Mooli’s

Rotis pretty much saved my life in India. No matter what random part of Rajasthan we were in, with menus we couldn’t fathom, we could always say “roti?” at a street vendor and end up with a cheap and delicious snack. Last Wednesday, back on more familiar territory of Frith Street in Soho, I finally got around to lunch at Mooli’s (somewhere various food blogging/curry loving friends had been nagging me to go for months).

The brainchild of two Indian guys who wanted to put their Indo-stamp on London’s food-on-the-go scene, Mooli’s is a small but cheerful space serving roti wraps/salad boxes that can be eaten on the few high tables or taken away. Various extras such as daal and soup can be added. They’ve recently started doing breakfast too (I cant tell you how much I’m looking forward to trying the Goan sausage).

We ordered the goat and pork roti, alternating bites between sips of creamy mango and ginger lassi. Both were fantastic. The former a rich curry of meltingly tender meat and cumin spiked potatoes with a serious kick, which had us reaching for the jug of free tap water (always a nice touch). The latter a sweet tangle of subtly spiced slow-cooked pork, crunchy red cabbage, flecks of coriander and pomegranate salsa.           

At around five quid and with fresh, punchy ingredients laced in every bite, Moolis is a steal. It also kept me full well into the evening (and this is someone who usually has at least four meals a day). But regardless of great value, with its bright packaging and heady flavours, Moolis brings the vibrancy of India to Soho lunchtimes. And during a particularly grey April, there aint nothing wrong with that…      

50 Frith Street

Soho

W1D 4SQ

All's Well…

Just as a pizza restaurant should be judged on its margarita, a good British pub should be critiqued on its roast. Why? Because it’s the one dish (no matter how good the establishment is), that is so often a disappointment. Finding that breed, sprinkling a little Sunday magic via perfectly crisp potatoes and cracking crackling, is a rare and wonderous thing.

I didn’t exactly ‘find’ The Well. With my mind on gravy, I booked based on its owners, Tom and Ed Martin (who also have The Gun in Canary Wharf and feature regularly in Time Out’s ‘Best Roasts’). It’s also situated in the foodie borough of Clerkenwell, which, I hoped, meant greatness by association. 

The small but bright room (shabby chic wood tables, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a huge vase of flowers on the bar) looked more restaurant than pub, but welcoming nonetheless. Good first impressions were further cemented by the swift arrival of a delicious (and complimentary) selection of breads as we perused the menu. This didn’t take long (though surely delicious, we obviously ignored all non-Sunday appropriate dishes as they did not befit the experiment).

The beef was pleasingly pink (another rarity in the world of roast dinners), tasted happily bred and took the correct amount of time to chew. The whole roast chicken ticked the boxes of crisp skin and plump flesh singing of rosemary and lemon. Sides were even better, particularly the mini cauliflower, which had the perfect cheese/white sauce ratio and looked damn cute too. I also liked the individual pots of gravy/horseradish/bread sauce – everything tasting properly homemade. An excellent cobbler of rich buttery pastry and tangy apple and apricot, drenched in jersey cream, marked a fine and gluttonous end to proceedings.

So, if my made-up-in-my-own-head theory is correct, The Well is a brilliant gastro offering which should deliver every day of the week. If my theory turns out to be utter crap, they do a fine Sunday roast. 

180 St John Street

Clerkenwell

EC1V 4JY 

Of Good Stock…

 

Of all the things I would usually do before a three-course lunch, following cows around a field is not one of them. Especially when said cows happen to be related to the beef I will be eating after. Yet this is exactly what happened last Wednesday, when I was invited to try the cuisine of Charlie Lakin - Head Chef at The Marquis at Alkham and one of this year’s finalists on the Great British Menu.

But first, back to the cows. As a delightful prelude to lunch, we were taken to Sladden Farm in Alkham Valley, where the rare and extremely tasty Dexter livestock graze upon a grassy hilltop. Rather excitingly (I’m a sucker for a baby animal) we were also given a peak at some freshly born lambs (though the mother sheep wasn’t that keen on us to be honest). Charlie is a regular on the farm, checking the cows and sheep bred exclusively for him, and doing all the butchering and hanging himself. As an extra treat, Charlie carved up half a cow in front of us. Which was oddly fascinating.

A quick ride in the back of a land rover (very country I know), a pleasingly sweet glass of Chapel Down sparking wine with Kentish honey, and a bowl of crunchy rosemary crisps and posh cheese wheels later, we embarked upon one of the best lunches I’ve had in ages.

I was sat next to restaurant manager Ben, who kept me entertained with stories of foraging the local countryside. Then came a starter of velvety braised mutton, deep fried Kentish cheese and scattered spring vegetables – immersed in a deeply meaty broth. This delicate starter could have no higher praise than reminding me of something similar I had at Dinner. It was also served with a delicious cider, again from Chapel Down, which knocked my wine loving socks off. Plates licked, glasses emptied (mine and my non-drinking companion’s) we moved on to the Dexter Beef; a dish skillfully showcasing Kentish produce at its best (it was mighty pretty too). A beautifully made trio of elderflower-spiked crème brulee, delicate sorbet perfumed with earl grey and dainty finger of lavender shortbread vied a little too much for attention, but were so well made it hardly mattered. A playful stack of chocolate and honeycomb (or, as I called it, a ‘rich man’s crunchy’) was the perfect end to a perfect day. 

  

 

The Marquis at Alkham

Alkham Valley Road

Alkham

Dover

Kent

CT15 7DF

Chakra

Chakra is an up market Indian restaurant in Notting Hill with a shiny white interior and an equally sparkling menu showcasing ‘different schools of great Indian cooking’. In other words, its fancy. Fancy chairs (white leather, of course), fancy coat check lady, fancy scallops and venison on the menu and fancy chandeliers throwing fancy light around the fancy room.

We went as a group of four, an excellent number when attempting to cover a menu encompassing salads (which we ignored), meats and fish either char-grilled/griddled or cooked in a tandoor and veg/non veg curries.  Char-grilled lamb chops rich in lemon and cardamom started things off nicely (eaten with the fingers like a sexy meat lollipop). Venison Kakori were perfectly judged, the rich meat yielding just enough of its power over to the spicing. Scallops had a subtle hint of chilli and garlic. The ‘Chakra classic’ Black Cod (yielding the biggest price tag) was a divine blend of lime, pepper and spot on timing. Even the ‘extras’ were brilliant, bread with just the right fluff and stretch, and a daal that (quite rightly) was more moorish than crack. And the desserts (giving Chakra one up on the Cinnamon Club) weren’t even crap.

For a Tayyabs loving girl like me, with a green salad coming in at a whopping £7.50 and some of the more extravagant mains hitting the £20 mark, Chakra is expensive. But, as a visit to the Cinnamon Club confirmed earlier in the year, gourmet Indian cooking done well deserves a matching price tag. And, whilst not quite in CC territory, Chakra is a quality joint serving well-executed dishes. Which will make it excellent value to many. 

157-159 Notting Hill Gate

W11 3LF

Above Bar...

Another Easter weekend, another jaunt down to Portsmouth to see the family. Amongst much consuming of alcohol and Lindt bunnies, we managed to fit in a rather delightful lunch at Southsea-institution The ABar Bistro (generally known to locals by its former name, The American Bar).

This bright and ever-so slightly nautically themed restaurant (touches of sea blue, stripes and a quirky mural of beach huts on one wall) is an excellent bet for simple, well executed and good value pub grub. It's also located next to Portsmouth’s best fish market, pretty much guaranteeing a rotating selection of fresh fish on the menu.  

Unfortunately, having forgotten my camera and following a few aperitifs in the bustling bar area, I only started snapping on the iPhone post starters. I will however, mention a pot of prawns served with a tangy lemon mayo: pink, sweet and delicious.

Further lack of organisation (and the aforementioned booze consumption), meant I also neglected to note down the exact details of the dishes from the daily changing specials board. Memory (and slightly grainy photos) confirm a slowly braised lamb dish with roast spuds and crunchy red cabbage, a perfectly cooked bream with green beans, a light and crunchy haddock, a slab of rich pork with crackling and not-too-cloying apple sauce, and a huge tureen of sea-flavoured mussels. All of which were excellent.

Despite its dodgy seafront cafes serving lurid pink candy floss and overpriced chips in a cone, Southsea does have some good dining options. Many of which are tucked away in unlikely places. For those that fancy a day at the seaside, or are en route to Isle of White or France, this well-run ‘bistro’ is definitely worth seeking out.

ABar Bistro

58 White Hart Road

Old Portsmouth

Hampshire

PO1 2JA  

Word On The Street

I don’t usually blog about eating opportunities before they happen (I tend to fall in love when food is in front of me) but I'm making an exception for Street Kitchen.

For those that haven’t heard of it, Street Kitchen is the work of two veterans of the industry Mark Jankel and Jun Tanaka, who've been peddling exemplary British street food from their pitch on Broadgate Circle for the past year. I became a fan after being fed a rather brilliant mackerel-based lunch last summer.

Mmmmm mackerel...

Their current venture takes on the most British of all culinary traditions – the roast dinner (in partnership with Riverford Organic who also know a thing or two about quality local produce). The series of pop-up lunches will kick off this Sunday at SK's Battersea HQ.

Having also sampled their slow-roasted pork and a stunning rhubarb eton mess, I predict two of the finest courses you'll find in our dear capital. And if that wasn’t enough, at 25 quid, it’s a bargain too…

For details or to book visit www.riverfordsundaylunches.eventbrite.co.uk

Curry in Camden

Like all culinary styles requiring a complex balance of spice, Indian cuisine is a difficult one to judge. Although I’ve been to India, am perfectly capable of rustling up a decent curry and have tried a fair few in my time (I should change the name of my blog to ‘Butter is Better but ghee is great too’), I can rarely find fault with this genre of cooking.

Yes, sometimes the papadoms are soggy with oil and the dhansak lacking that perfect balance of hot and sour, but this is a cuisine I enjoy regardless. Perhaps it’s the exotic allure of dishes I cannot pronounce, perhaps it’s the massive portions, or perhaps I just crave food beyond my childhood of dry roast dinners… but give me cumin, cardamom and chutney, and I will be content.

This brings me rather neatly to Namaaste, an upmarket-ish Indian restaurant on Parkway in Camden, currently working their way through a set of monthly regional menus (this month being Lucknov). Alongside the normal menu (which is excellent and already features many unusual dishes), they’re serving kebabs, Saalans and Kalias - all specific to the North Indian city and the Awadh region in which it lies. 

Dal Chini Macchi

Delicious, pink salmon flesh quick smoked using a technique called Dhungar (sprinkling spices – in this case cinnamon - onto a hot coal, followed by ghee, then trapping the smoke with the fish). 

Awadi Gobi    

Without cheese or spice to perk it up, the humble cauliflower can be a touch bland for my tastes. This dish however, used crackled curry leaves and tangy mustard seeds to lightly dust the white florets with subtle flavour.

Peethiwali Macchli

Curry of sea bass, first dipped in rice batter and fried in mustard oil, then served with a traditional Avadhi gravy. The crunchy fillets, with lightly steamed white flesh, worked perfectly with the rich saffron and turmeric-laced gravy. I ignored the rice in favour of springy and sweet quarters of coconut-filled Peshwari Nan. 

Gosht Kaliya

This creamy lamb curry was probably the most unusual out of the dishes we tried, mostly because the menu described it as ‘hot and sharp’. It was neither. The soya based, almost korma-like sauce was, however, oddly Moorish and the morsels of meat tender.

Our dishes were ‘matched’ with wines. A lovely idea, but not one I felt worked very well here. The wines were fine, but I couldn’t see how a heavy red worked with a creamy lamb curry and sense it was the old ‘dark meat – dark wine’ thinking without very much thought at all. If I went again, I honestly think I’d be happier with the house or one of their very delicious cocktails.

Ironically, us Brits are already quite familiar with some of North India’s most famous dishes (biryanis, keema, korma). And, whilst delicious, I didn’t find much in Naamaste’s Lucknow menu to take me out of this ‘safe zone’. Now I’m not saying I didn’t have a tasty lunch, or that I wouldn’t happily eat it again. But if you’re going to offer a menu like this, celebrating the culinary regions of India, it should feel like a celebration. This felt like a polite version of the (much better) regular menu. 

Naamaste Kitchen

64 Parkway
Camden
NW17AH