If you haven’t checked out the refurb of the Auctioneer pub (now called The Lost Hour) yet, Tuesday might be the day to head to Greenwich High Street because it’s their curry club night. From 5pm you can get a curry and a drink (plus rice, nan, mango chutney and a poppadum) for just £5.95, which can’t be bad. Curry choices are Chicken Korma, Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Tikka Bhuna, Sweet Potato and Spinach, Chicken Dhansak, Chicken Jalfrezi and Beef Vindaloo. There are side dishes such as Bombay Potato or Onion Bhajis for £1 extra. Nice to see there is tea among the choices of drinks. Thought I’d mention it in case you didn’t fancy a pint…
Author: Daniel Ford
Daniel Ford is a media entrepreneur, writer, editor and publisher who specialises in launches and re-launches. He is the Publishing Director of media company Chase My Snail. He was previously Editor-in-Chief of GQ (South Africa), Editor-in-Chief of Sunday Life magazine (Independent News & Media) and CEO of the African design magazine Ogojii. He has consulted on digital media, magazines and books in England, India, the USA and South Africa, including creating a glossy print edition of the SABC's TV show Top Billing and branding for the Laureus World Sports Awards. He has written a number of books on fitness, sport and travel, which have been published all over the world, from China to Africa and from Russia to Australia. He loves carefully crafted words, digital and print publications produced with passion. And curry.
The old ones are the best
Halal, London, E1
Halal first opened its doors in 1939 (probably not the favourite year to be opening a new business in London, eh?) and says it is East London’s oldest Indian restaurant. Not sure how it was during WW2 but from current experience it’s no wonder it’s been going strong for so long.
There’s a touch of the old Raj about the place, with crisp, neat tablecloths, an old-style delivery hatch for the food in the middle of the room and waist-coated waiters who clearly do the job for a living and are not working their way through their studies. Knowledgeable, friendly and polite. But best of all is a superb wooden special’s board.
“It’s works like a cricket scoreboard,” explained one of the staff as he slid out one of the boards and flipped it over to show me what tomorrow’s special will (probably) be.
The menu itself is a no-nonsense list of what’s on offer. No flowery descriptions of the birth of a far off land of spices and wonder. No overdone descriptions of dishes and most certainly no little chilli icons next to dishes to help the spice challenged. I suppose they figure that if you haven’t worked out what’s what in the 73 years they have been dishing up curries you won’t now.
The samosas are legendary here (customers order them to take home for later munchies) so a regular we were with just ordered platefuls of Veg (£1 for two) and Meat (£1.20 for two) to get us going.
Not surprisingly classic dishes dominate and are decently priced, with Vegetable Curry starting off the mains at just £3.50 (or a half portion for £2.30), while you can enjoy Chicken Vindaloo for £5.50, Prawn Kurma for £7.25 and Meat Dhansak for £6.95. It’s also a nice touch that you can also order half portions of boiled rice (£1.40) and pilau rice (£1.60).
But there are plenty of interesting dishes to tantalise (in fact the waiter smiled a knowing smile at a bespoke request and assured us they can cook anything). The Meat Ball Vindaloo (£5.95) got the nod and it’s hard to remember a time when the tastiness of the meat itself fought through a vindy sauce. Meaty balls indeed.
This was scooped up with a, wait for it… egg nan (£2.50). How indeed do they get the egg inside the bread? The answer is they don’t – an omelette is laid on top of the bread. Apparently it doesn’t work to break an egg before cooking, although in true, “we can cook anything style”, I was offered an egg inside version (boil egg then break it up before cooking the bread).
Halal, 2 St Mark Street (Off Alie Street), London, E1 8DJ.
Tel: 020 7481 1700.
E-mail: info@halalrest.co.uk
Open: Mon–Fri noon–11.30pm, Sat–Sun noon–10.30pm.
Halal snapshot
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Inside the back-to-front Tardis
Spice Merchants, London, E14
Talk about wrong first impressions. And second ones. Situated just an onion bhaji’s throw from Westferry DLR station in Docklands, the Spice Merchants has long been on my curry radar. After all, how can you see a place so often and not be tempted to visit?
At first I thought it was shop selling raw spices – the word merchants threw me. Then when I jumped off the DLR to replenish my spice pots at home I realised it was a restaurant. And because of its size it was now a huge restaurant in my head.
In fact the Spice Merchants is not the cavernous size I’d imagined. It’s like walking into a Tardis in reverse. Whoever designed this circular, brick-faced building certainly wasn’t thinking of utilising space to its full. Downstairs there are a couple of overflow tables but this is essentially used as a waiting area for takeaways. There is also a superb bar. The main seated area, of about 50 covers, is upstairs via a winding staircase. Due to the layout the tables are nicely spaced. Add in the airy contemporary design and it feels more intimate than other spaces of similar size.
But enough of my audition for Grand Designs. This is a classy contemporary Indian. A great menu, with a few interesting specials, but without ditching the old-school classics we all love, plus staff that know how to achieve just the right balance between service and friendliness.
Classics like Sheek Kebab (£3.45) taste as you expect (why do some chefs in contemporary places try to prove their worth by messing with proven classics?) but with a nice flourish in the presentation. If you want something different it’ll be hard to resist the wonderfully named Magic Mushrooms (£3.95). Think spicy scotch egg stuffed with mushrooms. Delivery again was fun and clever – each ball was placed on a raw onion ring. Nice one.
The King Prawn Jalfreizi (£9.95) was probably the best I’ve ever eaten with juicy, good-sized prawns and very fresh strips of peppers and onions coated in a thick sauce. The waiter hardly blinked an eye when asked if we could order a dish not on the menu (‘No problem. We can cook anything you want.”) so an order for Keema Madras was dispatched to the chef.
Bet Doctor Who never gets service like that in his Tardis.
Spice Merchants, 38 Salter Street, London, E14 8AA. Tel: 020 7987 8779.
Spice Merchants snapshot
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Recipe… Sindhi Biryani
Sindhi Biryani
Serves 5
Cooking time 40–45 minutes
What you need
• Chicken ½ kg
• Rice 300 gm
• Plum 100 gm
• Whole mix spice as required
• Big green chillies 5–6
• Mint leaves ¼ bunch
• Coriander leaves ¼ bunch
• Potatoes 3–4
• Yellow colour as required
• Tomatoes 4
• Lemon sliced 2
• Onion 2
• Turmeric 1 tbsp
• Chilli powder 1 tbsp
• Rose water 3 tbsp
• Ghee 1 cup
• Ginger garlic paste 2 tbsp
• Yogurt 250 gm
• Nutmeg powder ½ tsp
• Salt to taste
How you cook it
1. Peel potatoes, cut into cubes and boil with a little yellow colour and water as required.
2. Now remove the slightly boiled potatoes and shallow fry with a little oil. Then remove potatoes and keep aside.
3. In a pan heat ½ cup ghee, add 2 chopped onion and fry till golden brown. Then add 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste and ½ kg chicken.
4. Fry well on high flame till chicken is a little tender.
5. Simmer the flame, add 1 tbsp chilli powder, 1 tbsp turmeric, salt to taste and whole spices as required. Cook for 2–3 minutes.
6. Now add 250 gm yogurt and mix well.
7. Also add fried potatoes, cover and simmer on low flame for 10 – 15 minutes.
8. Now add 4 tomatoes cut into halves, 100 gm plum, ¼ bunch coriander leaves, ¼ bunch mint leaves and 5 – 6 green chillies. Turn the flame off.
9. Boil water in a pan, add a little salt and 300 gm rice, boil rice till tender.
10. Spread boiled rice on top of chicken mixture.
11. Now spread ¼ cup melted ghee on top of rice, dissolve a pinch of yellow colour in rose water, spread on top of rice.
12. Sprinkle ½ tsp nutmeg powder on top and simmer on low flame for 8–10 minutes.
Recipe courtesy of Zaynub Mahmood
Photo:
Curry tip of the week 23
Keema curry is often over-looked. I was once asked, by a waiter, why I was ordering a Keema as they are for old me with no teeth. Yet, I reckon they deserve a better press. Top yours off with a couple of quail’s eggs halved or a nice big duck’s egg quartered.
Costa curry
Papadum, Riviera del Sol, Spain
You deserve a good curry if you can find Papadum. People who regularly visit this small Spanish resort are likely to go years without knowing Centro Commercial even exists. Up a steepish hill, but only a 10-minute walk from the main centre, this small cluster of bars, restaurants and shops serves the many ex-pats who can do without the walk up and down for beers and food.
The restaurant is neat, tidy and modern but has a slightly empty feeling which was not helped by the lack of music. Who would have thought you’d ever miss that piped Indian music, eh? Once the bulk of customers had left, though, this was the first time I have ever heard football commentary broadcast in a curry house (Europa Cup Final between Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao).
The Tandoori Chicken Salad (€5.50) was something new. Slices of cold, marinated chicken on top of a crunchy salad of lettuce, onion and tomato that had been smothered in a spicy chaat masala sauce. Fresh and delicious.
I plumped for a rare forage into the vegetable mains and the Vegetable Jhal Fraize (€6) was just right, thick with sauce and a variety of veg and spicy to the core. It’s a shame a lot of us overlook veg so often as they really do absorb Indian spices so well. Add a generous portion of pilau rice (€3) – the waiter was honest enough to say they used tinned mushrooms in the mushroom pilau, which was the first rice choice – and a Lamb Bhuna (€9), coated in thick tasty sauce oozing with the meat’s sweetness for a decent Costa curry.
Papadum, Calle Acuario, Centro Comercial Las Terrazas de Miraflores Golf Local No 11, Riveria del Sol, Mijas Costa, Spain. Tel: +34 951 273 032. Open:5.30pm–late.
Papadum snapshot
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Lunch not so special
Zaika, Fuengirola, Spain
Lunch specials are sometimes a bit hit and miss. For a limited menu you get good value, but not necessarily great portions or quality. So it seems with Zaika, a pleasant curry house facing out to sea in the busy Spanish holiday resort of Fuengirola.
The special, offering a starter (Pakora, Onion Bhaji or popadoms), a main (Chicken Curry, Madras, Bhuna or Korma) and rice or nan. Not bad for €8.95, especially washed down with a large San Miguel.
But I always get suspicious when I see the chicken in a curry has been in the tandoor. I know it’s a bonus to some people but when the dish doesn’t normally include marinated meat I can’t help but think it’s just a way of using up unsold tikka from the night before.
Suspicions aside, the Chicken Bhuna was perfect in consistency, thick with tomatoes, onion and fresh coriander, but plenty of tasty ghee (ideal for me but maybe bit greasy for some) and the rice and nan fresh. But the Chicken Madras flopped, with the sauce some sort of spicy tikka masala, which would have been fine for a lunch curry fix had it not been for a bitter taste of uncooked ground spices.
But there are worse places to have a curry lunch, with a number of outside tables offering views of the sea (albeit across a road) and a large, nicely set out interior that deserves an evening try.
When the lunch special ends at 4pm, by the way, the evening special kicks in. Add €2 to the price and your selection of dishes rockets, and includes a number of lamb and tikka masala dishes. Don’t mind marinated meat in that one, thanks.
Zaika, Paseo Maritimo Rey de Espana, 18, Fuengirola, Spain. Tel: +34 952 462 695. Open: daily 1pm–1am (lunch menu 1pm–4pm)
Zaika snapshot
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They sell what?
Spice Grill, Greenwich, SE10
(Takeaway)
They do good fried chicken in the Spice Grill. In fact, that’s all I thought they did (along with pizzas and cans of Coke). But if can somehow resist chunks of chicken that have been soaked in hot fat and covered in breadcrumbs you’ll find a decent curry after 5.30pm. Just ask for the curry menu as you enjoy the English caff environment.
On it you’ll find some interesting dishes such as Courgette Prawns (£5.75) and Lal Kadoo (£3.95), a spicy dish made with diced pumpkin. Old-school favourites such as Madras start at a very well-priced £3.95 (chicken or lamb), rising to £6.50 (king prawn) with a few pennies more for dishes such as Methi and Pathia.
Pistachio Chicken (£5.50) is a creamy dish in the korma style but the pistachios give an stronger nutty taste than the almonds used in korma. And, joy, my new favourite, chillies in the creamy sauce. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should. If you can’t find it in your local just ask them or buy a korma and throw a few chillies into it. Cream with bite. Add to your takeaway some lemon rice (£2.20) and garlic nan (£1.75).
Beats fried chicken any day.
Parking: on-street parking along Trafalgar Road.
Delivery: free for minimum orders of £10.
Specials: 10% discount on takeaways colllected. Free side dish if you spend £15 and free bottle of Coke if you spend £20.
Beer while you’re waiting: Hardy’s, a good old local pub is opposite.
Spice Grill, 101 Trafalgar Road, London, SE10 9TS. Tel: 020 8293 5211 or 020 8858 4434. Open: curry menu daily 5.30pm–1am.
Spice Grill snapshot
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Royal curry facts and gossip
In 1390, at the behest of Richard II, a book called The Forme of Cury was compiled and published. Some argue the word is the pre-runner to the curry we know today.
Queen Victoria’s head clerk Abdul Karim introduced her to chicken curry and pilau rice (Victoria & Abdul, Shrabani Basu)
Queen Victoria once arrived at a curry contest on a horse. Well, at least her Manga character did.
Queen Elizabeth II wrote the foreword to a book by Tommy Miah who is dubbed ‘the curry king’ of Britain. He owns the famous Raj restaurant in Scotland.
Prince Edward loved chicken curry so much he asked it to be on the menu at Buckingham Palace every day for a month (www.thefreelibrary.com)
On Christmas Day Prince Harry joined the Ghurkhas in Gasmir, Helmand Province, Afghanistan as they slaughtered a goat for their traditional Christmas curry (The Sun, 3 March 2008).
Prince Harry liked his goat curries hot, with plenty of curry powder and chillies and ate them twice a week while serving In Afghanistan (Dail Mail, 31 Oct 2008)
A young boy asked Prince Harry what he thought he should put in a food parcel he was packing for the troops in Afghanistan. “Chicken Tikka Masala,” he was told. Apparently it was the Sainsbury’s ready meal he was after (The Sun, 11 Dec 2008).
Prince William and his party of 47 ran up a bill of £1,300 on a visit to Saffron Desi in York. The Prince had the £8 house special called Royal Delight (Daily Telegraph, 8 Feb 2008).
A Royal Coconut Curry Martini was one of the drinks served at the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on 29 April 2011
Prince William joined the Greenwich Curry Club to give them Royal status on 4 April 2012.
Yabba Dhabba Do!
Dhabba, Glasgow
(Review by Plummy Mummy)
Fifth wedding anniversary and Mr Plummy Mummy organises for his mother to look after sprog so we can swan off to Glasgow on Saturday for a spot of shopping, lunch at The Dhabba an award-winning restaurant dontchaknow, followed by a bit of culture via the Italian Art exhibition at the Kelvingrove Museum.
I was a tad amazed as my other half is not the first to jump at the chance to shop and even less keen on art. I looked forward to the day and even promised we would first go to Forbidden Planet to stock up on comics (normally this is the last stop in a shopping day out when no one is in the mood). But, argh ghastly, lucky I got tonsillitis the week before and things looked dodgy. But I’m a stoic old gal who wants her curry and wants it now so sickness aside, even the 7.30am wake up with no anniversary cuddle didn’t put me off.
We got to Glasgow so early that hardly any shops were open but eventually made our way to the comic store where hubby went a bit mad (so much so that we spent precious shopping time trying to buy a rucksack to carry his haul of comic goods). Then, yippee, it was time for lunch.
The Dhabba is in Glasgow’s Merchant City, close to Glasgow Central station. It was Saturday lunch, and though it was in the business end of Glasgow, I had expected at least a few other diners. The place was deserted. It was hilarious that we had a table booked but you just never know. Eating in an empty restaurant is awkward as you are missing the atmosphere that makes eating out fun – the hustle bustle of waiters, the eavesdropping of conversations, the fun of watching people enjoying themselves. You also don’t really get an idea of what portion sizes are like or have a nosey glance at what other diners are eating. I almost walked out. But I was intrigued.
Do you remember in the ’70s and ’80s when curry houses had flock paper and Formica tables? Those days are long gone and here we found neutrally painted walls with some large North Indian images, sculptures and musical instruments, a discrete bar, laminated floors and lighting that you didn’t hit your head on as you sat down…yes, like our homes, restaurants have had that Ikea-type touch. It’s all so modern now.
Another trend is the little story in the menu which tells you about the restaurant name (Dhabbas are roadside restaurants in India), the type of food (Northern, Punjabi, ie not your bog standard curry house – Bengali) etc. I skipped over that as I was really only interested in eating. When nervous I make jokes. In this case it was with the waiter about how empty it was and that each time a waiter came to our table, it was a different guy.
We did eventually get our original server back – a nice Punjabi boy (I’m just guessing here as he had a turban on) who had just finished a Business degree. He explained that the owners had another restaurant in the area specialising in South Indian food (Dakhin). We were told Punjabi people prefer to eat Punjabi food. Well this little Gujarati gal and her Scottish man also like Punjabi food. I was pleased to see a separate section for vegetarian meals plus plenty of options in other parts of the menu (eg starters and tandoor sections). Most of them were paneer which didn’t bother me as I love the stuff.
Helpfully, the menu had icons for hot and very hot meals. As it was lunch we decided to forgo the starters. I had a hot Kadai Paneer (£9.95) with roti and rice. Hubby had a main from the tandoor menu, Boti Kebab Badami (£11.45), which is lamb fillet cubed and marinated in an almond paste with a naan. He opted to have a kadai sauce with his meal.
The waiter was helpful in telling us that one rice would be more than enough with the naan and rotis. While we waited we had drinks – a delicious Mango Lassi for me, Kingfisher for hubby, and we ate some papads with a selection of chutneys. Surprisingly this was the only slight negative in the experience as there was a green dip that was very bitter tasting although the papads were very crisp and fresh and the two remaining options (a mixed pickle, and a tomato chutney) were tasty.
Hubby’s kadai sauce was a slightly different colour to the one in my meal but I soon forgot all about it as we tucked in. The spicing was just right for lunch – hot enough to enjoy but not to sit heavy in the tummy. The paneer was fresh and firm. I would have liked a few more peppers in the dish but in the end I gobbled up what I was given with glee. The rotis were quite thick but tasty. Hubby didn’t managed to finish his very large naan but happily ate up all his lamb (without making much of a dent in the accompanying salad stuff!) and we finished the rice between us. We decided not to have a dessert as we were full so just got the bill. Although it’s a modern place and the prices are high compared to your local takeaway they do deals. We were given a Weekend Shopper/pre-theatre discount of half-price main meals. A bit of a bonus really.
When we asked about the empty restaurant the waiter told us that the previous weekend the restaurant had covered 150 tables. I think the weather and the Celtic v Hearts footy game may have kept people away the day we visited. It is just the way it goes. I’m going to convince hubby we should visit again for an evening meal and I’ve got a feeling he’ll jump at the chance.
PS. Alas the tonsillitis got the better of me and after the meal, we gave the art gallery a miss and we went home. P.P.S. I mentioned to the waiter that my most fave restaurant ever is the Punjab in Neal Street, London. He asked how they were different. I can’t put my finger on it but it think it’s the old wallpaper, the old photos, the laid-back Punjabi owners, the carpet on the floor but most importantly the gorgeous food. It’s a close call so for now, lets say The Dhabba is now my fave Punjabi restaurant North of the Border.
The Dhabba , 44 Candleriggs, Glasgow, G1 1LE. Tel: 0141 553 1249
Dhabba snapshot
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The Royal Curry Club 