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.

A curry with Widow Twankie

On By Daniel FordIn 3. Reviews (International)1 Comment

Garden of India, Tenerife

When on holiday I’m all for trying the local food (in the case of Tenerife this appears to be English breakfasts and bangers and mash). But after a couple of days it’s time for some proper food. And so begins the search for a decent Tenerife curry (Part One).

Sadly, it’s not a good start. The Garden of India overlooks a sandy beach at Puerto Colon in the south but inside it seems we’ve stumbled on laundry day, with tablecloths drying on chairs against the psychedelic coloured walls. It’s a scene from Widow Twankie’s living room.

“Behind you!” we shout to the waiter, who, to be fair, is very friendly and helpful. We feel we should get into the panto spirit as we are the only customers. Given the pretty decent music, not quite Bhangra but better than the usual lift variety, we could have quite a party if there was anyone else here.

But the party must wait as the food arrives. Despite the decent value of food on the island, not only the Brit’s abroad variety but also tapas, Italian and Chinese, spice lovers must pay over the odds. The Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi (€11 plus 5% tax) has tasty meat but the sauce is way too watery so needs mopping up with Mutter Pillau (€5 plus tax). Considering the normal Pillau rice is €2.75 the cost of peas must be soaring in the Canaries.

Moghali Chicken (€8 plus tax) offers something different for explorers. With the consistency of tuna, the dish is shredded chicken cooked with egg and cream to bind it together. Add a very decent and fresh naan bread (€2.50 plus tax).

Then return to the Tenerife curry quest.

Garden of India, Puerto Colon Las Americas, Tenerife. Tel +34 922 719 684. Open: daily noon-3pm, 6pm-midnight.

Garden of India snapshot

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Curry tip of the week 8

On By Daniel FordIn Curry NewsLeave a comment

This is the time of the year when most of us turn our attention to whipping up a curry with the turkey leftovers. Because it’s been roasted (as it would in a tandoor) a masala sauce works well but a creamy korma is also good. But whatever you choose remember the meat has been cooked already so don’t cook it again any more than is necessary. It’s a dry enough meat as it is.

Curry tip of the week 7

On By Daniel FordIn Curry NewsLeave a comment

Fancy a change from beer with your curry? The spices in whisky make it an ideal drink to accompany your favourite dish. Try the smoky Johnnie Walker Black with Chicken Tikka Masala.

Is it a curry house or a pub?

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

The Blue Eyed Maid and Spice Lounge, SE1

Ok curry lovers of Britain, brace yourselves for a new wave of curry houses like the Blue Eyed Maid Pub and Spice Lounge near London Bridge. Welcome to the traditional British pub with linked Indian restaurant. We are not talking a pub with restaurant next door, we are talking two fully integrated businesses working together.

It’s a great idea and although not the first time I’ve come across it, it’s perhaps surprising there are not more of these curry houses cum pubs. All the pleasures of a good old British pub with the greatest food on earth at the same time.

In this case the Blue Eyed Maid is the pub downstairs (with sports on TV, DJs and late bar) while the Spice Lounge is a smallish area upstairs serving Indian food (the same food can also be ordered in the pub).

There is an à la carte menu with all the old school favourites (Chicken Dupiaza £6.50, Lamb Biriani £7.95, Pilau rice £2.25) but the venue has a particularly good following for its lunchtime buffet, which is not surprising as the selection of dishes (which changes daily) costs just £5. The venue is also popular for private parties (buffet was just £10 for a recent visit).

It’s good. Keep your eyes open for a new wave of more of these curry house pubs.

Spice Lounge, 173 Borough High Street, London, SE1 1HR. Tel: 020 7378 8585. Open: Sat–Thurs 11.30am-2.30pm, 5.30pm-midnight, Fri noon-1am.

Spice Lounge snapshot

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Spice Lounge on Urbanspoon

Tastier of Raj

On By Daniel FordIn Curry NewsLeave a comment

Taste of Raj in Blackheath has always been a favourite, in part because of its lovely location and friendliness but also because it’s open all day. A sneaky mid-afternoon curry beats all, especially on a school day.

Now, I am pleased to report some tasty new dishes on its extended menu. But don’t take my word for it, just click on the image below and take a peek. Tested out on a recent visit and both recommended was the unusual Spicy Calamari (£5.95) with no shortage of green stuff for lovers of healthy extras, and Palak Pakura (£3.75) a sort of onion bhaji with loads of spinach and cream cheese filling. Both came with some conversation-starter extras: a rice cake, a twirly thing made of white flour and yoghurt, and a heart created with two different sauces. Ahhhh…

Spicy Calamari and Palak Pakura with interesting extras…

Curry tip of the week 6

On By Daniel FordIn Curry NewsLeave a comment

Are you a Butter Chicken lover? When cooking with butter always add a little oil to the pan first to avoid it burning.

Courtesy of Sweet ‘n’ Spicy phone app.

Recipe… Butter Chicken

On By Daniel FordIn RecipesLeave a comment

Butter Chicken (Flicr).jpg

Butter Chicken
Serves 4

What you need
• 1 cup thick yoghurt
• 1 tbsp peeled, grated ginger
• 1 tbsp peeled, grated garlic
• 2 tbsp Tandoori Masala
• 1/4 canned tomato puree (I used tomato paste)
• 2 tbsp lemon/lime juice
• 2 tbsp melted butter/ghee
• 1 whole chicken, cut into 14 pcs. Slit the pieces to allow the marinade to penetrate.

For the sauce
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp peeled, grated ginger
• 1 tbsp peeled, minced garlic
• 2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• 1 green chilli, snipped fine
• 1 tsp Kasuri Methi
• 1/2 cup cream

How you cook it
1. Mix together all the ingredients including the chicken. Cover and let it marinate in the fridge for 1.5 hours.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F and bake the chicken (along with the left over marinade) for 30 mins or until the juices run clear.
3. During the last 15 mins of cooking you can start with the sauce.
4. In a large pan, on medium heat, melt the butter. Add the ginger and garlic and saute for 30 secs.
5. Add in the chopped tomato and cook for 10 mins, mashing it up with the back of your spoon as you go. By the end of 10 mins you should have an orange sauce with hardly any pieces of tomatoes to be seen.
6. By now the chicken would have been cooked to perfection.
7. Add the chicken, the remaining marinade, salt, chilli and fenugreek leaves. Simmer, covered, for 10 mins
8. Add the cream and simmer for a minute then serve hot!

Recipe courtesy of Indian Tiffin, the site for spice tins, organic spices and teas, roti kits and other curry utensils.

Photo: stu_spivack (Flickr)

In search of a gem

On By Daniel FordIn 1. Reviews (London)2 Comments

Shampan 3, Welling
(review by @Benb111)

Get your Sat Nav primed and ready if you want to visit Welling’s award-winning Shampan 3 Indian restaurant.This hard-to-find success was rated Best in London Suburbs in the prestigious British Curry Awards this year, and will have curryholics flocking there to see what the fuss is about.

The restaurant – which opened in 2006 and is part of a small group – is situated in a dense residential backwater somewhere between the A207 into Welling and the A2. Believe me, it’s a pig of a place to find!My expedition party from Greenwich consisted of my wife and I, plus our two teenage children.

The restaurant itself is situated in a small parade of shop and the welcome we received on a cold December Wednesday wasn’t the greatest, even though we had booked. It was hurried rather than warm. With a bar by the entrance, the decor is smart, understated and relaxing, with pretty murals.

The menu is extensive with all the usual staples, but also with plenty of ‘recommendations’ as well. Starters range from £3.90 to £5.90 and for the main course you can have your traditional chicken favourites for £6.90. The priciest items on the menu are sea bass and ginger king prawns, both at £13.90.

I chose Chicken Vindaloo (£6.90), She Who Must be Obeyed (SWMBO) the Barbecued Lamb Achari (£8.50), with the lamb cutlets cooked in the tandoor. My son went for the Chicken Tikka Masala (£7.90), and my daughter Chicken Tikka (£7.50).

SWMBO loved her lamb, my son rated the CTM up there with the his favourite at Charlton’s Viceroy and my daughter enjoyed her tikka. We also had Bindi Bhajee (£3.90), plain rice (£2.50), coconut rice (£3.90), nan (£2.50), and peshwari nan (£2.90).

I was disappointed with my vindaloo. Maybe I was expecting too much because of the recent award, but I have had better at two Greenwich favourites: Chutney and Gurkha’s Inn. The bindi wasn’t the tastiest either, although the coconut rice was fragrant and delicious.

The friendliness of the place did warm up when the restaurant manager came to take our order and realised straight away that we weren’t regulars. He was happy to chat (even he uses a Sat Nav).But enough about food; loos tell a lot about a restaurant and the ones at Shampan are outstanding with five-star luxury. Curiously though, I had to ask for a soap dispenser because there wasn’t one – maybe it had been nicked?

One or two minor quibbles (they’re award-winners – they can take it). Shampan uses oversized plates and bowls so our table felt very cramped, so much so that a salad – part of the lamb dish – had to be put on an adjoining table. I also felt the waiters were a little too quick to pounce to sell more drinks. I had to stop my daughter, 13, ordering a third pineapple juice from a waiter who had asked her directly as soon as her empty glass hit the table.

So, would I go back? Yes, I would, although I do think you are hard pressed to beat the food and friendliness of our Greenwich favourites. Still, don’t take my word for it. Go for yourself… just don’t forget the Sat Nav.

The meal for four came to £66.80 (including non-alcoholic drinks but excluding service).

Shampan 3 Restaurant & Bar, 8 Falconwood Parade, The Green, Welling, Kent, DA16 2PL. Tel: 020 8304 9569. E-mail: info@shampangroup.com. Open: Mon–Sat noon-2.30pm, 5.30pm-10.30pm (11pm Fri and Sat), Sun noon–10pm.

Shampan 3 snapshot

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Curry column

On By Daniel FordIn Curry NewsLeave a comment

It’s hot, it’s spicy, it’s the new edition of the Greenwich Visitor. Check out the new curry column…

Swimmingly good

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

Kashmiri Aroma, Sheffield

Fish lovers prepare yourself. Sheffield you say? Fish lovers? Indeed, not the obvious place for a fish curry feast but apart from Goa in India I’ve never come across a curry house that serves up so many fish options as Kashmiri Aroma.

So much so that this decidedly nowhere-near-the-sea city (in British terms) has a special fish menu. Ever known that in a curry house? No, me neither. From there came the tasty looking scallops starter. “Huge they are,” said the diners (it sounds better in a Yorkshire accent).

From the sea also came the Dhuan Machli  starter (£4.50), a nice piece of lightly spiced smoked haddock as well as the main Balti Machli Chilli (£9.95), a sort of spicy haddock Jalfriezi that was spiced beautifully and cooked to tender perfection with crunchy green peppers.  If more curry houses could cook fish like this chicken sales would dwindle. Elsewhere on the menu is Halibut Steak (£14.55) a recipe from the Neelam River in Kashmir, Cod Lion (£12.55), Sea Bass (£11.95) from the villages of the Ravi River in the Punjab, and Goan King Prawns (£11.95) for coconut milk lovers. And this is not to even mention a string of other fish/prawn specialities and the old favourites like Prawn Korma (£7.50).

But the menu is extensive so the non-fish lovers around the table had no problem. A mention in dispatches for Chicken Liver Tikka (£3.70) a starter that sounds like it should be as dry as tongue after a heavy night but somehow pulled it off, and Shahi Garana (£8.50) a keema curry mixed in with chunks of chicken and a decent amount of sauce (is it me or does that dry keema thing get a bit too much sometimes?).

The venue (superb and large bar area by the way) has apparently been a pizza place, a Chinese, a whatever whatever eat eat in previous incarnations, but despite being a bit on the high end of the price range for a Sheffield curry house, unless something changes to these exceptional food standards it’s going to be Kashmiri Aroma for a long time.

Kashmiri Aroma, 798 Chesterfield Road, Sheffield, S8 0SF . Tel: 01142 587780. Open: Mon–Thurs 5.30pm-11pm, Fri–Sat 5.30pm-11.30pm, Sun 5.30pm-10.30pm.

Kashmiri Aroma snapshot

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Kashmiri Aroma on Urbanspoon