't think it mattered, the proposed changes don't seem to involve major reconstruction.

There's such an over-abundance of Indian restaurants in this part of the world it appeared sensible to see what Markaz can do with its Arab choices. Result? Three starters of a quality that should have this restaurant filled to bursting. They were prettily presented Arabian-style falafel, potato and Feta cheese kibbeh and zaalouk. The latter is a puree of grilled aubergine with garlic and fresh coriander served with warm khibus bread, which is similar to pitta only in the way that a Ferrari is similar to an MG.

The dish of zaalouk comes cold, its flavours complex and rich. If there's the hint in there of aubergine bitterness, it's contribution to the overall effect is wholly positive. The falafels – with chilli in the mix – were aristocrats of that species and the deep-fried kibbeh, (pine nuts, Feta and mashed potato with cracked wheat) were their peers in every respect.

As I ate these I thought of restaurants I've been to – customers queuing in the cold for a table – which come nowhere close to producing food of such quality.

My choice for the main course was deliberately perverse: fillet steak with a masala sauce. It looked an odd combination on paper and it was. My knife tugged and tore and wrestled with the steak, each bout resulting in a chewy morsel, and while the masala sauce added interest, I had to wonder why anyone would think added interest was needed. When the manager – who was serving us – came by and asked if the meal was okay, I pointed at the wreckage on my plate and he bought me a replacement without a quibble. The second steak was a marked improvement – but the sauce was still baffling. The mashed potato I chose in preference to chips had cheese in it and was very pleasant. There was an accompanying salad – serviceable rather than inspired.

Our other main dish was a fish tagine. Benefiting from the fresh coriander and bell peppers used in its assembly, it would have been excellent all on its own. The overall effect was made better still by the soft and luscious naan bread which came with it. To finish we had a dish of warm garjar halwa (the wonderfully sustaining Indian sweet made with grated carrots) and a sensational kanafa. This is made with discs of deep-fried puff pastry sandwiching sweet cream and crushed almonds and sprinkled with cinnamon powder and icing sugar. It came with some ice cream, and was a dream. We had a bottle of Australian Broken Earth Chardonnay (11.95) which mysteriously acquired a stack of new and interesting flavours as the meal went on and I ended with a generous espresso coffee. Our bill came to 54. Overall, this visit to Markaz had been very rewarding.

Markaz, Centenary Square, Bradford, BD1 9SG. Tel 01274 743744. www.markaz-shisha.co.uk Open 11.30am to midnight Mondays to Thursdays. Sundays, Fridays and Saturdays open to 2am. On Mondays to Fridays it offers a lunchtime buffet. Car parking, as always in the centre of Bradford, is problematical.