tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68209623570732879532024-03-05T19:25:10.812+00:00Ethnic Eating in LondonA Food Lover's Quest For The Best Ethnic Restaurants in LondonEllenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08673907462542162095noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-55433012762715725562012-08-27T13:00:00.000+01:002012-08-28T13:08:21.776+01:00Donna Margherita: An Italian Place that Stands Out, But Not Necessarily for its Pizza<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Name </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Donna Margherita</span><br />
<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Address </b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">183 Lavender Hill</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">, London SW11 5TE</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Phone </b>020 7228 2660</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Web site </b></span><a href="http://www.donna-margherita.com/">http://www.donna-margherita.com/</a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Main dish price range </b> </span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>7.75-9.90<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Rating</b> 3.5 Stars. Great restaurant if you're there for the atmosphere, the football, and the burrata. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Recommended dishes: </b>Burrata with eggplant puree and pesto, Saltimbocca Fritto e al Forno </span><br />
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Nick and I, as we've indicated on this blog<a href="http://londonethniceating.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/santore-we-found-our-go-to-neapolitan.html"> before</a>, are nothing if not suckers for a good Neapolitan pizza. In 2009 we took a special trip to Rome, Naples, and the Amalfi Coast, partially inspired by our near weekly trips to our favorite Neapolitan pizza place in New York. Our regular ritual involved making a pilgrimage there after the gym or work, gulping down a whole pizza each-- savoring the gooey center and the pitch-perfect fresh basil-- before washing it down with a glass of house red wine. <i>Perfezione! </i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Football Jerseys inside Donna Margherita.</td></tr>
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So we were thrilled when an Italian friend told us about Donna Margherita, a small trattoria in South London that she said was a favorite haunt of employees working at the Italian embassy. This seemed like the perfect spot for us to continue our quest to locate and consume London's best Neapolitan pizzas, a journey that had already made us <a href="http://londonethniceating.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/santore-we-found-our-go-to-neapolitan.html">fans of Exmouth Market's Santore</a>. Reading up on Donna Margherita, we were even further encouraged by its bevy of followers: No less a vaunted source than Dan Lepard, the former pastry chef at St. John's, has called it a source <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/aug/05/foodanddrink.restaurants">of "near-perfect" pizza</a>.<br />
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When we arrived on a sunny Saturday, we were immediately taken in by Donna Margherita's quirky, down-to-earth charm. Italian soccer jerseys hung on one wall, as did a black and white picture of a person we're told is among Southern Italy's most famous comics-cum-mimes. (Side note: This would be a killer place to watch an Italian <i>Serie A</i> game.) A sculpture/city scene made largely using pizza dough stood in one corner begging for attention. We immediately got the meal off to an auspicious start by ordering a selection of antipasti (not on the menu, but you can ask for it), which included what turned out to be a delicious plate-- a large chunk of mouthwateringly perfect fresh burrata cheese, flown in from Italy and presented in a bed of aubergine puree. Like a good burrata it cut open to reveal a gooey rich center, rich as butter. A smear of homemade pesto snaked along the side of our plate, tasting like perfection.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXd2FnQVZEsgbPMxAn4iY4tpxmeuayQb6EjrqR1WZCP0ItTkBnar1wEaogsuc8suR0jmcvNNAepohSTgEMYh6jZGVrBWTFlUyJ-Xs5xQ_epX0vdsRHDjylE4D7M5vqXua2VBNILe9cKyI/s1600/IMG_1711.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXd2FnQVZEsgbPMxAn4iY4tpxmeuayQb6EjrqR1WZCP0ItTkBnar1wEaogsuc8suR0jmcvNNAepohSTgEMYh6jZGVrBWTFlUyJ-Xs5xQ_epX0vdsRHDjylE4D7M5vqXua2VBNILe9cKyI/s640/IMG_1711.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Donna Margherita: A burrata to remember.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70CCYYI6sjFNEEdw5gy78uq0s0qljefFYhnJCs5HtASLJaNDDEZGDNhuBzOR2CD7jp2WZFhPvShSF89juxrp4bwdGhvXRlDDtXjaoQ0GpKhzeMcVjvC4Tf1Gzrco0fWjKgjWun5QEZ_0/s1600/IMG_1714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>Next up, we ventured into some main courses. Although we were there to taste the pizza, at least primarily, I decided to also tuck into one of the dishes on the menu's "homemade pasta" section-- the O'Scialatiell ro' re Ferdinando, a classic seafood scialatielli dish. (On our trip years ago to Amalfi, one of my favorite meals was a seafood scialatielli cooked by a nice grandmotherly like woman in a tiny restaurant in the basement of her house-- so any dish of this sort has a special place in the depths of my food memories.) At Donna Margherita, the pasta had that perfect consistency, bordering on gummy, that makes homemade pasta such a consistent delight. The seafood-- which included bits of squid, clams, and a giant prawn on top-- also tasted fresh and well prepared. The dish, however, was a bit more salty and garlicky than I would typically consider ideal, and could have used a few more tomatoes to cut those flavors. Still though, a solid offering. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFbHzBjOCCMW0y9H4i8Wz2xNFQzfKVO4Vzoo-AEsk-vsCxPDNRRyrJ178wXZTHlNqvN6mvPTr9fuG0IvulaqnJXgNXvyGakzo47re_62AxnQ6DMS0odOtQGggc1slbRESGMHPtN9mav9Y/s1600/IMG_1716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFbHzBjOCCMW0y9H4i8Wz2xNFQzfKVO4Vzoo-AEsk-vsCxPDNRRyrJ178wXZTHlNqvN6mvPTr9fuG0IvulaqnJXgNXvyGakzo47re_62AxnQ6DMS0odOtQGggc1slbRESGMHPtN9mav9Y/s640/IMG_1716.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sampling the pasta offerings: the O'Scialatiell ro re' Fernando. </td></tr>
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We then turned to the main attraction: the pizza. Nick and I always try to test a new Neapolitan pizza place by testing the most simple iteration of the dish-- the Margherita pizza, which ideally should be the perfect balance between tart tomatoes, warm mozzarella, and pieces of cool fresh basil. The best version of this dish is presented piping hot, with an almost liquid center. At Donna Margherita, however, the pizza came out lukewarm, ruining some of the pizza's inherent magic. The middle felt cool and soggy and some of the tastes dulled by this presentation. A friend who ordered a slightly more complicated pie-- the Prosciutto e Funghi-- said he felt similarly: the pizza was adequate, but definitely not a knockout.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70CCYYI6sjFNEEdw5gy78uq0s0qljefFYhnJCs5HtASLJaNDDEZGDNhuBzOR2CD7jp2WZFhPvShSF89juxrp4bwdGhvXRlDDtXjaoQ0GpKhzeMcVjvC4Tf1Gzrco0fWjKgjWun5QEZ_0/s1600/IMG_1714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70CCYYI6sjFNEEdw5gy78uq0s0qljefFYhnJCs5HtASLJaNDDEZGDNhuBzOR2CD7jp2WZFhPvShSF89juxrp4bwdGhvXRlDDtXjaoQ0GpKhzeMcVjvC4Tf1Gzrco0fWjKgjWun5QEZ_0/s640/IMG_1714.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not living up to the hype: The Margherita pizza at Donna Margherita.</td></tr>
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Our meal, however, did include one very pleasant main-course surprise. The Italian friend who joined us skipped the pizza altogether, choosing instead to get one the restaurant's saltimboccas, a small sandwich native to Naples. (Not to be confused with the "saltimboccas" endemic to Rome and parts of Switzerland, Spain, and Greece-- a meat dish that involves marinating prosciutto or veal in wine or saltwater.) I'd the Naples version of this sandwich before, and always marveled at the texture of the pizza dough that's used as the sandwich bread, which some restaurants, Donna Margherita included, make crunchy and crackly-- almost like a cracker-- by frying and then baking. Here, this hard-to-find dish was practically perfect. The restaurant offers versions with four different fillings, and the Saltimbocca Fritto e al Forno, filled with provola cheese, cherry tomatoes, fresh rocket, and shavings of parmesan and porchetta, was a stunner. If I lived anywhere near Lavender Hill, this dish alone would make me a Donna-Margherita regular. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZeUwIvPOEHPxDOOofeFM_xDnT4ARvAa7R2fisImkFhveW_gxLTmAuefb-CN3T2DtCDDncTEDWD6HEwIGsKASJTTH1vu360seAEERWHktWLHG204mBZ5cm8AmRtmmUsXftcv1rTLCR6M/s1600/IMG_1717.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZeUwIvPOEHPxDOOofeFM_xDnT4ARvAa7R2fisImkFhveW_gxLTmAuefb-CN3T2DtCDDncTEDWD6HEwIGsKASJTTH1vu360seAEERWHktWLHG204mBZ5cm8AmRtmmUsXftcv1rTLCR6M/s640/IMG_1717.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taste the crunch: The divine Saltimbocca Fritto e al Forno.</td></tr>
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All in all, Nick and I were glad to have visited Donna Margherita, and would definitely come back again for sandwiches and some quality football/soccer watching. Crowds of Italian speaking families also added to the place's quirky charm. For now though, our go-to Neapolitan pizza place remains Exmouth Market's Santore. But, our journey to try all of London's best-reviewed places continues. The lengthy lines so far have prevented us from trying <a href="http://francomanca.co.uk/">Franco Manga</a> in Brixton, but we'll report back once we do.
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/563185/restaurant/London/Donna-Margherita-Battersea"><img alt="Donna Margherita on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/563185/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; padding: 0px; width: 200px;" /></a>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-22471817357051692372012-05-06T18:39:00.001+01:002013-09-29T14:58:59.013+01:00Pho Express: A Fabulous Vietnamese Spot Strikes Back<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Name </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Pho Express </span><br />
<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Address </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">149 Upper Street, Unit B, London N1 1RA </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Phone </b>none </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Web site </b>none</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Main dish price range</b> £4.5<br /><b>Rating</b> 4 Stars. The best place we know to nurse a pho addiction. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Recommended dishes: </b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Someone's studying up on one of London's best banh mi places.</td></tr>
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When <a href="http://londonethniceating.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/pho-express-strong-new-banh-mi-offering.html">we last checked in</a> with Pho Express, this tiny, Islington outpost serving Vietnamese food and crispy banh mi was still finding its footing, experimenting with some new ingredients and tweaking the menu and sandwich seasonings with every visit. Now, several months in, we feel the need to give our loyal and faithful readers an update. Why? This place has gone from being good to simply amazing.<br />
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One of the first things I feel the need to address is the actual pho itself, which last time, as you may all remember, Nick and I had yet to try. Now, it's worth noting that I have always not been the world's biggest pho fan. I'm never sure what to do when I get the varietals that have hoisin sauce and radishes in little containers on the side, and I've worried in the past that I've taken versions of the soup and either overly seasoned it or kept it so simple I was missing some of the key allure. So it's much to my relief that at Pho Express, the four types of pho on hand (<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>5-6 each) are made entirely by you for the staff-- and are unlike any I've had before with their amazingly delicate flavorings and quality ingredients. Here, the broth is a light, beef broth, loaded high with large pieces of meat (your choice of chicken, beef, prawn or chicken plus beef), tons of fresh cilantro, and bits of lime that give it a refreshing citrus finish.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj2wRNou4MuKl8xSb_23YNIvxiIby9AewCSddMP_TfWJ46hKzxvylMNpH1mRgJQSHG_SeTqKGz_tkz4VOKaUFiyOOHstLUyb2hfkztQ-70lhAzAwwi34yjLOWVx2YkdnRelYfXLIzSQZs/s1600/IMG_1737.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj2wRNou4MuKl8xSb_23YNIvxiIby9AewCSddMP_TfWJ46hKzxvylMNpH1mRgJQSHG_SeTqKGz_tkz4VOKaUFiyOOHstLUyb2hfkztQ-70lhAzAwwi34yjLOWVx2YkdnRelYfXLIzSQZs/s640/IMG_1737.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pho shizzle: The amazing beef pho (Pho Bo) at Pho Express. </td></tr>
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Adding to the giant bowl of goodness the staff will readily add fresh, green chilies-- a favorite of Nick's, but perhaps not recommended for the less tough among us. A thick glob of egg noodles sop up the broth inside. Not only have I come to appreciate this pho, I crave it-- and eat it-- on a multi-times a week basis. The staff tells me it's North Vietnamese, different from the kind you'd typically find restaurants. Whatever it is, it's delicious.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_CM98gBHjJxkniJGeaxQUlSz76Jio9t2rpRGYG2vD6agFmGuz_ggMegLcXCwRZ-eXKat49LDZNQHJFOHTFIdWgeD6KPudbiQkezvsEfjdD3kleEqSxAHzBUHa7zMYHzNaOmtGa1Lmfk/s1600/IMG_1739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_CM98gBHjJxkniJGeaxQUlSz76Jio9t2rpRGYG2vD6agFmGuz_ggMegLcXCwRZ-eXKat49LDZNQHJFOHTFIdWgeD6KPudbiQkezvsEfjdD3kleEqSxAHzBUHa7zMYHzNaOmtGa1Lmfk/s640/IMG_1739.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pho fan, pho-ever. </td></tr>
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And the banh mi served these days is now an almost equally palette-pleasing treat. As I mentioned last time around, the best banh mi is a study in opposites-- the crispy, flaky toasted bun and the well-sauced filling and pate inside balancing it out with warm, gooey goodness. The team at Pho Express has always nailed the baguette, offering up the perfectly crisp type of bread product you'd expect to find at a French corner shop. After experimenting with different dry herbs and flakes, however, the team seems to have decided to stick with the more classic iterations of the dish that they do best. My favorite is the barbecue pork (<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>4), which has cucumbers and sweet, pickled kohlrabi and carrots on top, along with fresh green chilies, which must be asked for as an extra topping. The Special banh mi (<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£5) </span>is also the perfect balance of tastes and textures with its thick pieces of barbecue pork, homemade pate, and dried pork floss. They even have a Thap Cam banh mi (the most expensive banh mi at <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£5.5)</span>, which is billed as an "all in one option"-- presumably with grilled chicken and pork as well as pate and floss. I've been so hung up on my current favorites, I haven't yet ventured to try it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;">1 <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgclsYS9EGdxuKTc8XgCNCfosjFOVrLv6Ymxm3Acpea21dE8wfw02cRvXWBGECpdQJYdlc54teB99VkuIuKryg-8RG8AjP1hmuw55PIS3gnHBfiFBwNhvpw7BmeN1HBJWKKCv7AQLcerbs/s1600/banh+mi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgclsYS9EGdxuKTc8XgCNCfosjFOVrLv6Ymxm3Acpea21dE8wfw02cRvXWBGECpdQJYdlc54teB99VkuIuKryg-8RG8AjP1hmuw55PIS3gnHBfiFBwNhvpw7BmeN1HBJWKKCv7AQLcerbs/s640/banh+mi.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking in the local Angel scene, and the yummy banh mi.</td></tr>
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Pho Express is certainly rapidly turning into a neighborhood star here in Islington, and certainly my favorite go-to lunch place. In addition to the sandwiches and pho, the little spot also serves up Vietnamese rice bowls, including a Belly Pork and Spare Ribs in Caramel Sauce (<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£6)</span>. It's still short on seating space though-- besides a couple seats right in the window, they have a very low table with two seats sort of crammed haphazardly in front of the ordering counter, as well as a few seats outside-- relevant if spring would ever grace us with her presence. For now, I'm happy to slurp my soup and wash it down with a pitch-perfect, super sweet Vietnamese Iced Coffee (<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£2.50). </span>A nice bit of perfection. <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuOX3OmcMcooAUazRb010080UasSV49AWjm3mYR3NMr7R6X4pr7ikkddPkOnBQ_BMCP5efWSJ3yzss5ubAQ_hVkWkQ-_PoV0M1SMnRrKcLGsGVOqrq6OcyaWiAMPS-2DJo3ep9UmVEjpU/s1600/IMG_1734.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuOX3OmcMcooAUazRb010080UasSV49AWjm3mYR3NMr7R6X4pr7ikkddPkOnBQ_BMCP5efWSJ3yzss5ubAQ_hVkWkQ-_PoV0M1SMnRrKcLGsGVOqrq6OcyaWiAMPS-2DJo3ep9UmVEjpU/s320/IMG_1734.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Believe the hype.</td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1632146/restaurant/London/Pho-Express-Islington"><img alt="Pho Express on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1632146/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; padding: 0px; width: 200px;" /></a>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-34660733979477523432012-05-06T14:40:00.004+01:002012-05-07T14:57:49.230+01:00Mestizo: Yes, There are Good Tamales in London<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Name </b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Mestizo</span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> Restaurant & Tequila Bar </span><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Address </b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">103 Hampstead Road</span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">, NW1 3EL</span><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Phone </b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">020 73874064</span><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Web site </b> <a href="http://london.mestizomx.com/">http://london.mestizomx.com/</a><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Main dish price range</b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">£9.80 - </span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">£</span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">24</span><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Rating</b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> 4 Stars. It's got a 3-star dinner, a 4-star brunch, and a 5-star tamale </span><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Recommended dishes</b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> Tamales and Pastor Tacos</span><br />
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London, of course, is a long way from Mexico-- the land of Coronas, sun, and <i>ceviche.</i> And Nick, as many of you know by now, is originally from California, probably the best place to find perfect Mexican food in the United States. (I'm dreaming of taco trucks as I write these words.) So, you could say we were highly skeptical when a group of charming London School Economics alums we met told us they'd found <i>the spot </i>where real Mexican nationals go to pick up their tamales and eat authentic Mexican food. Immediately, we were intrigued. Could this exist? And... would it be the next best thing to tacos on the beach in Tulum?<br />
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The place our new friends recommended was Mestizo, a nicely appointed restaurant with red walls and white tablecloths just a five minute walk from the either the Euston or Warren Street tube stations. Knowing it was slightly more sleek than the usual place we review here, Nick and I decided to first try this restaurant on Valentine's Day, and our meal there quickly started off on a real high note. The <i>Tamales</i> (<span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">£5.40)</span>, our first appetizer, struck the perfect balance. Peeling back husk revealed a mouthwatering soft and lightly moist dose of <i>masa</i> flour, wrapped around a generous meat filling. For the two tamales that came with our order, Nick and I opted for the delicious <i>puerco</i> <i>con salsa verde</i> (pork with green salsa) filling-- which had the perfect amount of kick-- and also the <i>queso con rajas</i> (cheese with peppers), a classic. Our meal was off to an auspicious and authentic start.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRerR3KOeKYqJ3Q1y7-bE7HmDp9pAVLG5rRiMc716z9ZpNi2zA_uxz0KGuUS6odujecbQwNw0GMOa3WzR6AsqjrNHogsTSfeUfjIcL2EddmX-3FrcZ1cmKYDWbEi9LI9hEFV03JtRTy6s/s1600/IMG_0743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRerR3KOeKYqJ3Q1y7-bE7HmDp9pAVLG5rRiMc716z9ZpNi2zA_uxz0KGuUS6odujecbQwNw0GMOa3WzR6AsqjrNHogsTSfeUfjIcL2EddmX-3FrcZ1cmKYDWbEi9LI9hEFV03JtRTy6s/s640/IMG_0743.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Answering a craving: The delectable <i>Tamales</i> at Mestizo.</td></tr>
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Next up, we chased down our tamales with the restaurant's <i>Sopa de Tortilla</i> (<span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">£</span>6.50), a nearly perfect fresh tomato soup with bits of fresh, homemade, corn tortillas sprinkled throughout. The accompaniments that came on the side were also a particular highlight, and we enjoyed the white, crumbly c<i>otija</i> cheese, as well as the fresh avocado and bits of dried chilies. As loyal readers know, Nick is never one to turn down a good opportunity to devour his share-- and often my share-- of chilies, so being able to sprinkle them liberally is always a plus. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyjtOzGQI7mQqcqHNPIEI9PIq11KtiM0FpyzVF962QoCqcBNBoGQWuTW1VyXVFic6mmNh7iUY6GN1_LQhr4PHtPNjpsAMObchnMek4AIuQOrGqSUNMzxTpAYnpcXWtDm7QeYXND9UeB0w/s1600/IMG_0745.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyjtOzGQI7mQqcqHNPIEI9PIq11KtiM0FpyzVF962QoCqcBNBoGQWuTW1VyXVFic6mmNh7iUY6GN1_LQhr4PHtPNjpsAMObchnMek4AIuQOrGqSUNMzxTpAYnpcXWtDm7QeYXND9UeB0w/s640/IMG_0745.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A good back-up Valentine's date: Mestizo's divine <i>Sopa de Tortilla</i>.</td></tr>
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When it came to the main courses, however, we began to feel a little deflated. I've always been a sucker for a good <i>mole</i>, a term that most Mexican lovers know can mean a whole variety of yummy sauces that typically blanket tender, moist chicken and fresh rice and beans. At Mestizo, Mexico's national dish is presented in its most popular and classic form: A deep brown <i>mole poblano</i>, made from chili peppers, almonds, and about 20 other herbs and spices, finished with unsweetened chocolate. Mestizo's <i>Mole Poblano</i> main course (<span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">£</span>14) was definitely good, but it was a bit more watery and not as thick as <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-taco-zamorano-restaurant-oakland">t</a>he best iterations I've had of this dish. The flavoring also wasn't as complex and multilayered as I would have liked. I'd definitely rank it a B, and a good way to answer your mole craving in London in a pinch. For <span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">£</span>14 though, and used as the main attraction of the dish-- as opposed to a seasoning in a taco-- I wanted more.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGsCDmvoKXH_WyaRunDljbBX_zWwigBkzmK3lTTo5QZ_6HWkSlT7Pg_w2pqJJNNTS5RtS0kJh4X4atzwJilraTbzP0ZqgIdoaSDGOZ-qT9YCU3MD_vIg0raZfyv3325SOtSFlA2ml8vQ/s1600/IMG_0750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGsCDmvoKXH_WyaRunDljbBX_zWwigBkzmK3lTTo5QZ_6HWkSlT7Pg_w2pqJJNNTS5RtS0kJh4X4atzwJilraTbzP0ZqgIdoaSDGOZ-qT9YCU3MD_vIg0raZfyv3325SOtSFlA2ml8vQ/s640/IMG_0750.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More Mole? I'm not so sure. </td></tr>
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Our second main course, which left us particularly unimpressed, may have been more of a strategic ordering mistake. Nick and I opted for the <i>Pollo Ticul</i> (<span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">£</span>14), a classic Yucatan dish. The chicken is speckled with achiote seeds-- lending a slightly bitter, earthy sort flavor-- and then sweetened with orange juice and honey, covered with vegetables, and cooked in a banana leaf. While it seemed decently well-executed, it wasn't nearly as spicy as we'd expected and lacked the sort of flavors we crave most in our Mexican food. The whole thing was rather bland, mushy, and unmemorable, sort of like something I'd expect at a high-street chain. It also wasn't cheap.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWc8ZAODkggWvrDaEYHSuFaQso09XJZJVNL18nQYubATDcC8CVD6PjYWKIejPl8Vr65Imy19RKWbyMXsrfyI8r3ktHiXFsJOwybTSwrNXipTPM9Hf5uK2GXKCTVFv3TV6vpfd1PnM_lMQ/s1600/IMG_0748.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWc8ZAODkggWvrDaEYHSuFaQso09XJZJVNL18nQYubATDcC8CVD6PjYWKIejPl8Vr65Imy19RKWbyMXsrfyI8r3ktHiXFsJOwybTSwrNXipTPM9Hf5uK2GXKCTVFv3TV6vpfd1PnM_lMQ/s640/IMG_0748.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bring on the bland: Mestizo's <i>Pollo Ticul</i> is a unmemorable mashup.</td></tr>
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Ready to put Mestizo in our good-not-great category, Nick and I contacted our new friends, and they then told us the real secret of Mestizo lovers-- the restaurant's <span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">£20</span>, all-you-can-eat, Sunday brunch. We assembled a big group, and headed together to this giant orgy of Mexican food-- and this time, Mestizo definitely didn't disappoint. The waitresses kicked off our meal by offering us a selection of <i>aguas frescas</i> (pitchers of sweetened, ice-cold, fruit juices), and then we descended on the buffet, which included both pre-made items as well as two cooks on hand to make ready-to-order dishes like<i> huevos rancheros</i> (runny eggs with tortilla, fresh salsa, and refried beans) and <i>chilaquiles</i> (mole-soaked tortillas topped with eggs). Mestizo's selection of classic tacos were also made on the spot, their tortillas warmed on a griddle. Classic flavors like<i> tinga</i> (shredded chicken with tomatoes), <i>pastor</i> (marinated pork and pineapple), <i>carnitas </i>(slow-cooked pork), and <i>rajas con crema</i> (poblano pepper with sweet corn) were all available-- and many of them were excellent.<br />
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When it came to the regular buffet food, there were also some real highlights. <i>Cerdo en Pipian, </i>a pork in green chili sauce, had a great flavor and was kept piping hot, and a <i>chicharron en salsa verde </i>was also particularly delicious. Bonus authenticity points go to Mestizo for also offering <i>nopales, </i>a type of cactus widely available in Mexico that our friend had yet to find anywhere else in London. The one thing I'd leave behind, however, was the flan dessert, which was soaked in an overpowering orange syrup that overshadowed the flavor.<br />
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Overall, Nick and I are definitely planning to return to Mestizo, most likely on a Sunday afternoon. (Writing this now-- on a Sunday, in fact-- I'm hearing Mestizo's call.) Also worth noting for the younger and more party-minded than us: Mestizo also supposedly has a world class selection of 160 tequilas, served at a bar downstairs that <i>Travel and Leisure</i> magazine once dubbed the <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/the-golden-touch-september-2005">"sexiest" tequila bar</a> in all of Europe. Party on, Wayne-- or better yet, Waynitos. <br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/566926/restaurant/London/Camden-Town/Mestizo-Camden"><img alt="Mestizo on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/566926/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; padding: 0px; width: 200px;" /></a>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com2103 Hampstead Rd, London, Greater London NW1 3EL, UK51.5275681 -0.138869751.525098600000007 -0.14380520000000002 51.5300376 -0.1339342tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-82394089228592540102012-03-28T23:59:00.002+01:002012-03-29T13:17:57.965+01:00Needoo Grill: A Tayyabs Alternative that Just Might Best the Original<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Name </b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Needoo Grill </span><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Address </b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">87 New Road, </span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">E1 1HH</span><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Phone </b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">020 72470648</span><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Web site </b>
<a href="http://needoogrill.co.uk/">http://needoogrill.co.uk/</a><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Main dish price range</b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> £5-15</span><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Rating</b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> 5 Stars. Just as good as Tayyabs-- believe it. </span><br />
<b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Recommended dishes</b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> Daighi Slow Cooked Dry Meat, Needoo's Peshwari Nan, Daal Baingun</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Nick and I have recently gone to Paris for a couple weekends-- what London food lover can resist it?-- and while researching where to engorge ourselves on that side of the channel, I've been spending a lot of time on the Chowhound message boards.</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> And that's, curiously, how I learned about the Needoo Grill. </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">On the London section of Chow, Needoo Grill is enjoying something of <a href="http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/649685">a glory ride</a>, with all sorts of foodies saying that this restaurant is<i> </i>better than New Tayyabs-- the famed, lines-out-the-door, addictive Punjabi kebabs house. And it certainly has the credibility to make that believable: Needoo, which is around the corner in from Tayyabs' little kebab kingdom, was founded by a former Tayyabs chef. Just walking past you catch a whiff of the same sort of meaty deliciousness. (See our the blog's take on Tayyabs <a href="http://londonethniceating.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/tayyabs-in-whitechapel_14.html">here</a>.) </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmT2nvhHBnGEzy3RW3FNNT2bd3kQeqU8PlKa9qnEHgukfVF5ZqbrQvsgdV5xTCjFap97Ut_GcDPzt-ScHRtI-fQr_iWmaWyNB0WWjohNBiLnoba01dOeDo0M3H3s1uEiRw1LUa8A84Zs/s1600/IMG_0567.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmT2nvhHBnGEzy3RW3FNNT2bd3kQeqU8PlKa9qnEHgukfVF5ZqbrQvsgdV5xTCjFap97Ut_GcDPzt-ScHRtI-fQr_iWmaWyNB0WWjohNBiLnoba01dOeDo0M3H3s1uEiRw1LUa8A84Zs/s640/IMG_0567.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meat Lovers: A peak inside the kebab counter at Needoo Grill.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Nick and I clearly walked into Needoo with sky-high expectations. And I'm thrilled to say, we were not disappointed. Needoo, with its spunky red walls and dining room lit by a skylight, is much smaller than Tayyabs, with just 80 seats. It takes reservations, a blissful luxury for anyone who's ever stood lurking between the tables at Tayyabs, waiting for one to open up or e-mailed that restaurant to see about a table, only to never hear back. And the food at Needoo remains amazingly cheap (by London standards, anyway) and sinfully delicious. Every greatest hit from Tayyabs are also available here, with a few, Needoo-unique gems to boot. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can I eat this everyday? Daighi Slow Cooked Dry Meat.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Needoo has a whole slew of kebabs, as well as the same, sizzling lamb chops beloved around the corner. (Here they're <i>almost</i> good as Tayyabs-- but a bit on the anemic side-- available 4 chops for </span></span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">£</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">6). Seek Kebabs are on offer too, tender and juicy and only 90p each. Our favorite dish though is the Daighi Slow Cooked Dry Meat (</span></span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">£</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">7 for small portion, </span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">£</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">13.80 for large one). This entree, with a slightly different name, is also on the Tayyabs menu, but here it achieves the impossible, slightly besting the original version. To those unfamiliar with this curry dish, Punjabi chefs make it by first roasting spices (like chili, tumeric, garlic) and building up a thick paste in the pan. Then the meat is added in and cooked for hours, until each piece starts to break apart and the sauce becomes almost dry. At Needoo, the flavor was more powerful than at Tayyabs and the lamb was the cooked to tender, almost gooey perfection. We sat at the table for a few minutes after eating it, dazed. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I want Candy: The sweet Peshwari naan.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Another highlight of Needoo is that the vegetables and daals on offer and memorable and well thought out in their own right-- unlike the afterthought they sometimes feel like at Tayyabs. The restaurant boasts eight vegetarian entrees, which can make a nice addition to a table already loaded sky high with finger licking chops and meat-intensive curries. A favorite of ours is the Daal Baingun (</span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">£</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">5.20 for a small, </span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">£</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">10 for a large), a yellow daal loaded with soft, gooey baby aubergines/eggplants. Another highlight is the transcendent Peshwari Naan </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">(</span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">£3 each), a pillowy, sweet naan drizzled with butter and filled with nuts, sugar, and anise seed-- a heavenly combination that really should be on more Indian menus, or better yet, just handed out on every street corner. The world would be a much happier place. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Veggie heaven too? Last remaining schmear of our order of Daal Baingun.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">And although they may be neck and neck in terms of the <i>quality </i>of their food, when it comes to service, you're in a whole other superior world at Needoo. I'm no Gloria Steinem, and I certainly understand that different cultures behave differently towards women, but I've always felt a bit miffed and disappointed by the dismissive way women are often treated by the Tayyabs staff. I've had several times when I've gestured for the waiter at that restaurant to come to my table and he's walked up, looked at Nick (avoiding eye contact with me all together) and said, "Sir, is there something your table will be needing?" (Other lady friends of mine have similar grumbles.) Contrast that with my first experience at Needoo: When Nick and I debated whether we should add an order of lamb chops to the mountains of food already on our table, the waiter sensed that I was pushing for more food. (I'm always the glutton-- <i>always.</i>) When we ultimately passed up on the order, the waiter brought a single lamb chop over to our table anyway, and said to me with a smile, "A gift for the lady on the house!" VIP treatment, indeed. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOoih4qNOd9J7HQ4gmmKkW_zpkSkBFO_3eUPq6diErCMvzX0YXruHwFUk_0KNAQmcFRxNSNqfKlaMH_h1NK0vgGsF36drVj3nyBgJBPIUFqm2pwYHaqzkd4CMbTI0HDsx7_L_AnkdsEg/s1600/IMG_0555.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOoih4qNOd9J7HQ4gmmKkW_zpkSkBFO_3eUPq6diErCMvzX0YXruHwFUk_0KNAQmcFRxNSNqfKlaMH_h1NK0vgGsF36drVj3nyBgJBPIUFqm2pwYHaqzkd4CMbTI0HDsx7_L_AnkdsEg/s640/IMG_0555.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snack time: The fresh veg offered before the meat arrives. </td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">A few more random reflections for readers: Like Tayyabs, the restaurant is BYOB, always an obvious plus. The mix of raw veggies they give you while you wait for your food are surprisingly refreshing, and a nice way to prep and cleanse before the meat onslaught. And although I always preach the idea of ordering off menu if it appears there are secret menu items ordered by regulars and locals, in this one case Nick and I felt disappointed. After seeing a couple big tables of South Asian customers eating whole, roast chicken, we asked for the same during one trip to Needoo and got one for just </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">£</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">10. It was good, but in a bland, unmemorable </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">rotisserie</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> chicken way; nothing like the spectacularly seasoned, unforgettable Needoo dishes we were used to. Our verdict was a definite pass. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lone offender: Bits of our whole roast chicken, plus a yummy seek kebab.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">All that said, Nick and I have now pretty much stopped going to Tayyabs in favor of Needoo-- its nicer, friendlier, and-often-more-delicious cousin. Now if only we could convince our friends, many of whom still want the original Coke to Needoo's Pepsi. We heard the hype. Now we believe it. </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1482996/restaurant/Whitechapel/Needoo-Grill-London"><img alt="Needoo Grill on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1482996/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com3Whitechapel, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, UK51.513366 -0.07023551.503484 -0.089976 51.523247999999995 -0.050494000000000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-21077892910116542712012-01-29T15:45:00.000+00:002012-01-30T11:32:41.730+00:00Khamsa: Is London's Best Eatery an Algerian Restaurant in Brixton?<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Name </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Khamsa</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Address </b>140 Acre Lane, Lambeth, London SW2 5UT </span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Phone </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">020 7733 3150</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Web site </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">http://www.khamsa.co.uk</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Main dish price range</b> £10.90-</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£13.90</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Rating </b><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">5 Stars. The best of its genre-- or perhaps <i>any</i> genre-- in London. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"> </span></span><br /><b style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Recommended dishes </b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Djadj bel Zitoun </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">(Chicken and Olives Tajine) and the Walnut, Pomegranate and Cinnamon Couscous</span><br />
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I am going to do away with the build-up openings and go straight to the point on this one: Khamsa, a cozy, Algenian restaurant in Brixton, may flat out be the best restaurant in the city. We've been sitting on this not-well-known fact for awhile now, simply because I couldn't bear to put up a write-up until I had some proper pictures that could help convey the scope of deliciousness here. Nick and I discovered this restaurant this summer when we headed down to Brixton to see one of our favorite bands, <a href="http://future-islands.com/">Future Islands</a>, play a show at one of the local music venues-- and between the food and the fantastic music that came later, the evening was simply heavenly. We live 45 minutes away, but we've trekked back to Brixton to eat here five times since. Every time we walk out a little dazed and awestruck.<br />
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Whenever I begin telling someone about the magic that is Khamsa, the moment I say "Algerian," I get a somewhat quizzical look, so let's tackle that first. Algerian cuisine, while not as well known to many outsiders as Moroccan, shares a host of influences and staple dishes with its fellow North African, Berber-influenced cousin. Meats are cooked in tajines, often stewed for hours over low, charcoal fires designed to preserve their rich flavor. Fluffy couscous is a staple. And many dishes are seasoned with the spices that dominate the region: cinnamon, cumin, coriander, and a shock of saffron.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqABntPAQVal9vQBFTd-WUgo2YSzCiVzcgsKSLqdR4DSOOJ2Y8cEkRlEfqXcUYr95XvtvspA7vWuMPf_ImB_K-2DKpXwSBvrg3M6ZZfUTryMcYHEe_qjug69pMiHrskp7PVueAKc1UXOg/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqABntPAQVal9vQBFTd-WUgo2YSzCiVzcgsKSLqdR4DSOOJ2Y8cEkRlEfqXcUYr95XvtvspA7vWuMPf_ImB_K-2DKpXwSBvrg3M6ZZfUTryMcYHEe_qjug69pMiHrskp7PVueAKc1UXOg/s640/IMG_0571.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Special Chicken Tajine at Khamsa during a recent visit.</i></td></tr>
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At Khamsa the result is often stunning. Here, some of the wonder of food is the chef's dedication to super fresh ingredients, often cooked-- just feet from where you're sitting-- with a loving attention to the preparation and presentation. On a recent evening, Nick and I tucked into a special chicken tajine (<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>11.5), which was a masterstroke of perfectly combined flavors and warm, goopy goodness. The super-tender stewed chicken was pillowed in a mash of sweet potatoes, cooked spinach, and sultanas (British speak for golden raisins), and then dusted with fresh almonds and <i>ras al hanout</i>. The last ingredient, for the uninitiated, refers to a combination of North African spices and literally translates into "top of the shop" in Arabic, meaning the best spices a seller has to offer.<br />
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Another highlight here is the couscous, perhaps the most fluffy and seasoned incarnation of the dish I've ever encountered. The excellent Walnut, Pomegranate and Cinnamon Couscous (<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>3) is exactly like it sounds: a sweet, feather-light dish with tiny bits of pomegranate speckled throughout like little hidden treasures. The tajines on regular rotation on Khamsa's one-page menu are also equally delicious and adventurously unique. On past visits, I've adored the <i>Djadj bel Zitoun </i>or Chicken and Olives Tajine (<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>11), which features braised chicken cooked with green olives, carrots, coriander, garlic and saffron, topped with a sweet jolt of caramelized onions, cinnamon and orange zest. The Tajine of Spicy White Beans, Lamb Meatballs, & Merguez (<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>11.50), also hits all the right notes, combining spicy lamb meatballs, white beans, and tomato-doused sausage in a heavily spiced dish.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCnJ9hC7SEHhCC0uu3nGq2KNgCIbHaVUs8muSD-NOxi5blCrvwz6cjEDfXlbgJ7ytzVJ0MNMkG68wf30uHzMOldcowp5Cn-Ax77xl-g4gS-zRMibPPsJw_Rez1Gr8D4a3Mc-V8KKDbAk/s1600/IMG_0569.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCnJ9hC7SEHhCC0uu3nGq2KNgCIbHaVUs8muSD-NOxi5blCrvwz6cjEDfXlbgJ7ytzVJ0MNMkG68wf30uHzMOldcowp5Cn-Ax77xl-g4gS-zRMibPPsJw_Rez1Gr8D4a3Mc-V8KKDbAk/s640/IMG_0569.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The sampling of seven salads.</i></td></tr>
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Many of the amazing parts of the Khamsa experience, however, are some of the things that surround the main course. The bulk of Khamsa's dining space is a small, one room eating area that transports you to a charming slice of North Africa. Tables are covered entirely in large silver trays; pink and red silks and beaded pillows dot the seats lining the windows; and a large trailing plant-- brought by the owners when their restaurant opened three years ago-- stretches up from a pot in the corner, it's tendrils curling across the ceiling. (A larger area downstairs, dotted with lanterns, seems reserved for larger groups-- and one time when we visited was filled with a festive group of North African locals, a good sign for any place's ethnic credibility.) Nick and I usually begin our meal with the delectable mix of seven salads (<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>12), an amazingly fresh mix of seasoned, cold vegetables, served in a cheery, sunburst bowl. Fresh, seasoned carrots are a highlight, as well as an aubergine (eggplant) spread, and a cold chickpea dish topped with sausage.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2bsgQBqY1PjHXSpZO8zF-cwYjSHEqWk4Db-PlG1KGWy4YAVXO3usQ0ZK6bT6ZfGCJBsYS6s8YRhYZRNAtCcCIRewLWYpbraFPN-m9HTn0qNDYk0kaCDWx1LlJMxXYeKdEyweXO-4x2UM/s1600/khamsa+cake+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2bsgQBqY1PjHXSpZO8zF-cwYjSHEqWk4Db-PlG1KGWy4YAVXO3usQ0ZK6bT6ZfGCJBsYS6s8YRhYZRNAtCcCIRewLWYpbraFPN-m9HTn0qNDYk0kaCDWx1LlJMxXYeKdEyweXO-4x2UM/s200/khamsa+cake+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One of Khamsa's divine cakes,</i><br />
<i>courtesy of www.khamsa.co.uk</i></td></tr>
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And ending a meal at Khamsa is often an experience worthy of a separate five-star rating in and of itself. The chef prides himself on his intricate, tiny cakes-- many displayed with pride in glass-domed pie trays on the small counter that separates the dining area from the chef's open kitchen. (Watching this dedicated, husband-and-wife team work is yet another Khamsa treat.) Although the cakes vary, his creations in the past have included pistachio flavored tiny macaroon style cakes; dried figs dipped in chocolate and filled with almond; and rolled pastries made with almond paste and rosewater, often adorned with tiny, decorative, icing flourishes. Pair one of those indulgent deserts with Khamsa's giant silver tea kettles of seemingly bottomless, piping hot mint tea, and you'll see why I could spend many evenings at Khamsa. When the food and the atmosphere is this good, it makes you never want to leave.
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1531340/restaurant/Brixton/Khamsa-London"><img alt="Khamsa on Urbanspoon" height="233" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1531340/biglink.gif" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; height: 146px; width: 200px;" width="320" /></a>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com7Brixton, Lambeth, Greater London SW9, UK51.4609323 -0.116023951.4584588 -0.1209594 51.463405800000004 -0.1110884tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-68595724958514099522011-12-02T10:18:00.001+00:002011-12-03T00:41:51.606+00:00Gourmet San: Almost-There Sichuan Food in Bethnal Green<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqObD1Oi-ndZfOOpiDDg7k-XOox1s_mxer2HoeYVShkxyuluJhgIXvMiH20xd_tVPCNQe6j51HkRssDX4kLccBULPxI2ai6XbSC26NGWRZYftGcjg4TC18xSlXWdTC0mSa6TMgdoND_iU/s1600/gourmet+san+external+shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqObD1Oi-ndZfOOpiDDg7k-XOox1s_mxer2HoeYVShkxyuluJhgIXvMiH20xd_tVPCNQe6j51HkRssDX4kLccBULPxI2ai6XbSC26NGWRZYftGcjg4TC18xSlXWdTC0mSa6TMgdoND_iU/s320/gourmet+san+external+shot.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Name </b>Gourmet San</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Address </b></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">261 Bethnal Green Rd, London, UK E2 6AH</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Phone </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">020 7613 1366</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Web site </b>none</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Main dish price range</b> £6-</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£14</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Rating </b><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">4 stars. Almost a masterpiece. </span><br /><b style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Recommended dishes </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Stir Fried Aubergine with Spiced Chili Sauce</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Gourmet San-- a tiny, Sichuan Chinese restaurant in a the very<i> not</i>-central neighborhood of Bethnal Green--- quite improbably has one thing weighing heavily in its favor: Buzz, and LOTS of it. The Guardian food critic </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/sep/07/restaurants.foodanddrink" style="line-height: 20px;">has mooned over it</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">. An article in the Evening Standard said members of the "nose to tail set" and semi-celebrity chef Jacob Kenedy count as </span><a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/restaurants/article-23753826-where-the-top-chefs-eat-in-london.do" style="line-height: 20px;">regulars.</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"> All that sounded like mouth watering to me. </span><a href="http://londonethniceating.blogspot.com/2011/10/meet-new-omnivores.html" style="line-height: 20px;">Never a fan of goopy, corn starchy Chinese food</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">, I consider dry-fried, Sichuan food to be my drug of choice-- and I'd been feigning for it recently. </span><a href="http://www.bar-shu.co.uk/" style="line-height: 20px;">Bar Shu</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">, the only other Sichuan restaurant we'd tried in London, so underwhelmed me and Nick (and was so expensive) we deemed it not even worthy of the time it would take to write it up. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIrKuyiYw72ylftnIAskWDOJMLtWWLqe6iO1VrE-0B4di7LOMyNouYeY7DllvgiDOWiHoo23_-1SR5VER0_3Z2o9ctlvRmyAVlIdGJqluwC4whb_-v9vojMtzG-z2WB7dvOXe8HaVCTzM/s1600/Gourmet1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIrKuyiYw72ylftnIAskWDOJMLtWWLqe6iO1VrE-0B4di7LOMyNouYeY7DllvgiDOWiHoo23_-1SR5VER0_3Z2o9ctlvRmyAVlIdGJqluwC4whb_-v9vojMtzG-z2WB7dvOXe8HaVCTzM/s400/Gourmet1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spoils: BBQ Lamb Skewer & Chicken with Chili Sauce in Chong Qin Style. </td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">When we rolled up on a recent Saturday evening, Nick and I were immediately felt our spirits lift. Like our favorite hole-in-the-wall ethnic haunts back home-- where the focus is on the food, not the decor-- Gourmet San is definitely low frills, a Spartan cousin to the decadent, red-tapestry draped atmosphere at Bar Shu. The crowd also felt pitch perfect: About half the clientele on the evening we visited were Chinese, with trendy, young Shoreditchers making up the difference.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">We took a seat at a white, paper-covered table and quickly dived in by ordering one of the BBQ Lamb Skewers, which seemed to be a very popular item among the crowd the night we visited, with plates of them gracing nearly every table. At </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">£</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">1 a piece, the relatively simple skewers had a nice meaty taste, without being loaded with the cheap, cooking-oil flavor that can mar a lot of low-cost meat kebabs. Still, without the dry, spicy taste that true Sichuan enthusiasts love, we were ready to try the real stuff. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsDdGLb3Fxtr5ixOn2VBDscDW-_VIMe8lPSUXOB3I1gX3Z_FwUm77T8U0JA1rGZTYCkD0_q8lZZ6TU5TC7v0QVXpf60rCGS1sdlKj2D3MTdSdLoCZqz_8ZP65F4r7rTdlrNpG81-dVaiY/s1600/gourmet2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsDdGLb3Fxtr5ixOn2VBDscDW-_VIMe8lPSUXOB3I1gX3Z_FwUm77T8U0JA1rGZTYCkD0_q8lZZ6TU5TC7v0QVXpf60rCGS1sdlKj2D3MTdSdLoCZqz_8ZP65F4r7rTdlrNpG81-dVaiY/s400/gourmet2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The delectable Dry Fried String Beans with Mince Pork and Chili.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">The first main dish we tackled: the Dry Fried Green Beans with Mince Pork and Chili (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">£</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">6). This is a dish I've always loved at Sichuan joints, so I was excited when I saw it listed here as a "Chef Special"-- and it definitely didn't disappoint. It had the perfect, dry-fried smokey flavor, and the bits of pork were excellent-- lightly fried and not so fatty as to overwhelm the dish. Peppercorns were also hidden throughout the stack of greens, adding a nice bit of grit between the teeth and adding the perfect, Sichuan taste. (Read: My mouth tingled with the familiar, loving numbness only Sichuan peppercorns can provide.) </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Things were slightly less impressive with another old-standard favorite of ours: Chicken in Chili Sauce Chong Qin Style (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">£</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">8). For those unfamiliar with this stroke of Chinese culinary genius, this dish, from the town of Geleshan, China, is made by frying small nuggets of meat in a wok stacked high with a mountain of dried, red chilis, and supplemented with garlic, scallions, and peppercorns. When done well in the kitchen-- something Nick and I learned how to do reading Brit cookbook writer <a href="http://www.fuchsiadunlop.com/">Fuschia Dunlop</a>-- the chili-infused oil in the wok coats the rich chicken, infusing its with spicy moisture. Here, sadly, the chicken was too fried and dry for our tastes, and the ratio of chilis to chicken felt miscalibrated. Instead of combing through the chilis to find the meat-- some restaurants literally nickname this dish "hunt and peck chicken" for that reason-- the meat was all clearly visible in this London version, perhaps a nod to the famed <a href="http://londonethniceating.blogspot.com/2011/11/apollo-banana-leaf-fiery-sri-lankan_21.html">British aversion to spice.</a> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVvVkyKrgZpiiVgqzDhHTCs-Y7rVWG5eVQVz0dNDgQ-ehgpMx7n4mi4l-M5B5Vg_lPcx4gYZuodeYxsQtgIvedDeBC2uN3LS9w8CJw7LLFZR75iMVwZHnTuFn5FcRwuVlT4ffXMffGgg/s1600/gourmet3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVvVkyKrgZpiiVgqzDhHTCs-Y7rVWG5eVQVz0dNDgQ-ehgpMx7n4mi4l-M5B5Vg_lPcx4gYZuodeYxsQtgIvedDeBC2uN3LS9w8CJw7LLFZR75iMVwZHnTuFn5FcRwuVlT4ffXMffGgg/s400/gourmet3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brits call it aubergine, Americans call it eggplant. I call it delicious!</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">The real masterpiece of the evening, however, came from an unexpected dish : The Stir Fried Aubergine with Spiced Chili Sauce (</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">£</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">7). This eggplant/aubergine entree was bathed in mouth watering chili oil that achieved the perfect degree of reach-for-the-beer-glass kick. And the chili-infused aubergines were so gooey and rich they seemed to coat our mouths, melting on our tongues as we ate them. Nick and I talked it over after enthusiastically gobbling up every last bite and agreed this dish was quite possibly the best Asian aubergine dish we'd ever had-- a statement we don't make lightly. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">All in all, Nick and I felt excited about Gourmet San, which definitely showed some real flashes of genius. I'm not quite ready to order it as takeout twice a week yet-- and yes, we did do that with our </span><a href="http://www.thegrandsichuan.com/stmarks" style="line-height: 20px;">favorite local Sichuanese place in New York</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">-- but I'm definitely eager to explore more of the menu. And if I change my mind, there's good news: The restaurant's delivery staff miraculously delivers all the way to Angel. </span><br />
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/564367/restaurant/London/Gourmet-San-Bethnal-Green"><img alt="Gourmet San on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/564367/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com4Bethnal Green, Poplar, Greater London E2, UK51.5293312 -0.055907651.526861700000005 -0.060843100000000004 51.5318007 -0.0509721tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-50634963420223007672011-11-22T12:14:00.001+00:002011-11-23T22:43:21.317+00:00Santoré: We Found Our Go-To Neapolitan Pizza Place...for Now<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Name </b>Santor</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">é</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Address </b>59-61 Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell, London EC1R 4QL</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1LmxI1-mk4fsC1IHKspR9_TLafzcPxw_rgFhXiETNn5AtBVR42a3D6NBHjq5P3uEJfecW1nZQMq5fHH0VbnSJl9DQD1E5UUkf-Xp1q4VTTFxVRKDdEdOTKvaa_t36qBm8umn8XtnRm80/s1600/santore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1LmxI1-mk4fsC1IHKspR9_TLafzcPxw_rgFhXiETNn5AtBVR42a3D6NBHjq5P3uEJfecW1nZQMq5fHH0VbnSJl9DQD1E5UUkf-Xp1q4VTTFxVRKDdEdOTKvaa_t36qBm8umn8XtnRm80/s320/santore.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diners outside at Santore.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Phone </b>020 7812 1488</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Web site </b>none</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Main dish price range</b> £6.20-</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£13.80</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Rating </b><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">4 stars. A stunner of a restaurant with only occasional misses. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"> </span></span><br /><b style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Recommended dishes </b><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Margherita pizza </span></span><br />
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One could be forgiven for wondering if <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Santor</span>é, </span>our new favorite pizza joint in East London, even meets this blog's <a href="http://londonethniceating.blogspot.com/2009/02/arang-in-soho-best-korean-yet.html">definition</a> of an ethnic restaurant: "<i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">a restaurant serving the food of a particular ethinc group, with an aim to primarily serving expatriates from that ethnic group.</i>" Located in trendy Exmouth Market, this bustling cafe, which strives to make authentic Neapolitan pizza, attracts a motley crowd-- a few tables of Italians, but also lots of big groups of r<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ed-faced, drunken British people just enjoying the big</span> glasses of wine and pizza available by the meter. When Nick and I first walked in, we felt it was sort of part-way, if not all the way, in the ethnic category. The waiters greeted us with a volley of friendly<i>"buongiornos"</i> and the pizza oven lurking in the corner definitely looked as authentic as authentic could be, based on our past experiences in Naples.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The typical scene at Santore.</td></tr>
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But once we bit into the pizza we were convinced we had to include this brightly lit, low-on-atmosphere locale on the food blog. Although <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">Santor</span>é offers a few things that don't feel too authentically Italian (Dutch Veal Escalopes with Breadcrumbs, anyone?) diners who stick to the Neapolitan pizzas, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">Santore's</span> specialty, are in for a real treat. We recommend the standard margherita pizza that appears in the <i>pizze </i>section of the menu-- not the <i>pizze special</i> section-- and sells for <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>6.20. Like at any good Neapolitan pizza restaurant, this single-plate, one-person pie came to us hot and fresh out of the oven. The basil pieces were massive; the sauce tasted so fresh it burst with flavor; and the <i>pizzaiolo </i>nailed the absolute hardest part of the enterprise-- the center. The middle of the pie achieved that perfect, delicate balance where it managed to be hot, gooey, and melt-in-your mouth delicious, without going so far that the pizza lost all integrity when you tried to lift up the first slice.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My half of our margherita was gone pretty quickly.</td></tr>
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Before we go on with our thoughts about <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Santor</span>é though, a bit of background on our pizza philosophy: We're generally what you'd call simple pizza people. There are few places-- <a href="http://www.pauliegee.com/home.php">Pauly Gee's</a> in Brooklyn, being a big exception-- where we ever gobble up pizzas loaded with non-standard ingredients like rocket (a.k.a. arugula), lemon, and olives. At most of our most beloved Neapolitan pizza joints, we prefer to let the perfect, bare, basics (tomato, cheese, basil, and big hunks of sea salt in the crust) stand out without too much adornment. Our <a href="http://www.unapizza.com/sf/">favorite Stateside pizza place</a>, in fact, <a href="http://www.unapizza.com/sf/obsessives.html">so dogmatically</a> adheres to the simple-is-best philosophy that on most days it only offers five basic pizzas on its menu-- and not one of them has meat.<br />
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So, the margherita is always a big test for us. A secondary test that we <i>expect </i>most places with a good margherita to ace: The buffalo margherita, a version of the basic pie where regular mozzarella is replaced with much stronger, buffalo mozzarella instead, usually producing a more delicious result. Surprisingly though, this is not the case at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Santor</span>é. When we ordered this pizza-- which costs <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>7.65 and appears in the <i>pizze special</i> section of the menu-- they gave us a pie that was still perfectly executed from a crust standpoint. The cheese though was chilled in the middle, and felt like it had just been pulled out of cold water by the chef-- a bizarre choice that our waiter seemed to indicate was purposeful on the restaurant's part. If so, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Santor</span>é, as good as you are, let me tell you: You aren't doing yourself any favors with <i>that</i> approach. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mixed salad.</td></tr>
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Besides the pizza, the other things on the menu were impressive without being a total wow. The mixed salad (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>3.50) was a nice way to start dinner, being a pleasant mix of arugula and cherry tomatoes, dusted with crispy ham. And the sauteed spinach (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>2.40), which was buttery and piping hot, also made a lovely side. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Santor</span>é also gets some bonus points for having ample seating outside, which makes for a nice atmosphere you can watch the hustle and bustle of Exmouth Market. These cold winter days, they're heating up the outdoor tables with red heat lamps-- with surprisingly successful results. (The lamps produced the odd light in our pictures though.)<br />
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For now, we're loving our post-gym trips to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Santor</span>é-- so much so we've already been back three times. We're going to keep looking for that pitch-perfect buffalo margherita though. We have a few more far-flung places to try that we crowd sourced with some Italians we know, so we'll be reporting back with more reviews soon.<br />
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/569628/restaurant/London/Clerkenwell/Santore-City-of-London"><img alt="Santore on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/569628/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a>
<a href="http://www.istarvin.com/l/f86fcf" title="Santore Restaurant in Islington, North, London at iStarvin.com"><img src="http://cdn.istarvin.com/widgets/f86fcf/medium/" /></a>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com3Exmouth Market, Greater London, UK51.525889 -0.109157951.523419 -0.1140934 51.528359 -0.1042224tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-38583816251427784872011-11-22T03:41:00.000+00:002011-11-23T17:26:46.050+00:00Meet the New OmnivoresYou might be wondering just who is running Ben's food blog these days, so I figured it's time we actually introduce ourselves. Many of you are already familiar with the cast of characters that once regularly graced the pages of this blog-- Ben, Ellen, and the lovely Vivian. We're longtime friends of theirs, and are honored/psyched they asked us to take over the responsibility of running this blog, which we hope can become a trusted resource for ethnic food enthusiasts and lovers of bold tastes all over London.<br />
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First up, meet Nick. He and I met a long time ago, when we were still college students, and my tastes ranged from the terrible to the horrifying. Having grown up in the Midwest, a place not too adventurous on the food front, my favorite foods circa 2000 included the likes of SpaghettiOs and Golden Grahams. (And steak-- I have always loved a good, bloody steak.) Nick, however, was always a true food adventurer, having grown up in Oakland, California, a land known for its diverse range of cuisines and melting pot of general yummyness. He convinced me that I could actually like Chinese food, which up until then I thought of as crab rangoon-- deep fried dumplings quixotically filled with cream cheese-- and goopy, corn-starch loaded main dishes. (To this day, I still prefer my Chinese to be of the dry-fried, Sichuan variety.) He also showed me Mexican food at it's finest-- introducing me to the delicious mole at Oakland's best Mexican restaurant, <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-taco-zamorano-restaurant-oakland">El Taco Zamorano</a>, and showing me some of the world's best fish tacos at a roadside shack in Tulum, Mexico.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Top: </b>Nick digs into Parisian bistro food.<br />
<b>Bottom: </b>Angie enjoys an arepa in Cartegena.</td></tr>
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When Nick was living in New York in 2003 he decided he wanted to experience all the wondrous cuisines that the city had to offer, so he bought the very book that inspired this blog, Robert Sietsema's <u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Food-Lovers-Guide-Ethnic-Eating/dp/155970716X">The Food Lover's Guide to the Best Ethnic Eating in New York City</a>.</u> Soon, he and his co-worker at the time, Ben, this blog's one and only, were organizing treks off to the far corners of the region-- Newark, New Jersey; Woodside, Queens-- to try out Sietsema's favorite places to get a whole host of adventurous cuisines, ranging from standards (like Brazilian steak houses) to the uber-adventurous (Uzbek). The two of them also saw these excursions not just for what they were, a fun way to fuel up, but for what every food outing has the potential to be: An invaluable experience bringing together and bonding friends. Two years later many of our ethnic food Sundays, as we called our daytime outings, included 15 or 20 people-- and one time, quite memorably, even Sietsema himself.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> His and hers pizzas in Naples.</td></tr>
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Now, meet me, Angie. I've been a journalist at magazines in Washington, DC and New York for the last eight years. For a long time, back in the blog's original heyday, Ben used to joke that he should hire me to move to London and take over his growing food-blog empire. In those days, I wrote a lot about immigration and health care issues-- subjects that fascinate me still-- but food was always a passion. When I moved to London this May with Nick and became a freelancer, I thought I could finally find some time to give food writing-- and this blog-- a bit of my time and effort. After all, Nick and I were going to be trying London's best ethnic eateries anyway. You didn't expect us to spend all our times at gastro pubs, did you?<br />
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<b>Other fun food moments from our archives...</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Discovering gelatinous noodles in Xian, China.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sampling the octopus and sweet potato cataplana at Portugal's amazing A Eira do Mel.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We took a hike in Amalfi mostly so we could eat this sandwich.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanging out with our favorite naan vendors in Xinjiang, China.</td></tr>
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</div>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-20622761433248287202011-11-22T02:00:00.000+00:002012-05-06T18:41:55.057+01:00Pho Express: Strong, New Banh Mi Offering In Angel<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYVSaCUfSD0OjNeFFL6YYP0wSY32eECGkvUBoumlM7p-pdzv7bViet3mfpfg2RrtCMMVakBqrcwjXwSCImipbuU8a7C7u-h2pb3NXlU6Zd6hkeq2ZIbR_iOVKLfx9CFdaPlbkoShtczKw/s1600/bahn+mi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYVSaCUfSD0OjNeFFL6YYP0wSY32eECGkvUBoumlM7p-pdzv7bViet3mfpfg2RrtCMMVakBqrcwjXwSCImipbuU8a7C7u-h2pb3NXlU6Zd6hkeq2ZIbR_iOVKLfx9CFdaPlbkoShtczKw/s400/bahn+mi.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking in the Angel's Sunday scene, as well as its banh mi.</td></tr>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Name </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Pho Express </span><b></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Address </b>149 Upper Street, Unit B, London N1 1RA </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Phone </b>none </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Web site </b>none</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Main dish price range</b> £4-5<br /><b>Rating</b> 3.5 Stars. Definitely go if you're in the neighborhood. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Recommended dishes: </b> Banh Mi with either BBQ pork or shredded chicken</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;"><b>Please note:</b> This review has since been updated. Check out our latest musings on Pho Express <a href="http://londonethniceating.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/pho-express-vietnamese-joint-strikes.html">here. </a></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;">My husband, Nick, is definitely one picky person when it comes to banh mi, the Vietnamese sandwiches on toasted French bread that sparked a NYC mini-craze a couple years ago. A native of Oakland, Nick remembers eating the warm sandwiches when he was still in high school, popping out of work with a Vietnamese co-worker to go buy them on International Avenue. So, to say the least, when we first moved to this country we were both been pretty disappointed with the incarnations of our favorite Vietnamese treat on offer in London. The Banh Mi Bay restaurant near Holborn, while definitely cutesy and British looking, wasn't spicy enough for our taste-- and like a lot of Brit sandwiches, went a bit too heavy on the spread (in this case, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">p</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">âté</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">)</span>. The places setting up shop in Broadway Market definitely nailed the iced, Vietnamese coffee, but the their bread didn't have the toasty, flaky texture that makes banh mi such a study in the joy of opposites-- ie: moist, wet veggies on hot, heavily-toasted, crunchy bread. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_kQ6iBFl8LkzBK5aXGRfcKGmNHHIEVieB_kF-luS2XTob3ii-GUn4VFbeXCzoFgMZdStK98nV_Kwpb-F_Ri-OCTZTY26mM7v5Cb1cDzVqEpAQ9hqR0x7aSoCiy3koguvnFrO545mqDlg/s1600/pho+express.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_kQ6iBFl8LkzBK5aXGRfcKGmNHHIEVieB_kF-luS2XTob3ii-GUn4VFbeXCzoFgMZdStK98nV_Kwpb-F_Ri-OCTZTY26mM7v5Cb1cDzVqEpAQ9hqR0x7aSoCiy3koguvnFrO545mqDlg/s400/pho+express.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new owner is always ready with recommendations at Pho Express.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;">So we were clearly only cautiously optimistic when we learned that a banh mi place down the street from our house was getting taken over by a pair of Vietnamese cooks with family ties to the Que Viet restaurant on Kingsland Road in Hoxton. The banh mi place, a tiny, take-away sandwich counter with three seats inside-- and only a few tables on the sidewalk out front-- quickly changed its name from Ca Phe to Pho Express. The owners also went on a major charm offensive, smilingly engaging with customers, lengthening their hours late into the night (new, late-night tipsy food, people!), and often describing to anyone who would listen how their goal was to bring authentic bahn mi and pho to the neighborhood. They even tacked a map of Vietnam up to the wall inside for good measure.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">And the good news is they've definitely improved substantially on East London's banh mi options. The shop's four banh mi sandwiches-- Classic, BBQ Pork, Garlic Beef, and Shredded Chicken (all </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">£</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">4)-- all now boast heftier portions of fresh, hot meat, served on nearly perfect, toasted French baguettes. Instead of just relying on Sriracha sauce to give a spicy kick-- as good as that is-- fresh chilis are now also available, along with a whole host of fresh vegetables marinating behind the counter. Blissfully, they're also still serving Ca Phe's divine Vietnamese iced coffee (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">£</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">2.50), which adds the ideal, sweet milky coating to your mouth to give you at least some feeling of immunity when you start piling on the chilis. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">For now, we're leaving the restaurant in the three-star range, simply because the menu still appears to be constantly evolving-- with occasionally mixed results. On one recent visit, for instance, they dusted our sandwich with fried pieces of onion, which was good, but somehow didn't entirely work to improve the overall flavor combination. We also haven't yet tried the two flavors of pho that the restaurant-- true to its name-- now sells for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">£</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">5 (available in shrimp or beef flavors). </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">The owner told us when asked that he gets up at 5 am every morning to go and cook up the fresh pho stock at the kitchen at Que Viet-- a perfect encapsulation of how hard he appears to be working to make this place a London-wide standout. As the weather gets colder, you can bet we'll be back to give a try. Stay tuned, eaters!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com4Angel Islington (Stop J), Islington, Greater London N1, UK51.53168 -0.1051651.529210500000005 -0.1100955 51.5341495 -0.10022450000000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-73058646397649258542011-11-21T16:14:00.001+00:002013-09-28T14:04:18.132+01:00Apollo Banana Leaf: A Fiery, Sri Lankan Gem in Tooting<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Name </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Apollo Banana Leaf</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCHyJX1uJbDboSYxkYENU5BYVAhGpY39MKTF0RGslNgRsbxWdqok0VQxep4X8pOhXz4LvTNkUTaIQM_GsN_Y5yCPIEt_V7wPnngamMlVI5QA1rshgEcdRvtM7LQAovH5WvQa6jh2ZI35g/s1600/apollo+outside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCHyJX1uJbDboSYxkYENU5BYVAhGpY39MKTF0RGslNgRsbxWdqok0VQxep4X8pOhXz4LvTNkUTaIQM_GsN_Y5yCPIEt_V7wPnngamMlVI5QA1rshgEcdRvtM7LQAovH5WvQa6jh2ZI35g/s1600/apollo+outside.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The storefront may be unassuming, but the food is anything but.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Address </b>190 Tooting High Street, London SW17 0SF</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Phone </b>020 86961423</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Main dish price range</b> £3-</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">6</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><b>Rating</b> 4 Stars. An excellent place to answer my craving for kohtu roti.<br /><b>Recommended dishes</b> Mutton Kothu, Squid Curry </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Web site </b></span><a href="http://www.apollobananaleaf.co.uk/bananaleaf/order.php?ref=home">http://www.apollobananaleaf.co.uk</a><br />
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Of all the ethnic cuisines that capture my imagination and set my mouth awatering, I must confess I've always had a soft spot for Sri Lankan. On days when I'm bored with the standard, prepackaged sandwich offerings widely available in London, I almost always find myself dreaming of kothu, a Sri Lankan dish made up of of cut up rotti bread that's doused in egg, spiced to perfection and then lightly fried over a stove top. In the land of bland that can sometimes characterize the UK restaurant scene, Sri Lankans also stand out from not beign afraid to make their dishes hot and spicy--- provided you ask for it that way. The best Sri Lankan curries are both rich and milky, while also being scorching and scintillating at the same time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0I_xRqynfvjiqoJpxlcZx348k7Gk-jJnLGguOzrDuKbzqGdNHskYT5vo6I9A9naszO8ELEPZlhlYDaPPjYuR19OcajeI4zU_yen-ZCBJM7Cs5Do-5fJJBpc8RDilgnUTSR42aniQWUpQ/s1600/kothu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0I_xRqynfvjiqoJpxlcZx348k7Gk-jJnLGguOzrDuKbzqGdNHskYT5vo6I9A9naszO8ELEPZlhlYDaPPjYuR19OcajeI4zU_yen-ZCBJM7Cs5Do-5fJJBpc8RDilgnUTSR42aniQWUpQ/s400/kothu.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I dream of kothu like this on a regular basis.</td></tr>
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So I was pretty excited when I first found my way to Apollo Banana Leaf, a tiny Sri-Lankan and South-Indian curry house located along a quiet section of Tooting's bustling high street. I'd read that Apollo is a favorite spot of London's sizable Tamil community, and when we walked in, the friendly staff was sure enough buzzing around a large table packed with what appeared to be three generations of a single South Indian family. A young looking, presumably Sri Lankan waiter with a full-on Aimee-Mann, Voices-Carry era haircut (think: spiky hair, rat tail, the works) caught our eye and gave us a smile, and I knew we were in for a real treat.<br />
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Because we're such fans of Sri Lankan food, we bypassed the traditional Indian curries on the menu and headed straight for the Sri Lankan classics. First up, the Chili Masala Dosa (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>3). Like the best of its ilk, this one had the perfect crispy top layer and came with a trio of sauces, including a delicate coconut chutney and a spicy sambar that I just couldn't stop eating. The restaurant's Mutton Kothu, a steal at just <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>4.25, was also done to perfection. The bits of rotti making up the dish were fried, but not dried out, and the meat had enough spicy kick to make me reach for my ice-cold beer to quell that beloved, familiar, burning feeling in my esophagus. Green beans, diced onions, and fresh chilis rounded out the dish's amazing flavors. (Regular readers know I would never normally weigh in on this, but even the vegetarian version of the dish was a stunner-- Nick made me try it during one of his health kicks.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljxKpJJjRAIPa3IJh7V62RIZKgFE59I_BoKTvkqRXysZ4csZRXBnPyVN5vDiVnX0s1at35Y37pgqU09VNGBmg8QHLYRGTjpawfVHP7KLWoKphMKqj9P6XUw1ZUAnFHuxA-iL-MCvsSC8/s1600/Squid+Curry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljxKpJJjRAIPa3IJh7V62RIZKgFE59I_BoKTvkqRXysZ4csZRXBnPyVN5vDiVnX0s1at35Y37pgqU09VNGBmg8QHLYRGTjpawfVHP7KLWoKphMKqj9P6XUw1ZUAnFHuxA-iL-MCvsSC8/s400/Squid+Curry.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The delectable squid curry.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicrkaxTsyjo2wKAs0nzlLJ9TEcZS9DrHKngn9pDcq2NUuSB4VH_tdCkiFfrojm7TjptAAW8FA3hasPcjX1kSb3RxCkS1ePbxAbzcluLn9pAH6ipuAluLZpwZlQg2E7fwWp41MSdV-rUt8/s1600/cropped+bill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicrkaxTsyjo2wKAs0nzlLJ9TEcZS9DrHKngn9pDcq2NUuSB4VH_tdCkiFfrojm7TjptAAW8FA3hasPcjX1kSb3RxCkS1ePbxAbzcluLn9pAH6ipuAluLZpwZlQg2E7fwWp41MSdV-rUt8/s320/cropped+bill.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We owe how much?</td></tr>
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Of course, being an island nation, Sri Lanka is also well-known for its amazing seafood, one of many things that distinguishes it from traditional Indian cuisine, with which it shares a lot of influences. Unlike my favorite Sri Lankan joint in New York-- New Asha in Staten Island-- the seafood here has a huge place on the menu and definitely doesn't disappoint.<br />
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After a couple visits, I'm putting my endorsement behind the restaurant's squid curry (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>5.95), a well-known Sri Lankan delicacy. This one had large pieces of squid, a coconut-milk-based sauce loaded with flavor, and a few tender, cooked vegetables tucked in for good measure. When we arrived we'd given the waiter our standard pre-meal spiel, which goes a little like this: "We're not British. We like our food extremely spicy, just like actual Sri Lankan people. <i>Please, PLEASE, pluh-eese, believe us-- we're not joking!</i>" Being white as white can be-- and living in a country full of people who despise spice-- this routine doesn't always work. At Apollo Banana Leaf, however, we're happy to report that the curry was strong enough it felt like it could burn some of our hair off.<br />
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And one of the best parts of our evening: the bill. Apollo is BYOB and boasts no corkage fees. And since the staff also takes major pains to keep the food affordable, Nick and I were able to stuff ourselves while not even breaking the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>20 mark. This is the most delicious Sri Lankan food we've ever found at this price point, certainly-- better than Jaffna House nearby, which has its fans. We'll give you all an update though after we take a romantic, two-week trip to the <i>actual</i> island of Sri Lanka this March. (And no, we're not going just for the food-- the country has amazing surfing beaches too.)<br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/560463/restaurant/London/Apollo-Banana-Leaf-Tooting"><img alt="Apollo Banana Leaf on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/560463/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a>
<a href="http://www.istarvin.com/l/6dba1a" title="Apollo Banana Leaf Restaurant in Wandsworth, South West, London at iStarvin.com"><img src="http://cdn.istarvin.com/widgets/6dba1a/medium/" /></a>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com2Tooting, Greater London SW17, UK51.42985 -0.16197251.41995 -0.181713 51.439750000000004 -0.142231tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-44508257568327944542011-10-17T15:42:00.000+01:002012-08-27T11:00:20.639+01:00Cay Tre Soho: Fancy Vietnamese with a Heavy Helping of Delish<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZtyNmMNdizdkyGBJbisTFqcnWv2CHTiW5IRNrVwP8a4zaJe9Hfi26CfqJd0tuA6y6iQ0npe5O6Ss69Oy1fKL7d08XcDudq6vT-LEhS57hfXpYMtzeMFVlKNDykyAAIa_BrEtuMXU69U/s1600/Cay+Tre+Inside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZtyNmMNdizdkyGBJbisTFqcnWv2CHTiW5IRNrVwP8a4zaJe9Hfi26CfqJd0tuA6y6iQ0npe5O6Ss69Oy1fKL7d08XcDudq6vT-LEhS57hfXpYMtzeMFVlKNDykyAAIa_BrEtuMXU69U/s320/Cay+Tre+Inside.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fashionable dining space at Cay Tre Soho.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Name </b>Cay Tre Soho</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Address </b>42-43 Dean Street, London W1D 4QD</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Phone </b>020 73179118</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Web site </b></span><a href="http://www.caytresoho.co.uk/">http://www.caytresoho.co.uk/</a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Main dish price range</b> £8-11<br /><b>Rating</b> 3.5 Stars. Not the most authentic spot, but a great place to impress a picky date! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Recommended dishes</b> La Vong Fish, Slow-Cooked Mekong Catfish</span><br />
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Here at the blog we've recently been on a bit of a Vietnamese kick, inspired by the yummy Banh Mi place that recently opened down the street from our apartment (post forthcoming). So we decided to finally try Cay Tre Soho, a French-influenced Vietnamese place recommended highly by a Vietnamese friend here in London on a recent Friday evening. </div>
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The restaurant definitely has a different vibe that a lot of places we review here. It's decked out in sleek, white-topped tables, and has a very design-y entrance, with bits of the menu scrawled in white letters across a glass wall. It would be the perfect place to go to impress a date or ease a friend not accustomed to hole-in-the-wall ethnic places into the wild world of ethnic cuisine. (We haven't been, but are told for a more downmarket, authentic option, try Cay Tre's location near Old Street.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Desert or dinner? Slow-cooked Mekong catfish.</td></tr>
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Despite it's trappings of fanciness though, Cay Tre definitely did not disappoint. Our friend recommended the La Vong Grilled Fish appetizer (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>6.50), and it definitely was the perfect way to kick off the evening-- the waitress brought a hot plate right to our table and cooked it in front of us, in a little wok piled high with fresh dill and cuts of monkfish so fresh I imagined they caught the fish out back. Also impressive was the Slow Cooked Mekong Catfish (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>9.50), which was cooked in a carmelised fish sauce. As I got tipsier as the evening went on, I kept trying to sop up more and more of its sweet, delicious sauce with my rice, unable to let any bit of that dish go away uneaten.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BBQ with Rice Vermicelli. Photo courtesy of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/elepantu/5724404222/">Flickr.</a></td></tr>
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One thing that's great about Ca Trey-- and good Vietnamese food in general-- is that freshness can be king in a cuisine like this, and one can leave the evening without feeling loaded down with heavy creams and starchy foodstuffs. For food along those lines, we loved the Lemongrass Wok Fried Squid (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>10), which was hardly fried at all, but instead a mix of super fresh, high-end vegetables, including some delicious tiny, green heirloom tomatoes. Lemongrass, Chinese celery, green chili, and dill rounded out the dish, which managed to be delicious and somewhat healthy all at once.<br />
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The only thing we had at Cay Tre that we wouldn't get again was a dish we got on a subsequent visit-- the BBQ Pork with Rice Vermicelli (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£</span>9). This has long been a favorite dish of mine at some Vietnamese restaurants, but here the staff added their own twist, choosing to garnish the tender pork slices with fried spring rolls and bits of daikon. The fried bits took some of the focus off the meat and added a dose of crunchy tastelessness. I will give the kitchen staff credit though for nicely dusting the whole thing with peanuts and fresh chilis.<br />
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UPDATE: <i>After vacillating between giving this place 3.5 or 4 stars, we've decided to leave Cay Tre at 3.5. We'd like to note though that the Old Street location has made us feel more positive about the Cay Tre brand. Although the Soho locale has a fancy, precious feel, Nick and I have come to really enjoy the vibe at Old Street, which has the same menu, but a much more diverse clientele. The giant, ridiculous-looking cocktails on offer, however, still cause us to raise our eyebrows. Supposedly they're "Vietnamese inspired" but they don't remind us of Vietnam. </i><br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1594617/restaurant/Soho/Cay-Tre-Soho-London"><img alt="Cay Tre Soho on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1594617/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com1Soho, Westminster, London W1, UK51.5152443 -0.132177451.5127738 -0.1371129 51.5177148 -0.1272419tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-26462418032715508922011-10-16T16:57:00.000+01:002011-11-23T19:18:55.240+00:00Beigel Bake: Heavenly London Bagels<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perfection! A salt beef bagel at The Beigel Bake.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Name </b>Beigel Bake</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Address </b>159 Brick Lane, Hackney, E1 6SB</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Phone </b>020 77290616</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Web site </b>none</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Main dish price range</b> £1.80-5.95<br /><b>Rating</b> 5 Stars. The best restaurant in its genre in London.<br /><b>Recommended dishes</b> Salt Beef Beigel </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZAFc9M263kh4GuUsltP6UbdA-FHHJPzDAzY1PfFn_klcOxvZGGuzgU3X_E8FkUIrVxYgGTxK0IQoar0E1RlaBtHv7x_Ti0vrlbQkqEAMCSOJkB2PjYOuqhrl3mDAp6HZOhNBce-TETFQ/s1600/biegel+bake+longshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZAFc9M263kh4GuUsltP6UbdA-FHHJPzDAzY1PfFn_klcOxvZGGuzgU3X_E8FkUIrVxYgGTxK0IQoar0E1RlaBtHv7x_Ti0vrlbQkqEAMCSOJkB2PjYOuqhrl3mDAp6HZOhNBce-TETFQ/s320/biegel+bake+longshot.jpg" width="214" /></a>The recent Jewish New Year got us here at the ethnic food blog thinking about one of our favorite things-- delicious, crisp-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside bagels. London, of course, is not New York City-- there aren't little bagel places in every neighborhood offering up their own versions of everyone's favorite warm, bready treat. But for those who know where to find them, the beigels here can be fantastic-- and come packed with a little British twist.<br />
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The best place we've been to by far is The Beigel Bake, a little 24-hour, hole in the wall on Brick Lane that also happens to be London's oldest beigel shop. Sandwiched in the middle of an area now known as the heart of London's Bangladeshi community, this tiny, white-walled shop, offers up a variety of bagels (and donuts too) slathered in butter or jam or stuffed and served as sandwiches, all at stunningly low prices. When we went at 1 am on a Friday, the gruff staff behind the counter and the various drunk hipsters in from Shoreditch made the place strangely endearing in a rough-around-the-edges way too. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art imitates bagels in Shoreditch.</td></tr>
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Our favorite thing here by far is the heaven-sent salt beef bagel, which we can't even think about without our mouths watering. For the uninitiated, salt beef is a form of corned beef, cured to perfection and cut thick. The sandwich, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£3.50,</span> doubles down on the salty, strong flavor of the pastrami-like beef by adding globs of amazing, spicy British mustard to the mix, as well as gherkins (tiny pickles). Only the bread-- which captures that perfect bagel texture-- tempers the explosion of flavors this sandwich packs. (Authenticity bonus points: All the bagels here are cooked on site and boiled before they're baked.) <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTcrDzwbPHiqzcjCe3IpuSmGHk-yOiQKMxHSfBUx-jr0Ua3WzRn_RSH5tFU4bVqEgtx0Vsy4Yx7fZZAJkNeBhbqNJd9l6aYetJthollmcI3b1KEHRdai3ArdZT0wFZTC7S1S-QkFT68Fc/s1600/smoked+salmon+beigel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTcrDzwbPHiqzcjCe3IpuSmGHk-yOiQKMxHSfBUx-jr0Ua3WzRn_RSH5tFU4bVqEgtx0Vsy4Yx7fZZAJkNeBhbqNJd9l6aYetJthollmcI3b1KEHRdai3ArdZT0wFZTC7S1S-QkFT68Fc/s1600/smoked+salmon+beigel.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Less impressed with the "beigel" and lox.</td></tr>
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Less impressive to us when we went was another classic Jewish dish, the bagel sandwich with lox (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£1.80)</span>. Here, the salmon sandwiches are pre-made, wrapped in paper and served cold, sort of like something you'd get a Pret-a-Manger. They were small too, and skimped on the salmon, making us immediately feel that we needed a second one-- which was feasible given the price. Donuts, cheesecakes and sausage rolls rounded out the menu, but here, the "beigel" is clearly the star. That's what everyone around us was eating, anyways.<br />
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Note that this place is great for quick stops in, late-night noshing, or picking up a bagel before strolling through the neighborhood or over to the Columbia Flower Maket: There's only one, long counter for eating-- and it's standing only. Plan on jockeying with some locals for space, warm bagels in hand.<br />
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<i>Word of warning to the observant: Although most things on the menu here are kosher, the meat on the salt-beef bagel, which originates in Ireland, is not! </i><br />
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/561462/restaurant/Shoreditch/Beigel-Bake-London"><img alt="Beigel Bake on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/561462/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-13591608771288814042011-10-07T14:34:00.000+01:002011-12-02T02:20:29.379+00:00Rasa: Unique South Indian Gem in Stoke Newington<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZneKbMGiOmAKbNMdxIeDB3_JPkthMv4HNbSwx6w991q65VrYNq3UrtDNJbKoY1qfcorgccGVxiN29e6gJ-_JBKa3FTN3D9f8Z49seO9Vcu5JmeaKcxplxm50QHre5pESTeO8-XkJN_ME/s1600/rasapic.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660731430212084194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZneKbMGiOmAKbNMdxIeDB3_JPkthMv4HNbSwx6w991q65VrYNq3UrtDNJbKoY1qfcorgccGVxiN29e6gJ-_JBKa3FTN3D9f8Z49seO9Vcu5JmeaKcxplxm50QHre5pESTeO8-XkJN_ME/s320/rasapic.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 241px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 241px;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Name </b>Rasa N16</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Address </b>55 Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16 OAR<b> </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Phone </b>020 7249 0344</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Web site </b></span><a href="http://www.rasarestaurants.com/UserPages/index.aspx">http://www.rasarestaurants.com</a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Main dish price range</b> £4-6<br /><b>Rating</b> 5 Stars. The best restaurant in its genre in London.<br /><b>Recommended dishes</b> Bagur Baingan, Kovakka Olathiathu </span><br />
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Tonight the new stewardess of your ethnic eating blog decided to go on a little adventure: I hopped on the 73 bus and headed to Stoke Newington to try out Rasa, a tiny, pink-walled restaurant that specializes in food from the South Indian state of Kerala. Rasa is a vegetarian-only mini-chain that in recent years has grown from a single restaurant in Stoke Newington to a seven-location mini-empire, including locations as far out as Brighton and Newcastle. Being first timers, my husband and I decided to start with the original location, a cozy spot with magenta and orange silks hanging from the walls and smells of turmeric and mustard seed wafting out from the kitchen.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you beat these pickles?</td></tr>
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I've always thought that creating a truly amazing vegetarian restaurant is no easy feat. As a huge fan of meats, many restaurants wow me by picking excellent, flavorful cuts, smoking them to perfection, and presenting them simply. (See: the delicious lamb chops at Tayyabs, a favorite restaurant of the blog.) Rasa, however, aims to make up make up for its lack of a meat trump card by going for bold flavors and carefully-executed dishes-- chutneys are homemade and hand sliced in the kitchen, and some foods, like the Indian wedding dish Beet Cheera Pachadi, mix up flavors in ways that won't see at your standard Brick-Lane curry house. (That dish consists of beets, yogurt, roasted coconut, mustard seeds, and curry leaves, if you're curious.) </div>
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To start off, we ordered a Nair Dosa, which is a rice and black gram flour pancake filled with a combination of potatoes, beetroot, carrots, onion and ginger. The dosa itself was the perfect consistency, and since we asked for our food spicy, had the ideal amount of kick that lingered on the tongue. The sambar that came with it was hardly an afterthought either-- once we'd finished polishing off our dosas, my husband and I kept drizzling it over the our coconut rice, savoring the unique combination of spices. </div>
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Another starter, the handmade pickle and chutney platter was also a real star. Unlike a lot of potted chutneys available in many restaurants-- full of so much sugar, some of the nuance is lost-- each one of these six-mini dishes was excellently crafted to serve as the perfect, pre-meal palette cleanser. Of particular was the lemon pickle-- cured lemons, seeded with a hint of sweet-- and also a mango chutney that balanced thinly sliced mangoes with a dusting of spice. The whole thing was a riot of color and taste combinations that we loved dipping into to explore. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our feast in its full glory.</td></tr>
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After the refreshing jolt of the pickles, we were ready to move on to the main course. One of the curries we tried was a huge hit with my husband, but fell a little flat on my side of the table. It was the Moru Kachiathu, a bright yellow curry that combines green bananas, globs of sweet mangoes, yogurt, and fresh chili and curry leaves. With this dish, Rasa continued to prove that fresh ingredients are really this restaurants jam-- even though the days are in London are rapidly getting shorter and colder, the mango was perfectly ripe and soft, and provided an excellent counterbalance to the more pungent taste of the green bananas. I'm not sure the sweet and sour curry is really my favorite form of Indian food, but it was so unique, it was a dish I could truly respect without wanting to order it next time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tindori: cucumbers, baby ones</td></tr>
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Any skepticism I had though was quickly washed down when I tasted the next dish. The Bagur Baingan (the top curry in the photo) is the best curry I've ever in London, and quite possibly the best curry I've ever had, maybe second only to some of the deliciousness at SriPraPhai-- the stunningly amazing Thai restaurant in Queens, New York. This dish was thick and gloppy, sort of with the consistency of an oatmeal, and a mix of incredibly delicate flavors. Before cooking them over a fire, the chef rolls the aubergines that form the base of this dish in a paste made of roasted onions, coriander seeds, fresh chilies and tamarind. The warm cubes that result, still gooey on the inside, are then pillowed in a white liquid made of yogurt blended with cashew nut sauce. The end product: a masterpiece, clocking in at only.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">£4.</span><br />
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The rest of our meal had some notable additions that showed the real care that goes into everything on offer at Rasa. A side dish we had, the Kovakka Olathiathu, consisted of a vegetable we'd never seen, Tindori-- or tiny baby cucumbers-- mixed memorably with dry roasted cashews, coconuts, mustard seeds, and curry leaves. The coconut rice was also good, and comes already blended with a bit of black daaal, a nice touch.<br />
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All in all, we were wowed by the food at Rasa and can't wait to return. (Eating our leftovers cold the next day was surprisingly satisfying too.) The Website of the Rasa empire-- which is also pepto-bismo hued, charmingly -- displays a prominent, unattributed quote: "Once there was a time when the whole world was enamored with the fragrance of Kerala." After one visit to this gem, I believe it. </div>
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/569043/restaurant/London/Rasa-Stoke-Newington"><img alt="Rasa on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/569043/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a>
<a href="http://www.istarvin.com/l/47176d" title="Rasa Restaurant Restaurant in Hackney, East, London at iStarvin.com"><img src="http://cdn.istarvin.com/widgets/47176d/medium/" /></a>Angie C. Marekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10269037772570689076noreply@blogger.com1Stoke Newington, Hackney, Greater London N16, UK51.5620623 -0.07362351.5595943 -0.078558499999999989 51.5645303 -0.0686875tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-41682939403677288052009-02-23T00:01:00.001+00:002009-02-23T00:03:26.123+00:00Arang in Soho: Best Korean yet<div style="clear: both; float: left; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-right: 10px; text-align: center; width: 305px; font-style:italic;">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBoi0r0Xvfg32hE9nh_th5VvGBOsRzYrxGrZXKNEHm3EjCfdhQBOlW1r3GAQlo8NXG83MfCGApz0HhEiSpyUwv0AVEp-S-qum_SjGp1ImcAPZDx0GWX3pQdfmLuTuDtoauP7OV5yLxcd8/s640/IMG_7907.JPG" style="width: 300px;" />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgncJRpok4ZkkTachBWzbQIXzj00tNe0ThhHR0ieY6YI4BaKs6o_eHpk1UtfM9_0AW4Y5ehVqXhr6ulM1HC54TmfMC_qBFJ3T8WeCos7aIg-cfy_Zmq_5VT5WpzZG2YWXFowjyw6MQeoYk/s640/IMG_7913.JPG" style="width: 300px;" />I'll be back for this...
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW-PIspVvRXqCeRqBTxiu7oKdEvH4Xw5vJ2gCl5LU_zlwbCiSOUJBot1Xr2KlVxcoDKwOtNcgJSuf4LPEoW-JlRG5FfBWN5MwUC6jjrErnOuYaq3Z9sHsyj21_Tu1VWbJ7WtzePuZ-yYc/s640/IMG_7918.JPG" style="width: 300px;" />Hot Korean girl (Hi Viv!)
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<b>Name </b>Arang Korean<br />
<b>Address </b> 9 Golden Sq, Soho, W1F 9HZ,
<b>Phone </b>020 74342073<br />
<b>Web site </b><a href="arang.co.uk">arang.co.uk</a><br />
<b>Main dish price range</b> £6-10<br />
<b>Rating</b> 5 Stars. The best restaurant in its genre in London.<br />
<b>Recommended dishes</b> Soondubu<br />
<p/>When ever I tell friends I am starting an Ethnic food blog or that I'm into "Ethnic Eating" some smarty invariably asks how can I possibly call I distinguish any food as being "ethnic" when in fact all food was produced by somebody according to <i>some</i> ethnicity. Today, walking into Aragi, I feel I finally found an answer.
<p/>It's a Korean restaurant in Soho, one of about a handful that I've been to -- but despite the tony location in Golden Square, this place appears to cater to exclusively Koreans. There were Koreans young and old, well dressed and fantastically fobby, crammed into every table in the dining area, and spilling into the basement karaoke lounge. I could tell this would be a great ethnic restaurant, and I immediately found my definition as such: <i>a restaurant serving the food of a particular ethinc group, with an aim to primarily serving expatriates from that ethnic group.</i>
<p/>We arrived around 8pm after a long walk in the cool evening, and were seated in a karaoke booth down in the basement. It was a small room with a large TV, and into it had been placed a large stone table. A little weird, but no big deal. The menus had a few pages only in Korean, but most of it was translated into English as well, with a few pictures to aid the novice along. Overall, there was a far greater variety of food than what I'm used to seeing in London.
<p/>I would have loved to have sampled some new Korean dishes, but I had been craving Soondubu all day, and my companions a Bibimbap and a Chapchae respectively. The menu also listed a number of the small banchan plates, suggesting that these must be ordered and paid for (these are complementary in most Korean restaurants around the world). We ordered three, and got six, so it appears Arang is splitting the difference.
<p/>The food was, I must say, very very good. Soondubu is not a hard dish to prepare, but is very hard to get right. All one must do to prepare passable version is simply add some Korean chilli paste and tofu to boiling stock, stir and serve. But the secret to a great Soondubu is to build up a great stock -- usually from well marrowed beef bones. Tonight, it was excellent. Hats off to a great dish, and at £7.50 for the main course, it was a steal as well.
<p/>I'm definitely coming back here -- for the food, but also for the Karaoke. I envision a fine evening lies in my near future...
<p/><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/560493/restaurant/London/Soho/Arang-City-of-Westminster"><img alt="Arang on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/560493/minilink.gif" style="border:none;width:130px;height:36px" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17102703391405571368noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-75656651303107214842009-02-22T23:58:00.000+00:002011-11-23T18:36:40.900+00:00Baraka in Whitechapel: A Tayyab's Alternative?<div style="clear: both; float: left; font-style: italic; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-right: 10px; text-align: center; width: 305px;">
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<b>Name </b>Baraka Eatery<br />
<b>Address </b>38-40 Whitechapel Rd E1 1JX<br />
<b>Phone </b>020 74260550<br />
<b>Web site </b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/barakaeatery.co.uk">barakaeatery.co.uk</a><br />
<b>Main dish price range </b> £6-10<br />
<b>Rating </b> 3 stars. Solid, you should go there if you are in the area.<br />
<b>Recommended dishes </b>Achari Goscht <br />
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My first visit to Tayyab's, 10:30pm on a Sunday night, was a great success. My second, on a Friday evening, was a failure -- an epic line scared me promptly away. My 3rd visit, last Thursday around 6pm, was supposed to be better? Who could imagine a line at that early hour. Even when I got there and saw it with my own eyes, I had to actually wait in it for 20 minutes before I was convinced.
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Ellen and I gave up, and headed around the corner to what looked to be a new restaurant, advertising South Asian food in the kind of colorful, modern, cheap environment that Londers seem to love so much. Normally, this kind of décor would have frightened my right away, but in this case a coupla dudes in kurtas and the location right next door to the massive East London Mosque and Muslim Center made me feel that it might have some worth. It was also largely empty, so I knew we would be seated and served right away.
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It turned out to be a Bangladeshi restaurant which does a turn in Indian and Middle Eastern foods as well (to satisfy as many of the worshippers from next door as possible no doubt). I asked the eager Bangladeshi waiter for a few recommendations, and he inevitably directed my towards some of the "white people favourites" he assumed I could stomach. I took a Chicken Chilli after his emphatic recommendation, but then rounded the meal out with a few choices from the Bangladeshi side of the menu.
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Chicken Chilli was OK, not great, but the Bangladeshi dishes really shone, especially the Achari Goscht, a lamb dish with a sauce made from pickled vegetables. I have never had anything quite like it in a restaurant, and it was great. A Chana Dal had perfectly al dente beans, and it was all served with some complementary salads and breads.
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All in all, a solid meal, and a great alternative to the lines at Tayyabs. Easily worth 3 stars. Only the Chicken<br />
Chili kept it from 4.
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/560881/restaurant/London/Aldgate-East/Baraka-Eatery-Tower-Hamlets"><img alt="Baraka Eatery on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/560881/minilink.gif" style="border: none; height: 36px; width: 130px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17102703391405571368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-10279334042795511652009-02-22T23:57:00.000+00:002009-02-23T00:05:25.292+00:00Leong's Legend in Chinatown<div style="clear: both; float: left; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-right: 10px; text-align: center; width: 305px; font-style:italic;">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-isQCEfWvHwHHtAtSpH-uewS9KrLedXtQq3SGwSnBmR_LZdny4BWtFbLqtiVX3w8zeakBsLmyb01rbr7qnM1iRywTtrWlT6XY8KVyD4cm0fISgacK1ahIAmN-bdwkmD0fwS54uj0i_U/s640/IMG_7875.JPG" style="width: 300px;" />My dou miao
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5nepWuh8zK_Jppx13aYvDBWCZqBU3qI5ENUXwrRz16IxaLR4sC5WA0Z92P-2ETkYtIxbX5Fpy3RyhCfTwCDQ1wGibwld9zQGvHpyER2Sb0ifzb2qvwQaPvkLICxGjdJ07mIU89OTJYGM/s640/IMG_7884.JPG" style="width: 300px;" />Braised red pork
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl5Jrf5boaXDRUhitHZANo8XTcVsAl6OI4bJqD0l6lfRyUdAslHI6xRrxSV50Vzfgo_aEFelPGPRej-hSMkUPTpEkvjNNgQhr_oFGZ7oaTETD6Wf2bcXeXw-BXx5gunDB1Kn1i2SOcwBY/s640/IMG_7876.JPG" style="width: 300px;" />Pork ribs
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<b>Name </b>Leong's Legends<br />
<b>Address </b>26-27 Lisle Street, Chinatown, WC2H 7BA<br />
<b>Phone </b>020 7734 3380<br />
<b>Web site </b><a href="">N/a</a><br />
<b>Main dish price range </b> £8-12<br />
<b>Rating </b>4-stars<br />
<b>Recommended dishes </b>Braised pork<br />
<p/>Intrigued by the reports of good food and awful service, I've been meaning to check out Leong's Legend for some time now. The reviews have been decidedly mixed, and I've been intending to sort it out.
<p/>I've heard this was a good place to get a decent authentic Taiwanese meal, and so when we were seated in the small and crowded dining room I was surprised to see a undistinguished menu, headed by that classic Chinese dish "Crispy Aromatic Duck" (n.b. this dish does not exist outside England, let alone in China). Oh well. I picked out whatever looked not totally awful from this menu, and placed my order.
<p/>I speak a little Chinese, enough to be able to ask the waiter if they had "dou miao" , one of my favorite chinese vegetables (a kind of pea sprouts). The waiter, upon hearing my attempt at Chinese, said "Ah, you speak Chinese! Here, I must get you the <i>Chinese Menu</i>. He scurried away and produced a new set of menus. These menus, while written in both Chinese and English, were clearly <i>"Chinese"</i> in that they were designed to be offered to <i>Chinese People</i>. The menu was totally different, full this time of classic Chinese and Taiwanese dishes, enough to warm my heart.
<p/>I ordered a spicy braised red pork dish, in the Northern Chinese style, at the waiters recommendations. I also got my dou miao, as well as a tasty fried pork spareribs dish. It was all damn good, and the pork braise was as it should be, hot as hell.
<p/>This was not Chinese Haute Cuisine, but it was great to have a solid Chinese meal for a change -- I heartily recommend Leong's -- just be sure to ask for the right menu.
<p/><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/763298/restaurant/London/Chinatown/Leong-s-Legends-City-of-Westminster"><img alt="Leong’s Legends on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/763298/minilink.gif" style="border:none;width:130px;height:36px" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17102703391405571368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-68474842454269487832009-01-18T16:59:00.000+00:002011-11-23T18:35:42.759+00:00Maroush 1 on Edgware Road<div style="clear: both; float: left; font-style: italic; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-right: 10px; text-align: center; width: 305px;">
<a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media.restaurant-bookings.com/img/r/xl/4556.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.visitlondon.com/attractions/detail/109120&usg=__MQJo6xkH7a6IOIlHZ0xImZCQtno=&h=190&w=250&sz=10&hl=en&start=1&sig2=mP6fcNsozJM2szPAigZa7g&tbnid=C6UIjyuEI8wKYM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=111&ei=EGFzSeDpNInGjAfm09GyBQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMaroush%2B1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B3GGIC_enGB292GB302"><img src="http://media.restaurant-bookings.com/img/r/xl/4556.jpg" style="width: 300px;" /></a> <br />
<div class="mapbox" id="map" postcode="21 Edgware Road, London ">
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<b>Name </b>Maroush 1<br />
<b>Address </b>21 Edgware Rd,Bayswater, W2 2<b>Phone </b>020 72476400<br />
<b>Web site </b>www.maroush.com<br />
<b>Main dish price range</b> £10-15<br />
<b>Rating</b> 0 Stars. I would seriously rather go hungry.<br />
We had decided only to post reviews of restaurants that we liked on this blog (negative opinions I've been chalking up on <a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/u/reviews/125042">urbanspoon.com</a>), but last night I had a truly extraordinary restaurant experience, and I feel a strong need to speak out. <br />
A friend visiting from out of town wanted Lebanese, and I leapt at the opportunity to try Maroush, the flagship restaurant of the chain that includes places I love such as Ranoush Juice and Beirut Express. Indeed, up and down Edgware Road, you're hard-pressed to find a place not owned by the Maroush empire. Maroush is said to be more up-market, and have belly dancing, so I figured it was a safe bet for an out of town guest. <br />
We got there around nine, and after having to be made to feel bad about not having a reservation for 5 or 10 minutes, we were shown into their main dining room, which happens to be in a large, low-ceilinged basement. The place settings are nice, white linen and all that, and the waiters are all in suits, so it was a bit of a surprise to see a DJ pumping out Lebanese hits from a corner of the dining room. <br />
The music was loud, but it didn't seem to bother the large crowd of diners, which ranged from what looked like a large drunken office outing to quite a few middle eastern couples. We had only begun to complain about the loud music when all of a sudden IT GOT COMPLETELY DEAFENING. And it stayed that way, for THE NEXT TWO HOURS, which is how long it took us to get the food. And I mean deafening -- my friend and I put our faces next to each other, and shouted, and we still couldn't here. I almost want to excuse the friendly waitstaff for being so slow, since it was clear that they could not hear what the hell any of their customers were saying to them. <br />
When we finally got our main course (which could have, and probably did, come from the same kitchen as Beirut Express), I got the waiter to bring the bill right away. We wolfed down the kebabs we had ordered, then rushed out of that dungeon, never to return. <br />
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/566707/restaurant/London/Marylebone/Maroush-1-Bayswater"><img alt="Maroush 1 on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/566707/minilink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 36px; width: 130px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17102703391405571368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-32680363589098102982009-01-17T16:39:00.000+00:002009-01-20T11:48:07.349+00:00Great Queen Street in Holborn<div style="CLEAR: both; PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; FLOAT: left; PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px; WIDTH: 305px; FONT-STYLE: italic; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7re1lkhf_F0DIAHQSfDTnimTmCSk0u24svSbHMyh5wrC20SfYoeq1Nb75soFZnCBJF_75e6jGFKiVlFUOtZa8IfKvUi5fAjG50543F_TGF6Dgb8-2pzheQ0DNUXtnhDq8vhkz137OpQ/s720/IMG_7628.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 300px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7re1lkhf_F0DIAHQSfDTnimTmCSk0u24svSbHMyh5wrC20SfYoeq1Nb75soFZnCBJF_75e6jGFKiVlFUOtZa8IfKvUi5fAjG50543F_TGF6Dgb8-2pzheQ0DNUXtnhDq8vhkz137OpQ/s720/IMG_7628.JPG" /></a> <div class="mapbox" id="map" postcode="WC2B 5AA"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQIwifMu-ceYbcD41Iv3VtnHRwdVkiYztGYgdDAqPzSAcDA4BACAxL5BdTN9n4jBzNMYnMtG5Kp8AeEYqCSY1ybLTYekCUPl9fdZCDNDZTjl34Odg3kYVbl2ZGhyphenhyphenLkhMzD_pmJ_09fkrg/s720/IMG_7619.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 300px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQIwifMu-ceYbcD41Iv3VtnHRwdVkiYztGYgdDAqPzSAcDA4BACAxL5BdTN9n4jBzNMYnMtG5Kp8AeEYqCSY1ybLTYekCUPl9fdZCDNDZTjl34Odg3kYVbl2ZGhyphenhyphenLkhMzD_pmJ_09fkrg/s720/IMG_7619.JPG" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5AEQDyLBspPnmHLvFzwWK_3cv9hlLwClUbWQqP5pIMBeW9bnarLCMdqgjo1AHzXogxwudUncuwFMNPpUJCy_euhUmOOjTgWtoET3SPEW1zMyERIiB7-mjrrsfD39MrGR2T5UkZ5VXA0/s512/IMG_7622.JPG"></a><img style="WIDTH: 300px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5AEQDyLBspPnmHLvFzwWK_3cv9hlLwClUbWQqP5pIMBeW9bnarLCMdqgjo1AHzXogxwudUncuwFMNPpUJCy_euhUmOOjTgWtoET3SPEW1zMyERIiB7-mjrrsfD39MrGR2T5UkZ5VXA0/s512/IMG_7622.JPG" /></a></div><b>Name </b>Great Queen Street<br /><b>Address </b>32 Great Queen Street WC2B 5AA<b>Phone </b>020 72476400<br /><b>Web site </b>N/a<b>Main dish price range</b> £10-20<br /><b>Rating</b> 4 Stars. I would take my parents there.<br /><b>Recommended dishes</b> Duck confit<br /><p>Fresh of the plane from a great holiday back home in the States, I was filled to the brim wit h the tasty ethnic food of New York. The previous day, I'd had bagels and lox for breakfast, Italian for lunch, and a fiery Sichuan dinner from the popular Spicy and Tasty in the very ground zero of America's ethnic kitchen: Flushing, Queens. <p>So upon my return to London, for onceI felt no great craving for ethinc food of any particular description. After work I took a gander at my favorite London food guide and an idea caught my eye: English food! <p>Great Queen Street is a warm looking, simple restaurant that fills most of a storefront on this fine street near Covent Garden. Bare wooden table tops and a busy bar in the back half left me feeling quite at home, and I dumped my duffel bag and coat over the empty chair at the next table over. <p>Ellen had already ordered a kippered fish starter, which came with a tasty egg and endive salad. The menu, filled with things such as dried blood and pig's cheek, made me a bit uncomfortable and for a few minutes I agonized both over what to order and whether or not it was safe to call this an "ethnic" restaurant. I was reminded that if the food makes me uncomfortable, then it's clearly ethnic. I dived in. <p>I had the duck confit, not being in an adventurous mood, and it was excellent. I sucked the bones dry, although that's something I do so often as to not be a true accolade. We also ordered the aforementioned cheek, which came deep fried in a crusty breading and served over seasonally appropriate lentils. All the ingredients were fresh and delicious and the dishes were well presented. Only the desert, a quince tart of some sort, was something of a miss, mostly due to the fact that it was served with warm, and not iced, cream. <p>Overall, this is certainly a place I would come back to, which earns it a comfortable four stars. Ellen pointed out, and I agree, that it's a great place to bring guests to show them the ethnic eating of our adopted home.<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/564421/restaurant/London/Covent-Garden/Great-Queen-Street-Holborn"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 130px; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; HEIGHT: 36px" alt="Great Queen Street on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/564421/minilink.gif" /></a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17102703391405571368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-14064646992084626332009-01-16T11:30:00.000+00:002011-11-23T18:34:40.036+00:00Ranoush Juice on Edgware Road<div style="clear: both; float: left; font-style: italic; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-right: 10px; text-align: center; width: 305px;">
<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3144/2498417613_3770431418.jpg?v=0" style="width: 300px;" /> <br />
<div class="mapbox" id="map" postcode="W2 2JR">
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<b>Name </b>Ranoush<br />
<b>Address </b>43 Edgware Rd<br />
<b>Phone </b>(020) 7723 5929<br />
<b>Web site </b><a href="http://www.maroush.com/">http://www.maroush.com/</a><br />
<b>Main dish price range</b> £5-10<br />
<b>Rating</b> 5 Stars. The best restaurant in its genre in London.<br />
<b>Recommended dishes</b> Lamb Shawarma, Hummous<br />
Over the last few months, work has caused me to spend a good amount of time in the Middle East, where I've been cheerfully engaged in my favorite pastime: eating Shawarma. I even went so far as to make a systematic study of the Shawarmas of Tel Aviv. You could say I'm something of a Shawarma expert. <br />
And so it is with great pleasure that I award our first five-star restaurant of this blog: Ranoush on Edgware Road. There's no one secret to a Shawarma: it's a combination of the meat, the bread, the veggies, and the sauce that all have to be exactly right, equally fresh and crispy, blended together in just the right proportions. Ranoush, a member of a large Lebanese family of restaurants which spans a few properties in the area, gets it just right. <br />
It also has the certain authentic touches which a five-star pick requires. Its setting, nestled among sidewalk hookah joints operating happily in the - 5 degree January cold, was ideal. The format of counter service with only too few Formica tables, was spot-on. And best of all the, gracious Levantine service was pitch-perfect. When I pointed out that my order for a side of Baba Ganouj was mistaken for a request for a wrap with the same, the line cook smiled and tossed both in the bag, saying it was "on the house." He also tossed in a full bag of pita bread. And smiled at us again. <br />
I should note that the aforementioned Baba Ganouj and also the Hummus I sampled here were excellent, and would have easily held their own against all but the very best in the Holy Land. This place effortlessly outshines all of the Shawarma joints in New York, although admittedly that may be because most of them are from the Turkish tradition (thicker pita, greasier meat), and my tastes run towards the Arab variety. <br />
This is a place I can see myself going to again and again, and happily so. For a while now I had been wondering what a 5-star ethnic restaurant might be like. Now I know. <br />
NOTE: This restaurant is part of the sprawling Maroush empire, which has half a dozen or so restaurants scattered around Edgware Road. I went on a following night to Beirut Express, which seems to serve the same food as Ranoush Juice, although the format is table service. I can see how some might prefer the more attentive service to that which Ranoush's countermen can provide, but to me ordering directly from the guy carving the meat off the skewer is an integral part of the experience. My 5-stars goes to Ranoush Juice, with a Beirut Express a solid 4-star follow-on. <br />
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/569034/restaurant/London/Marylebone/Ranoush-Bayswater"><img alt="Ranoush on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/569034/minilink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 36px; width: 130px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17102703391405571368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-49885346102127259712009-01-14T20:52:00.002+00:002012-03-29T00:37:05.262+01:00Tayyabs in Whitechapel<div style="clear: both; float: left; font-style: italic; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-right: 10px; text-align: center; width: 305px;">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZL6WtgiWmBT64QiF1QvESrDjADXNBndHv4w3vajJbE_yeL8p0DAUtf3wG5E6YF-EZdNPHICY384dQ24f65n2EAp8TU_zYHS6RBtdOzKPzBuhmKdiEoamT0brq-k5CP7tSuyWlY4ZY7KA/s640/IMG_7714.JPG" style="width: 300px;" /> <br />
<div class="mapbox" id="map" postcode="E1 1JU">
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJgS5l4hJ1rN9upro4AItGgkq5qf6COTMvRY6L8lPpqUhrFWbGPhe6gBbIDMdxLz1wjIj56F0jgia08C4xZF1PrdyoSTRu4qFg1Tlx-nDkf3Wf0tmyuVeuxEqTYrjwmbTOIQbTTfnQxM/s640/IMG_7700.JPG" style="width: 300px;" /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje3G2O_-nWxAnQk9GGcdnsbP-GrflRio-VtQWkBw8g6JEi1Si6q7OwYySiKBCeTb0_V7deK_gpLpu2n0qmOQKQLi0WXFiT7eKMugKrVXxnfd1ElrHo0fmry_f39Oymq_zs1Hbue1-qEZY/s640/IMG_7711.JPG" style="width: 300px;" /></div>
<b>Name </b>Tayyabs<br />
<b>Address </b>83-89 Fieldgate St E1 1JU<b>Phone </b>020 72476400<br />
<b>Web site </b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.tayyabs.co.uk">www.tayyabs.co.uk</a><br />
<b>Main dish price range</b> £5-15<br />
<b>Rating</b> 5 Stars. The best restaurant in its genre in London.<br />
<b>Recommended dishes</b> Lamb Kofte Kebabs, Meat with Bindhi<br />
This is the best restaurant we have yet been to in London. It's is written up in literally every guidebook; which, given the competition, is not really that much of a feat -- what is startling is that despite the attention it is still turning out terrific meals. <br />
On a Sunday night around 9pm the place was jumping, but our party of three managed to get squeezed into a table. The crowd was mostly South Asian, although the décor was the cheap-looking hip and colorful design scheme that appears to be standard issue for popular London places. The waiter called me "Boss" as he seated us and I knew I was in for a treat. <br />
The food is Punjabi -- authentically Punjabi -- which means it’s a lot of grilled meats and fairly thick curries. It's the kind of North Indian food that most London curry shops have modified for English tastes, and it is terrifically refreshing to have in its cream- and sugar-free original. We ordered a set of kebabs (60p each!), and then moved on to a variety of curries, all of which were excellent. The "Bhindi with Meat" was particularly good. The only dish that missed the spot was a Chicken Biryani -- but I should have known better than to order that South Indian classic in a Punjabi joint. <br />
Indeed, the food was so good that after we wolfed it down I seriously considered ordering another round for take-away to have for dinner the following night. The following day, I wish I had. After three months with no 5-star choices, now I've got two in a row! (the other being Ranoush Juice) <br />
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/567521/restaurant/London/Whitechapel/New-Tayyab-Tower-Hamlets"><img alt="New Tayyab on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/567521/biglink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17102703391405571368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-1189082469281786202008-12-18T02:13:00.003+00:002011-11-23T19:01:46.935+00:00Chaopraya Eat-Thai in Marylebone<div class="photobox">
<div class="mapbox" id="map" lee:postcode="W1U 1">
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<b>Name </b>Chaopraya Eat-Thai</div>
<b>Address </b>22 St Christophers Pl, London W1U 1
<b>Phone </b>020 7439 1330<br />
<b>Web site </b><a href="http://www.eatthai.net/">http://www.eatthai.net/</a><br />
<b>Main dish price range</b> £10-15<br />
<b>Rating</b> 3 Stars. Solid pick, you won't be disappointed.<br />
<b>Recommended dishes</b> Stir-fried wide rice noodles<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSLOLGX1ZC4RC1rlhjyjZPN2i1QTM6KudX4HheavmRkLZcW1UVETr8cX-0YeD0YfrVlWnyfDwEmekV1b0q4alRB5YBKI-lnmvusnn5VN8uH5cUFQNNB95uQiIgn3LadhTLKAkesMSzrgI/s1600/EatThai_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSLOLGX1ZC4RC1rlhjyjZPN2i1QTM6KudX4HheavmRkLZcW1UVETr8cX-0YeD0YfrVlWnyfDwEmekV1b0q4alRB5YBKI-lnmvusnn5VN8uH5cUFQNNB95uQiIgn3LadhTLKAkesMSzrgI/s320/EatThai_1.jpg" width="320" /></a>The first Thai restaurant I went to in London, a <a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/570950/restaurant/London/Thai-Square-South-Kensington">Thai Kitchen</a> in South Ken, was so bad that it might qualify as the worst restaurant meal I've had in my life. Thai food is supposed to be comforting, the kind of thing you do on a Sunday night when you can't think of anything else -- so a bad Thai meal is like a kick when you're down. Needless to say, I've bean wary since then.
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So Chaopraya Eat-Thai was a pleasant surprise. A completely different animal from its <a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/561587/restaurant/London/Busaba-Eathai-Soho">Busaba</a> cousin, this place recalls comfortable neighborhood Thai restaurants from back home, albeit with food one notch above.
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Nestled among the "disgustingly cute" shops of St Christophers's place, the décor is basic, and despite a some seriously economical chairs, not at all modern. No matter. The young service was prompt and friendly, and the food very decent indeed. The menu recommends a lamb massaman curry which was just ok (but then I've never gone in for massaman and shouldn't have ordered it). A stir friend wide rice noodle dish was much better.<br />
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Nothing was spicy enough, but nothing in London ever is.
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/562180/restaurant/London/Marylebone/Chaopraya-Eat-Thai-Paddington"><img alt="Chaopraya Eat-Thai on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/562180/minilink.gif" style="border: none; height: 36px; width: 130px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17102703391405571368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-29713378496454503362008-12-17T18:15:00.000+00:002011-11-23T19:13:29.589+00:00Chowki in Picadilly<div class="photobox">
<a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1026/657089921_20d81b19f7.jpg?v=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1026/657089921_20d81b19f7.jpg?v=0" style="width: 300px;" /></a></div>
<b>Name </b>Chowki<br />
<b>Address </b>2-3 Denman Street, London W1D 7HA
<b>Phone </b>020 7439 1330<br />
<b>Web site</b> <a href="http://www.minjiang.co.uk/index.php">http://www.chowki.com/</a><br />
<b>Main dish price range</b> £10-15<br />
<b>Rating</b> 3 Stars. Solid pick, you won't be disappointed.<br />
<b>Recommended dishes</b> Lucknow Lamb Korma<br />
<br />
<a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2248/2187931209_8d6f288302.jpg?v=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2248/2187931209_8d6f288302.jpg?v=0" style="width: 300px;" /></a>Pankaj Mishra, one of my favorite Indian authors, recently wrote a piece for the FT lamenting the state of Indian food in London, India's former imperial capital. As I've mentioned here before, it's all very much true, and in my opinion mostly due to the fact that when the tone was set for Indian cooking, the whole idea of food was not very much appreciated. It was the 60's, mostly people ate boiled meat, and salt and pepper were viewed as indulgent spices. It's not wonder that when Britishers think of curry, they think of mutely-colored, mutely-flavored, heavily creamed dishes.
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<br />
<a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2011/2188717288_a0510c9c83.jpg?v=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2011/2188717288_a0510c9c83.jpg?v=0" style="width: 300px;" /></a>So when Pankaj Mishra went on to list what he viewed as the only decent Indian joint in town as being Chowki, and that Chowki happened to be right near my office, I simply had to go. Chowki specializes in Indian regional fare, which I suppose is it's way of saying that the food they serve is the food that one might expect if one were actually in a region of India, as opposed to what passes for Indian food in London. Chowki is very much representative of a new wave of Indian immigration, itself representative of an entirely new India. The decorations are cheerful, the clientele and service young and busy, and the modern din is much reminiscent of the places my young colleagues have taken me to in Bangalore or Hyderabad. Chowki violates all of the interior-design rules set by the earlier generations of curry shops: there are no white table clothes, they use glasses rather than goblets, and there are large windows through which one can actually see the street.<br />
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I've read that Chowki's menu varies to reflect a different region of India every few months. Apparently they've abandoned this, and now just have a number of dishes from named regions, arrayed across a rather confusing glossy menu. The food, once ordered, is promptly served in a set comprising of a main dish, a plate of rice, and a lentil dal. It's exactly how a modern Indian would expect to be served, if he were trying to imitate the individual-serving style of western restaurants, but seeing as how Chowki's patrons are mostly trying to escape these staid western traditions, it's not clear why the food doesn't simply come family style.
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But no matter. The food overcomes the jumble of its presentation. It's easy to see Mishra likes it -- the curries were very well prepared, nicely spiced, with succulent meat and not a hint of curry to pander to the punters. The Lucknow Lamb Korma stood out as exquisite -- it was clear that the meat was marinated as it should be, and the sauce was absolutely divine -- a finer balancing of flavours I can't recall having.
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I'm not really an expert, but I do have reason to call into question the regional provenance of the dishes -- the names are a bit condescending and hardly apropos of anything. Hyderbadi Chicken Curry? Why, anyone who's ever been knows that the dish of that fine Deccan city is Biryani. I spend three months there and can't recall a Chicken Curry. Similarly, the Keralan Prawn Curry, I expected to be a verion of the fine seafood molees that are served in delightfully light coconut broths… instead it was just variation of a basic (but good) tomato curry.
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I will certainly be back to Chowki -- even if the menu is a bit weird and gimmicky, and the service chaotic. It's a great spot to get re-aquainted with the flavors of India as they were meant to be, and it takes a rare place among London restaurants that are both cheap and good.
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A solid 3-star pick. Better ambience and a more artful menu would easily put it into 4-star territory.
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/562432/restaurant/London/Chowki-Soho"><img alt="Chowki on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/562432/minilink.gif" style="border: none; height: 36px; width: 130px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17102703391405571368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-24881858698408000342008-12-08T09:12:00.000+00:002011-11-23T19:09:37.321+00:00Min Jiang in Kensington<div class="photobox">
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<div class="mapbox" id="map" lee:postcode="W8 4PT">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3144/3043560429_952ffc19d2.jpg?v=1227194710" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3144/3043560429_952ffc19d2.jpg?v=1227194710" style="width: 300px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table-side Duck Carving!</td></tr>
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<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/3043564921_b546751e3e.jpg?v=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/3043564921_b546751e3e.jpg?v=0" style="width: 300px;" /></a></div>
<b>Name </b>Min Jiang<br />
<b>Address </b>Royal Garden Hotel, 2-24 Kensington High Street, London <lee:postcode>W8 4PT</lee:postcode><br />
<b>Phone </b>020 7361 1988<br />
<b>Web site</b> <a href="http://www.minjiang.co.uk/index.php">http://www.minjiang.co.uk/</a><br />
<b>Main dish price range</b> £20-50<br />
<b>Rating</b> 4 Stars. Go there, it's really good.<br />
<b>Recommended dishes</b> Peking Duck, Xiao Long Bao<br />
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Chinese food has come a long way in the capital, as we have written. The limp old ducks hanging in the windows of Chinatown have been replaced with eager Chinese tourists, slurping down soup noodles which pass their stringent authenticity tests. As we've written before, Chinatown has gotten better, a lot better, and better still, it's still cheap and cheerful.
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But Chinese food, one of the world's great cuisines, certainly can go up-market. Chinese cities today are alive with high-priced, high-experience restaurants, built into elegant spaceswhere skilful waiters glide around with trays of exquisitely crafted dishes. I'm not talking about the trendy Shanghai joints with loud music, beautiful clientele, and fumbling drug-soaked management -- I'm thinking of a few Beijing places I've been to, artfully set into old courtyard houses, filled with people-who-would-know a good dish when they see one.
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In London, we have had a few expensive Chinese places, but most of these have been of the stylish variety, with the focus on the scene, not the food. Now we have one of the latter variety.
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<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/2956218328_eeef67a98d.jpg?v=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/2956218328_eeef67a98d.jpg?v=0" style="width: 300px;" /></a>Enter Min Jiang. It's far from unpleasant, and not at all stodgy, just a little understated. The setting, on the top floor of the Garden Palace hotel, is actually one of the best of any restaurant I've seen -- fantastic views of Hyde Park to the east make it a perfect high-end lunch spot.
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The food, I must say, was excellent. We opted to wait it out for a Peking Duck, which took the full 45 minutes we were told it would (it's possible to order ahead). When it came, it was quite worth it -- undermining my theory that Peking Duck is never good in restaurants that specialize in it. It was carved at our table side, and served sliced with thin flour pancakes and a variety of toppings beyond the usual hoisin and scallions. The skin, carved off to be eaten with sugar as a appetizer, was excellent.
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I was also quite impressed with the xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, to the point where I re-ordered them. Soup dumplings are classic Shanghai cusisine, and Peking Duck, is of course, from Peking (Beijing) -- so Min Jiang is not true to a specific regional cuisine. This is unfortunate, since the Chinese cuisines do vary quite a lot and consistency is important to their enjoyments (imagine a meal of German wienerschnitzel paired with a Sicilian Caponata). I suppose this can be forgiven in a city with a dearth of high-end Chinese of any description.
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The only real downside is the price, which like everything in London was too much. £50 for duck is a lot, even for a good one. And any one familiar with the very decent dim sun joints of California or New York will find the cost of a meal at Min Jiang absurd -- £6.50 for THREE xiao long bao?? It should be a quarter that. But no bother -- for a very occasional treat.
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On a Friday four months after opening, Min Jiang was about half-full. It has the same owners as the hotel which occupies it (a family from Hong Kong), so perhaps it can survive some slackness. I certainly hope it can, because it is a great addition to the culinary scene.
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(Pictures stolen from kind <a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=min%20jiang&w=all">people</a> on Flickr.)<br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/762431/restaurant/London/Kensington/Min-Jiang-Kensington-and-Chelsea"><img alt="Min Jiang on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/762431/minilink.gif" style="border: none; height: 36px; width: 130px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17102703391405571368noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-92056247155925595252008-12-02T12:15:00.000+00:002011-11-23T19:05:51.992+00:00Pham Sushi on Whitecross Street<div style="clear: both; float: left; font-style: italic; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-right: 10px; text-align: center; width: 305px;">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Eb2aRebeYxMMN6VApHVcKLq4uhy6xEgGKeh3NYjsQ2-0WJYTfxqogWWymvUjPbQM64dcYgq1Plni3mPYlQavXa0vo_310myeSVW_yjFhTfno0nLKHU2Y-tDvH2y7IQJo5FgimSijehpg/s200/Pham+Sushi.jpg" style="width: 300px;" />
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<strong>Name</strong> Pham Sushi<br />
<strong>Address</strong> 155 Whitecross Street, London EC1Y 8JL<br />
<strong>Phone</strong> 0207 251 6336<br />
<strong>Website</strong> <a href="http://www.phamsushi.co.uk/">http://www.phamsushi.co.uk/</a><br />
<strong>Price range</strong> £20 per person<br />
<strong>Rating</strong> 3 stars<br />
<strong>Recommended dishes</strong> Scallops new style, Crunch tuna roll<br />
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I admit that when my friend M. started raving about a sushi place that I walked by every day on my way to work, on the market street Whitecross, I was a little skeptical. How good could it be? But then I thought about my two favorite sushi restaurants in New York, Jewel Bako in the East Village and Ki Sushi in Brooklyn, a relatively unassuming place (well, they do have a waterfall inside, but the outside is stucco and clearly a former storefront or mobster social club or something else inapposite) on (yes, again) Smith Street. Jewel Bako is beautiful, but also not the place everyone flocks too. And I've been to Nobu and Nobu Next Door and that's good and all, and I admit I've never been to Yasuda where I've heard the sushi described as being "like candy." But really, what I want out of a sushi restaurant is delicious fresh fish served at the appropriate temperature (i.e., not freezing cold) in delicious combinations.<br />
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Pham Sushi definitely delivered. Not fancy at all but not quite what I think people here mean when they say "cheap and cheerful" it's a bit too brightly lit but not ridiculously so. The starters were ordered were good -- edamame (hard to mess that up), miso soup, and Japanese spring rolls, pork gyoza, and a really good salad. And the fish is great. We had scallops and three different rolls, all of which were delicious. For £20, on my way home from work, I'll be going back often, and I won't doubt M. again.
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/568243/restaurant/London/Barbican/Pham-Sushi-City"><img alt="Pham Sushi on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/568243/minilink.gif" style="border: none; height: 36px; width: 130px;" /></a>Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08673907462542162095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820962357073287953.post-16699760902431446552008-12-02T11:10:00.000+00:002011-11-23T19:04:57.881+00:00Madhu's in Southall<div style="clear: both; float: left; font-style: italic; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-right: 10px; text-align: center; width: 305px;">
<img src="http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2008/02/madhu_243x242.jpg" style="width: 300px;" />
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<img src="http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/upload/venues/img_Madhus_150.jpg" style="width: 300px;" />
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Madhu's</div>
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Southall_station_sign.jpg/180px-Southall_station_sign.jpg " style="width: 300px;" />
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Southall station</div>
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Kerela, Bitter Melon</div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Name </span>Madhu's<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Address </span>60 South Road, Southall UB1 1SW<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Phone </span>020 8574 1897<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Web site</span> <a href="http://www.madhusonline.com/">http://www.madhusonline.com/</a><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Main dish price range</span> £6-9<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating </span>4 Stars. Go there, it's really good.<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommended dishes</span> Keema Mutter (spicy minced meat), Bhindi Masala, Anything with Karela (such as Karela Chicken)</div>
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The Indian food in London is, as a rule, bad. I suppose that this is for the same reason that the vast majority of Chinese restaurants in the States are bad: they are part of a genre defined during the vast waves of immigration of the 60's and 70's, a time when the culinary expectations of the western world were rather bland, and imported cuisines would have had to adapt accordingly to survive. The restaurants were opened as business enterprises to serve the needs of the mainstream masses, not to recreate authenticity. Also, in both cases many of the immigrants came from regions not particularly known for their food. The Chinese immigrants to the US were mostly from Fujian, and the Indians in Britain mostly from East Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh.<br />
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Chinese food in the US has taken spectacular turns for the better in recent years, as waves of more sophisticated upper middle class engineer immigrants have demanded better food and brought with them the waves of distant relatives required to open restaurants which provide it. This can be seen, to a certain extent, in the <a href="http://londonethniceating.blogspot.com/search/label/Chinese">Chinese restaurants in London</a> as well. But bland Indian food has become so much a part of the British cuisine, that any major shift would be unthinkable. A quality, authentic Indian restaurant would simply not survive in most towns around here because it would not be able to serve in good faith Chicken Tikka Masala, a dish unheard of India.<br />
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So, for decent Indian food in London, a would-be eater must retreat for curry shops the center and venture to the suburbs where curry-and-chips eaters give way to authentic South Asians. Southall is one such stop. Twice now on my way to Heathrow I've opted for the "Connect" rather than the "Express" train and hopped off at where the station signs change to Hindi for a brief walk down a street which resembles a non-existent orderly, cold India.<br />
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I must confess I've only been to one restaurant on Southall's South Road, because on my second trip there, I could not bear myself to miss out on another meal at Madhu's, however good the alternative may be. Madhu's is a nice restaurant, with well-intentioned white-linen dining tables crammed just a little too close together. The service is truly authentic south asian-- friendly, hospitable, and just a little incompentant. The same pretty young hosted seem equally overwhelmed by request for a table both when I had made a booking and when I had not. The food, however, is excellent.<br />
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Madhu's is owned by a pair of brothers who immigrated to England, like many south asians, by way of East Africa. Many Indians fled the de-colonization and partition of India and the subsequent massacres for a more stable life in the British dominions of Kenya, Tanzania, and elsewhere. A few decades later, as those countries gained independence and chaos, the Indian families, retreated further, right into the heart of Britain.<br />
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Like most Indians, Madhu and his brother presumably arrived in England with their cultural identity firmly intact, but unusually they picked up a few East African notes along the way, which can be seen in the menu. There's a sprinkling of Afircan names (a "Nyamah" Choma, anyone?), but a liberal use of Afircan ingredients, particulary Kerela, also known as Bitter Melon. It's used in India, but more so in Africa, and as it turns out, it goes great in curry, where it's strong flavor holds up well to the powerful Indian spices.<br />
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Overall, I'd say this is one of the best Indian restaurants I've ever eaten in, including the many meals I've had in India itself. The quality of the ingredients is high, the flavors spot-on, and the eclectic menu breathes authenticity. The service and décor is good, but not too good to spoil the "ethnic" experience. Highly recommended.</div>
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/566483/restaurant/London/Ealing/Madhus-Southall"><img alt="Madhu's on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/566483/minilink.gif" style="border: none; height: 36px; width: 130px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17102703391405571368noreply@blogger.com0