naamyaa café - bangkok street food in islington

naamyaa café, islington 

alan yau’s newest addition to london’s casual dining scene is a bangkok style café in islington. his signature style is evident in the modern and sleek dining space accentuated by terraced golden bodhisattva’s. the menu here is based on bangkok style street food and that element of the street is fashioned through an open plan kitchen and bar. the air is heady with spice and the cacophony of human conversation as it rises above the theatre of cooking sounds - hissing and sizzling.

a middle eastern diner called honey and co.

honey and co. food from the middle east

there is this humble little middle eastern diner on warren street. it’s not the kind of place i’d expect to find something as special as honey and co. but in london something new opens every day in the most improbable of places (think sushi of shiori on drummond street). i saw it a couple of months ago and put it on my list of ‘places i want to eat’, but then i have a list for so many things that this got buried until marina o’loughlin’s piece in the guardian. 

ginger's comfort emporium and thoughts on food for 'grown-ups'

king's cross ice cream festival

i have often heard of food and flavours being described as ‘for grown-ups’. i have on occasion used the description myself but it never ceases to puzzle me. mostly because when i was growing up i liked a lot of foods that most children didn’t. i ate stuffed bitter gourds gently steamed in a masala of lentils or minced meat. i loved vegetables such as courgettes, turnips and squash and i loved hummus only when it had the real assertive tahina flavour. i ate the stuff with a fork rather than pita when i was around eight years old. so you can understand why i find this description a little confusing. 

but on saturday, after queuing for an incredible forty-six minutes at ginger’s comfort emporium at the king's cross ice cream festival i finally realised that there are foods that are for grown-ups only. ginger’s comfort emporium hits the nail on the head when she describes her iced confections as being for ‘grown-ups’. her ice-cream van is colourful and quirky. it looks like a confection itself, as its body is pastel pink and plum brown with gold writing. i had a really hard time choosing my flavours as my hubby had abandoned me and gone home. 

banhmi11 and the architecture of a sandwich

op la di beef banh mi

over the recent months i have become quite concerned with the architecture of sandwiches. this concern was brought on by a encounter with a sandwich that had a delightful filling. however, the bread that held it together was so crumbly that it kept falling apart. in his trusty oxford companion to food davidson writes of the sandwich in its classic formulation as ‘two pieces of bread either side of a filling’. 

salmon sando at tsuru

tsuru bankside

in true japanese style even the salmon sando at tsuru manages delicacy. 

e5 bakehouse

e5 bakehouse

e5 bakehouse is to be found under the railway arches of london fields station. the arch itself is cavernous but manages to maintain an air of cosiness. no doubt the ovens are what warm the space but the real charm is the yeasty smell of slowly fermented and baked bread. on my first visit i bought half a loaf of the quintessential hackney wild. it is beautifully crafted with a flour dusted rim and a light sheen on its surface.

rose bakery, dover street market

rose bakery, dover street market

rose bakery looks like a polished industrial unit with its grey-silver surfaces. the tableware is grey-green and is very sturdy, as are the cast iron teapots. cakes in hues of yellow progressing to orange and chocolate are seated on the long length of counter. the carrot cake is impressive. it is shaped like an angular cup cake with a crown of frosting. the space is fragranced by a spiced crumble warming itself in the oven behind the counter.

i was introduced to rose bakery by t, the brains behind the london review cake shop. it’s hidden away on the fourth floor of dover street market, the independent and swanky outpost of tokyo based designer rei kawakubo. on my first visit there t and i had large bowls of chickpea and spinach soup. there is no other way to describe the soup than by saying it had received ‘mayfair’ treatment. rose bakery’s version of spinach and chickpea soup is sophisticated. it  had been pureed to the point that it still retained texture. it was a substantial soup with roasted flavours and was decorated with a flourish of fruity olive oil and a hint of parsley. it was exceptionally good.

date scones

o and i returned a couple of weeks later for afternoon tea. it was the week that he had become british and so we decided to go the traditional route and have scones and tea. although not the traditional kind (wholemeal and date) they were excellent because they had all the characteristics of a classic scone. endearingly irregular, they had a golden brown top and were easy to break open into half with out using a knife. most importantly they had that lingering aftertaste of soda that comes a combination of leavening agents. they were accompanied by a pat of butter and two kinds of jam. i had a yellow-orange fresh fig jam and o a blue-purple morello cherry. the jams were more fruity than sweet which was perfect. i just wish that the butter had been clotted cream. to me scones are never complete without that dense, almost yellow cream.

dover street market

come to rose bakery if you happen to be around mayfair and want a cup of tea and something sweet. you are unlikely to be disappointed. i for one am planning a return for the carrot cake.    

melrose and morgan, primrose hill

granola and bircher muesli, melrose and morgan

it’s ten am on a saturday morning. p and i are meeting for breakfast at melrose and morgan in primrose hill. i’ve been meaning to try this grocery shop-cum-kitchen for a while now and was actually really glad when p picked it over made in camden. i had fully intended to practice yoga that afternoon so wanted something lighter than a full-scale brunch. but my plans to practice got scuppered because the sun came out and we walked through ‘uniqlo square’. a coffee at sandwich and spoon turned into a long chat and then richard dare’s cook and kitchenware shop and mary’s living and giving shop waylaid us.

mary's living & giving shop

melrose and morgan has a tinted glass exterior that gives you somewhat of an idea of the groceries inside. a long table flanks the length of the shop. in the morning mostly sweet things dominate the display – meringues large and puffed like shirts with shoulder pads, a carrot cake thick with frosting and scattered with walnuts sits on a white cake stand and hot cross buns anointed with egg wash glisten lightly. i like that the crumble-topped muffins are cased in cut up grease paper rather than ready made cases.

melrose and morgan

meringues

carrot cake

p likes savoury pastry like things and so picked a sausage roll. i cannot resist a good granola and the one at melrose and morgan looked really good. it was nutty brown punctuated with whole almonds, seeds and sour cherries. i picked cold milk over yoghurt as i want to see how crisp the granola was. the milk turned pale amber as the granola lost its honeyed sweetness to it, but the oats remained resiliently crisp. i loved the honey caramel coat on the toasted almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. the sour cherries were just the right balance of tartness against all the sweetened crunchy elements of the granola. if you like granola, this is one to add to your list of loved ones.

our breakfast turned out to be rather leisurely and we reluctantly vacated our seats by the window as we saw a father and son standing and eating. it was only fair though as we had been there for almost two hours. conversation was thick and fast and covered everything from women, the politics of equality in relationships, work place strife and the idiosyncrasies of the food blogging world. p and i have met our fair share of food bloggers for whom food blogging is about becoming so visible on the restaurant and bar circuit that they get invited to every opening. for the both of us, it is the food and the people we share it with that are more important. wander over to p’s writing at a table for one and you’ll see what i mean. 

reflections on the first meal of the day plus a trip to st.ali coffeebar and cafe

banana bread with cult of done espresso mascarpone

breakfast and i were not always on good terms. as a child it was the most fraught meal of the day as mama insisted on boiled eggs that i did not like. along with that my dadi would give me warm fresh milk claiming that she had strained it, which was not true as proven by my gag reflex. during my teens i dispensed with breakfast as a wholly unnecessary meal. all that changed in my late teens though as i got over my dislike of yolks and grew to love eggs. i swirled mama’s homemade jams and preserves into yoghurt and not only discovered granola but also became really good at making it. 

seoul bakery

cold winter days make me want to eat clear soups coloured red with chilli. i do not want broth that has been interfered with by coconut milk or creamy elements to dim the strength of chilli. as i was near tottenham court road i headed to seoul bakery. this tiny eatery is made more cramped by a proliferation of sticky note graffiti. even the front window hasn’t been spared. the menu is short and features things like bibimbap and pajeon which most people are familiar with. i have the soft tofu hot pot which is less formidable than it looks. it gently warms and restores balance to my breathing made laborious by the ice cold wind. the mildness of the tofu along with an egg cooked in the hotpot reduce the strength of the chilli. the kimchi is the cooling element. 

babur restaurant

chutneys

the mughal empire has fascinated me since i was a little girl. i was named afte the famous mughal empress begum nur jehan. nur jehan (literally light of the world) was a titular name with her real name as mehrunnisa, which is what mama chose for me. my brother murad is also named after a mughal prince. i read mughal history at school and in the summer vacations mama took us to the mughal architectural wonders in lahore fort. now, years later as i write about food i recall bits and pieces from the baburnama, especially his pining for afghanistan. he lamented the food, especially the fruit of afghanistan. of hindustan he writes ‘hindustan is a country of few charms. there are no good-looking people, there is no social intercourse, no receiving or paying of visits, no genius or manners. in its handicrafts there is no form or symmetry, method or quality. there are no good horses, no good dogs, no grapes, musk-melons or first-rate fruits, no ice or cold water, no good bread or food cooked in the bazaars (my emphasis), no hot baths, no colleges, no candles, torches or candlesticks’. i am certain though that if emperor babur were to time travel and take the over ground to honour oak park station to dine at his namesake restaurant he would be pleasantly surprised by the distance that indian cuisine has travelled. the wine flights matched to the different courses would indulge his love for wine and if he is feeling particularly adventurous he could have an indian inspired cocktail. the mango brulee would be a perfect sweet conclusion and celebration of one of the few sub-continental fruits he loved. he would also be pleased with the art and design concepts of the restaurant especially the large kalamkari that flanks the entrance, a workmanship that was introduced and patronised by the mughal’s during their reign.

saturday at maltby street

st john bakery custard doughnut 

i had been waiting for my sibling to arrive in london to make an excursion to maltby street. he’s an early riser, loves walking and has a handsome appetite like me, and since maltby street requires all three he was the perfect companion to explore with. you could of course go to maltby street by noon as it runs from nine to two pm. however, if you want to get your hands on one of those infamous custard doughnuts from st. john bakery then you need to be closer to the earlier half of the morning. i got lost on my way in and was most concerned that we wouldn’t make it on time for custard doughnuts. arch seventy-two on druid street is cavernous and home to st.john bakery. a line of rudimentary tables hold loaves, rounds and batons of freshly baked bread. two kinds of doughnuts (custard and jam) along with eccles cakes and brownies take up one side of the table. there is a queue of twenty strong people ahead of us and the custard doughnut supply was perilously low. the doughnuts are stacked horizontally, seam side up, the custard seeping out. fine granules of sugar cling to their plump little bodies. luckily we make it to the head with ten custard doughnuts still on the tray. we get two of these, a brownie just because it looks good and a hundred percent rye sourdough that m carried to pakistan. we intended to eat our doughnuts the perfect way with a cup of monmouth coffee. on our way to monmouth we got sidetracked by kaseswiss oatcakes. it was the aroma that drew me to the large heavy bottomed griddle that held a thin layer of oat-heavy batter. the oatcakes are like pancakes made with oats. they are a north staffordshire speciality and are usually served with savoury fillings. we had ours with gruyere from jacob’s ladder as the kirkham’s lancashire was finished. the nutty cheese is melted on the griddle along with finely chopped red onion. m and i shared the folded buttery and cheesy goodness whilst walking towards monmouth coffee. 

pitt cue co.

net curtain pattern reflected in the menu

pitt cue co is about bold, gutsy and assertive flavours. it is strictly a vegetarian hell so please don’t make the mistake of taking your animal loving friends there. in terms of its sexual orientation this food is truly heterosexual. (if you don’t know what i am talking about then read this article on simon doonan and you will know what i mean). to be sure there are delicate notes to be found, although they are few and far between. the barbecue sauce for one has an overarching molasses note that recedes to leave a delicate fruity and aniseed note. an american diner seated next to us said to me that the barbecue sauce is mumbo sauce. in american speak this refers to an east coast speciality with very addictive flavours. then again, the pickles are served wafer thin rather than whole and chunky. they have a sweet-sour taste and are refreshing against the meat. the baked beans are made with turtle beans whose dainty little bodies are bound by a smoky and sweet sauce. the smooth and comforting mash is made manly by a crown of dark brown burnt ends and barbecue juices from the brisket. the bourbon sticky toffee pudding is a large irregular slice lacquered with bourbon caramel, the bourbon smoothing the cloying sweetness of toffee. on the side is a delicate quenelle of salted caramel ice cream made textural but the addition of pudding crumbs. both m and i like a slightly melted ice cream which adds more moisture to the already moist pudding. the pudding was pure indulgence on our part as neither of us could justify the space for it. it seemed unfair to not treat ourselves though, as m is only in london for a couple of days and we had queued for an hour to eat… 

lunch at the rib room

in december twitter gave me a christmas present, a lunch at the rib room courtesy of roche communications. given the scale of our pre-christmas gluttony i figured it would be best to take up the lunch in the new year, and so i booked us for january. a fortnight prior when i was looking up some reviews on the rib room i came across jay rayners less than enthusiast one, and since i highly trust his reviews i suggested to o that we should cancel the lunch. but o said that we must try it for ourselves and so we headed to the rib room for lunch on the first saturday in january. 

pars restaurant

pars restaurant

west london seems to have a proliferation of persian restaurants and since it is one of o’s favourite cuisines i always keep an eye out for ones that are authentic. fortunately me for me, a wonderful toronto based twitter foodist called spicespoon of iranian heritage recommended pars to me. i specifically asked her for recommendations as to what to eat. it turns out that we have similar loves as she said to try the kashk-e-bademjan and khoresh-e-gheimeh bademjan both of which feature aubergine. 

lunch and conversation at rosalind's kitchen

rosalind's kitchen from the outside

we are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavours and furniture polish is made from real lemons. 

alfred e. newman 

the chocolate festival, southbank, eleventh december twenty-eleven

'i love chocolate' tote-bags

i was determined to make it to the chocolate festival on southbank this year. should the rain have wavered my commitment, a promise to meet giulia of mondomulia blog of  made my attendance certain. we are fellow twitterati and foodists. giulia has a passion for food photography so as suggested by her we decided to join together to bring you this post with giulia behind the lens and me behind the pen. the tasting notes are from both of us including my ever hungry and willing eater, o.

christmas with a dishoom

love the stick-on christmas hats on this picture

o's birthday was gluttony personified. after our grand breakfast at hawksmoor guildhall we were due at dishoom in the evening for a christmas tweet-up. we therefore imposed a period of fasting upon ourselves for the remainder of the day, drinking copious amounts of cardamom laced jasmine tea to create space. 

the moolilicious rudolph

a half eaten rudolph

santa and his trusty four legged companion have delivered a truly delicious mooli for christmas. when christmas meets india and sits down at a table it brings us the flaming turkey raan complete with two vegetables at dishoom. the potatoes have had a make-over in bombay and long green beans have been jazzed up with masala. but one doesn't always have time on a weekday for a leisurely lunch, and it is quite possible that by this point most of us have exhausted our craving for the christmas sandwich lunch. so you will be pleased to know that the work day christmas lunch now has a new contender and for me it takes the number one spot on a quick even desk friendly christmas lunch. 

east-street

street-food kind of effect, the interior of east-street

east-street is the newest addition to canteen style restaurants in london. truth be told i was quite apprehensive  about trying it out as its menu is a jambalaya of east-asian cuisine. as much as i love east-asian cuisine, idon’t make it a habit to go to places that serve the breadth of the region. but sometimes curiosity gets the better of both o and i so we figured we’d give it a try.

it’s really a place that i can imagine university students frequenting. the menu is extensive and it would just on this basis manage to satisfy a crowd with diversity of tastes. since we went in the week that it opened there was an offer on which allowed us an appetiser and entree or entree and dessert each. additional such as rice, tea, drinks etc were to be paid for. o and i picked the bulgogi from the small dishes to share as a starter.

i was quite overwhelmed by the choice of noodles, rice dishes, soups and salads and after having read through the whole randomly picked the vietnamese bo luc lac (shaking beef). o had the laksa. the stir-fry’s are not accompanied by rice or noodles which have to be ordered on the side.

malaysian laksa 

the bulgogi was really good and the kimchi managed to pack quite a punch. it was actually quite a generous portion too. my bo luc lac comprised of a beef seared in a rather sweet marinade served with a rather chunky salad. the beef itself was bite-sized and tender but i was quite unhappy with the thickness of the red onion slices. in addition i think the marinade could have benefitted from balancing the sweet, soy and oyster sauce elements. the dominant note was one of sweetness. o’s laksa was sharp and peppery despite the coconut milk which usually helps tame the chili in this soup noodle dish. he was actually very content with it provided the peppery notes were downplayed a bit. i personally felt that the portion size on this was rather steeply priced at ten fifty on this.

for dessert, i wish i had listened to o and picked the thai sticky rice with coconut cream and mango. the only reason why i chose the malaysian black sticky rice over the thai one was because mangoes aren’t in season at this time of the year. o caputured our sentiment on the black sticky rice perfectly when he said it was like eating a rather unusual breakfast porridge. the sweetness of this was very mellow and further dulled by the drizzle of coconut cream. the black rice grains were broken a bit too much for my likes. the sauce that was intended to marry the rice into a pudding was quite tasteless. which was a pity because i love palm sugar and the nuttiness of coconut milk and rice.

malaysian black rice pudding

east-street is cheerful and canteen like and has a student vibe which is perhaps the main reason why i am unlikely to come back. i’ve moved on from my student years and i am not inclined to go back. having said that, if i was in the neighbourhood shopping and needed a bite, i would drop in for another plate of the bulgogi small plate...