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.
Anglo Asian Tandoori, Stoke Newington N16 (by Young Curry Fan)
A long-standing favourite on Church Street in Stoke Newington is the Anglo Asian that still has the same layout that it had when I was born (I am 11!)
A few days ago, I had an amazing curry with my mum and my sister.
I had a load of Sag Paneer with my mum while my sister was stuffing her face with Chicken Korma, because she was ‘afraid’ we would eat it all, but instead when I went to get some it had magically ‘disappeared’ into thin air!
So, instead of Korma I had some Tikka Masala with a peshwari naan and some coconut rice which I managed to get hold of before my sister did. It was very tasty and I enjoyed it a lot.
For dessert my sister had an ice cream in a little penguin pot. I had more of a sophisticated dessert as I chose some pistachio ice cream. My mum chose to avoid the ice cream and have a glass of wine instead!
The waiters were very nice, they told us where the toilets were when we arrived and the service was very good.
Anglo Asian Tandoori, 60-62 Stoke Newington Church Street, London, N16 0NB. Tel: 020 7254 9298.
For a really rich, vibrant colour in your Kormas use saffron (not turmeric). To extract the colour from the saffron put a few strands of it in warm milk and gently press with the back of a spoon.
One of the great things about peas in a curry dish are their bright colour. Ensure you add them at the right time and they are not over-cooked or they will lose that vibrant colour (think mushy peas at the fish ‘n’ chip shop).
It takes a brave restaurateur to run an Indian virtually opposite a much-publicised competitor. But despite being in the shadow of the renowned Madhuban, the neighbouring Saaki continues to serve this small Hampshire village with good food.
Assuming it doesn’t just survive off the overflow of people from up the road, which is unlikely, it must be doing something right to have been here for a number of years.
One thing it offers, if its menu is to be believed, is an astonishing range of ‘New’ dishes on its menu. No fewer than 32 of the items on the menu are flagged as such and these certainly include some interesting dishes such as the delightfully named Chot Poti starter –a mix of chick peas, yellow lentils and potatoes cooked in lemon juice and spices – and the Lamb Tropical Mango using a blend of hot spices and mango chutney.
Ah, when in Rome… First up in the new stakes is the Chicken Napalize (£7.95) a sort of less-cloying version of butter chicken with peppers and onions, delivered with the most uniform strips of chicken I’ve ever had in a curry. This I had with new garlic rice (£2.95). No holding back on the garlic here, so much so that I could sense the wild village snails slithering for cover as I strolled home. All good so far, but there in the new side dishes I found it: Tuk Baigon (£3.25), the best aubergine dish ever. Mushy, but a good mushy, the aubergine is marinated in lemon juice and the tanginess just worked perfectly with the creamy chicken and rice. Three cheers for new.
Aubergine genius
So once ordered it’s time for a pint of Cobra while waiting (I never can understand people who ring ahead so they don’t have to wait) while reading the papers in the waiting area which has been screened off nicely so you feel as if you are in the restaurant without intruding into the evening of other diners.
Parking: on-street parking along Station Road. Delivery: free within five miles for minimum orders of £10. Specials: 10% discount on takeaways. Beer while you’re waiting: Saaki is a fully licensed restaurant or the Whistle Stop pub is a short walk away.
Ashoka Shak, Livingston (Takeaway)
Review by Plummy Mummy
Well, after an afternoon walking in the local country park, I persuaded Mr Plummy Mummy that I was just too tired to cook (hand on brow, lots of sighs going on). Curry in Scotland is a serious affair and restaurants up here often win national awards, so expectations are always high. So far my experiences have been limited to take outs and the odd meal in Dundee. In fact, hubby proposed to me in Dil Se – a Dundee restaurant. Don’t groan… he had wanted to go to an Italian but I was dying for a curry that night. Mind you, we had spent the day beside the river Tay in beautiful Scottish sunshine and he had had the ring in his pocket. So raspberries to him.
Anyhoo, after seven months of being in Scotland again, I thought it was about time we had curry that I hadn’t made. We decided to order a takeaway from Ashoka Shak in Livingston, which is part of a chain of 14 restaurants, most of which are in Glasgow. You can even buy a cookbook for the meals they serve! We went to the one in Dundee last year for our wedding anniversary (can you see a theme to my wedding related adventures?). A quick meal before going to the cinema across the car park. That meal was fine but spicy. I had a paneer dish – a little strange in that there was no veg in the meal so it ended up being a bit too cloying.
It seems they have had some feedback on the paneer dish as their menu offering called Paneer Pardesi now includes spinach and mushroom so I ordered it as a main (£6.95). I also wanted a masala dosa as a side (£3.95) but they had run out, which either means the dosas are really good, or the restaurant don’t make enough. I chose a jodhpuri samosa instead (£3.25)
Hubby went for Lamb Jalpuri (£7.95) as his main. The order was completed with pilau rice each (£2.25) and a nan (£2.25). At the moment the Livingston branch is running an offer where you can order a curry then get a second one for £1.
The delivery took about half an hour, which was a reasonable time, and the food arrived very hot. The portions were quite large and I was pleased that the pilau rice was more natural brown looking then the normal multi-coloured affair you get in restaurants. We dished out the food and started to tuck in. The samosa had a potato and pea filling with the thicker crust found in Punjabi cuisine. I liked the taste of coriander seeds but was glad of the accompanying mint sauce as it was spicy. Hubby had half and left the rest.
Jodhpuri somasa (top) and Paneer Pardesi
I should have covered my tongue in the mint sauce before tucking into the main, which IMHO was ridiculously spicy. Unfortunately it also didn’t look very appealing as the vegetables were mushed up. I am not sure spinach and mushroom is a good mix now. The paneer pieces were big though, which is a plus. Luckily I had some plain yogurt in the fridge and doused my meal in that. I am also glad we only paid a £1 for it as I’d have been a bit miffed if we had paid full price for it.
Now for the picky bit – the pilau rice had a chalky starchy taste which usually happens when basmati rice hasn’t been rinsed enough prior to cooking. A Turkish mate of mine never washes her rice but I like the taste of her cooking so I forgive her. However, as I was in major critical mode, the pilau wasn’t good enough and again we left a lot of it uneaten.
Lamb Jalpuri with pilau rice
Mr Plummy Mummy said his meal was also spicy (like the one he had had in Dundee). Now here is where he and I differ, and as we have now had two meals from Ashoka Shak that were too spicy, I would never order from them again. He’s more fair and would try another dish. However, that will be a long time in the future, as for now we are going to try some of the other restaurants in and around Livingston first.
Delivery: £1.50 to £3.00. We paid £1.50 and it arrived within half an hour.
Specials: Check website as they have a lot of offers on.
Ashoka Shak, Livingston McArthurglen Designer Outlet, EH54 6QX. Tel: 01506 416622 or 417799. Open: daily noon-10.30pm. Home delivery 5pm-10pm.
Ashoka Shak snapshot
Food ① ②
Delivery service ① ② ③
Value ① ② ③ (only because we had the special offer, or it would be ② )
It’s all about the lights. You can see them as you drive pastZin Zeera in the evening and they look great. I’m sure that they’ve picked up a lot of business by people drawn in by the light show, but it’s only good food and service that will keep them coming back and at least on one count, they have a chance.
Zin Zeera opened last year on the old Bottoms Up site in Hellesdon. The opening night was by all accounts a bit of a disaster with cold food and big delays causing some diners to walk out. We went as a party of eight (including four children) on a Saturday night and apart from the lights, the first thing you notice is that it’s massive. The dining area is huge and although it is very impressively finished, all sparkly floors and chrome; cosy it is not. This will be their biggest challenge: filling the place. We arrived at 7 and by 8.30, prime time for curry eating, the restaurant was at best a third full.
Because of the size they have employed lots of staff; in fact they have a girl whose entire job was to hold the door open for people arriving and leaving. Bizarrely though, service was slow and inattentive. The waiter taking our order appeared totally distracted and kept looking back over his shoulder at the bar staff. No surprise that two dishes were missed from our order completely.
However, when the food did arrive, it was excellent. We had ordered a wide range of dishes from Korma (chicken £5.95, king prawn £9.95), through Bhuna (meat £6.45) and Dhansak (chicken £5.95) to Vindaloo (meat £6.45). My Dhansak was the best I’ve had – rich, full of flavour and not floating in a pool of oil like some I’ve had. The rest of the party also enjoyed their dishes.
Once the staff had finally noticed we had finished, egged on by my fellow diners, I even broke the cardinal rule and ordered a dessert! I didn’t believe they actually existed, I thought the whole dessert thing was just a game where you looked at a plastic menu full of frozen stuff before saying no and sticking a hot towel on your face.
The bill came to £150 for eight which included plenty of drinks so value was good and we were even given a discount card for 10 per cent off future bills and 20 per cent off takeaways.
So in all, it was a thumbs up for Zin Zeera. If they can improve their service and find some way to fill the place so it creates a better atmosphere, they will survive. They may even make enough of a profit to pay the light bill.
Onions form the base of almost all curries so you’ll be chopping a lot of them. Follow these steps for frustration-free chopping.
1. Cut onion in half through the stem before peeling.
2. Cut off stems and peel.
3. Slice the onion long ways but do not cut it all the way through to ensure it is still held together. You can help with this by pinching it together with your thumb and forefinger. The end result, if you were to pick up the onion, would be a fan shape
4. Twist the onion around and slice in the other direction, this time cutting all the way through.
Hey presto, nice small chunks of onion.
Ok, I was like a kid in a candy store. For a curry lover wandering around massive sacks of rice, packs of brightly spices, pots of pickles, moth beans, bags of gram flour and lentils of every description this is heaven.
Charlton’s Masala Mart is an Asian wholesalers offering everything you’ll need for your curries as well as frozen seafood and fresh meat (and a fair bit of other stuff too).
While it’s obviously aimed at the trade (20kg of rice for R19.99, 1kg garam masala for £3.87) there are well-priced smaller packs of most things on offer for the rest of us (100g turmeric for 35p).
You can also get your hands on things that few mainstream supermarkets are likely to stock such as the sweetener jaggery (475g for 89p) or the Bangladeshi fish tilapia (£2.49 a kilo).
Or, if you really like the stuff, you might just be tempted to stock up on lime pickle (4.4kg for £6.56).
Masala Mart, Unit 1, Ramac Way, Charlton, SE7 7AX. Tel: 020 8858 9858.
The Royal Curry Club 