A Great Takeaway from Sunderban Tandoori

I have been a bit lazy these past few days and really cannot get my arse in gear to cook anything. So after eating out three or four times over the last few days, we needed to eat indoors and tighten our wallets. Well that was the plan anyhows, but after getting back from a day of shopping and photography, I again couldn’t be arsed to cook, plus I was too tired to go out and eat. A takeaway was called for.

We’ve tried quite a few takeaway joints around Highbury and on Blackstock Road area. Most are average at best. But what to have? Wasn’t in the mood for pizza, as had it at the last monthly meeting at work. I generally do not like Chinese food in a takeaway form, as it is 9/10 pretty bad. Plus I ate an average Ma Po Tofu the day before at work. Again.

I am eating a lot more Indian food, which is not surprising really, as I am working for an Indian company staffed by Indians, to which some of them or their wives are damn good cooks. Being spoilt rotten I am. Excellent.

We’ve tried Desh (below average), Shahi Spice (average), Ruman Balti and Tandoori (very good, but I was very drunk and very hungry, so no idea really). I’ve wandered past Sunderban on many an occasion, and it is always populated. I’ve been meaning to try it for a while now, but never got round to it, but now was its chance.

Sundermans is your typical small Indian restaurant. It seats around 20 odd people, plus it has the obligatory take out table at the back by the bar.

The menu has the normal favourites that we are so used to, plus one or two other surprises that I was not expecting.

As I sat perusing the menu I ordered a pint of Kingfisher. I always find a nice cold beer helps the choosing process run a bit smoother.

I was tempted to go for some of our regular choices, such as a Korma, Dansak, Jalfrazi or my personal favourite the Lamb Biriyani.  But something was telling me to try some new dishes, especially as it was the first time here.

So I opted for a Lamb Dupiaza, (which is supposed to have twice as much onions to meat), a Chicken Begon (I asked what this was and was told it was cooked with aubergines and quite mild), a sag paneer, pilau rice and a keema naan.

As I waited for my food, the manager or owner was chatting away to a regular customer about this and that. It’s nice to see interaction on a personal basis in a restaurant, as it is so rare these days.

The food when I got it home was pretty damn tasty. Everything was well cooked, well seasoned and quite mild, but I had ordered it that way as the wife was feeling a tad ill and I did not want to make feel any worse.

The star of the show was the Begon or Begun. Very mildly spiced but had a wonderful aubergine flavour that was really different and has now become a dish I want to eat more of.

The Dopiaza, again as mildly spiced and well cooked, although not a great deal of onion was present. The sag paneer, was a delightful creamy combination of cheese and spinach that lived up to my memories of this dish when I’ve eaten it back in India recently.

All in all Sunderban does a very fine takeaway, and I will to go back and enjoy their food, but next time I sitting in their restaurant and hopefully have a chat with the staff.

Shahi Spice

 

With the wife away enjoying a free trip to Nicaragua for the week, and me not being in the best of moods lately. I really haven’t been in the mood to cook. As Lina isn’t too keen on takeaways, I’m taking advantage whilst she’s away.

Shahi spice is on Blackstock Road and the corner of Gillespie Road. I’d walked past it many a time thinking I’d like to get a takeaway from there one day.

After a disastrously boring day at work when our server had melted the processor and no work was done for the 2^nd day. Why did I go in.

So thinking all day that what I was gonna cook for tea tonight. I’d brought some flat rice noodles as I was thinking of making a version of mapo tofu without the tofu and with noodles. All I needed was some mince y voila. Most of everything else is in my cupboards.

But when I got to Barons Court on the tube, I just couldn’t be arsed to get off, as it was soooo damn cold outside. So within seconds I’d made the decision for a Ruby Murray. Brill.

Shahi Spice actually looks shabbier on the inside than from the outside. It has the large counter that props up the drunks on a Friday or Saturday night, and allows them to try and make their choice without collapsing on the floor.

There are some chairs to relax on whilst you wait for your meal to be cooked. But no fruit machine or pac-man to play on. Very disappointed I was. But the shop opposite does sell cheap cans of lager to accompany your meal. So by the time you paid, strolled across the road, brought your favourite tipple and wandered back. Your curry is almost ready. I would have been scared if it was there waiting for me when I got back.

I ordered a chicken chilli fry, pilau rice and some keema naan. I also go some fresh crispy popadums, the ubiquitous onion salad, and some bright orange chutney. That I was sure was radioactive.

The chicken chilli fry was ok, the chicken was a little dry, but the gravy had good heat, and lots of whole green chilli’s for me to munch on. Many years ago I used to have a book called Curry Secrets, and it explains that all Indian restaurants have one base sauce and by just adding cream, chilli or other spices makes our favourite dishes. This was definitely one of those sauces.

The pilaw rice was cooked well, nice seasoning. Although it had illuminous green and red things in it. I’ve no idea what they were.

The keema naan was below standard. It had that bright red filling that only comes with a pre-brought naan from some mass supplier.

The papadoms were freshly made though, as they were still really crispy. The onion salad was an onion salad. The bright orange nuclear chutney was supposed to be mango I think. It had no taste, or maybe the chilli’s had destroyed my taste buds. But it did cool my mouth down a bit.

I brought some chutneys from India before I came home. They are the real deal and are very strong, but they are so good.

All in all Shahi Spice is your typical knock them out Indian takeaway. Not the best I’ve ever had by a long way, but also not the worst I’ve eaten either.

Would I return? Maybe, maybe not, there are better choices on this stretch of road to have. Plus there are many more for me to try.

Yildiz - My Local Anatolian

It was a kind of a mixed bag with Yildiz. I was hoping for another Mangal, and one on my doorstep. But alas no, but these dreams of mine never ever materialise, especially on this particular strip of Blackstock road.

The décor of Yildiz is pretty simple belaying the neighbourhood feel about the place. As you enter the giant Ocakbasi greets you will a grand smile and in these now dark cold nights its warmth hugs you like an old friend.

The menu is pretty much the standard that I have become accustomed to of Turkish food. Except that this is an Anatolian restaurant. As if I would know the difference. But if you look a little closer you see a few extras that I’ve never noticed on other menus. The infamous Iskender Kebab stuck out like a sore thumb.

Some foods have their DOC’s, but the inventors family in Turkey has trademarked these kebabs. I’ve never heard of this before. I wonder why no one has been sued for cooking this dish.

We ordered a simple starter of some grilled Turkish sausage. It was tasty, but a tad over cooked. I think someone forgot it was there on the grill. Shame.

I had to have the Iskender Kebab, I mean it’s not everyday you eat a trademarked food.

Lina opted for the liver, but to her disappointment they were finished. So she ordered the quail.

All mains come with some nice warm bread, a mountain of rice and a tonne of salad. Which to be honest I would have been happy with just the bread.

My Iskender Kebab was pretty damn good. The thinly sliced grilled lamb was slightly overcooked, but the lovely tomato sauce with thick curds moistened it up somewhat. Those thick yoghurt curds really made this dish and it was a pleasure to eat.

Unfortunately lina’s quail was really over cooked. It was pretty dry and not that nice. I think the grill chef either had a day off or he needs to take some lessons at Mangal.

The service is very warm and friendly and it seems to have a good local clientele. Just a shame the chef needs to be more on the ball. I hope it was just an odd night for him.

But overall it was ok, I mean it's not Mangal, but then again what is. 

Il Bacio

I kind of knew what we were going to get even before we entered Il Bacio. My expectations were not that high, and I was not disappointed.

Il Bacio seems to be part of a growing chain in North London, and by the amount of people inside eating every time I have walked past. It seems to be a very prosperous one at that.

The menu is what you would expect to find in any tourist restaurant in Rome. It’s Italian for beginners really. It has all the favourites, the portions are big and the service is with a smile. Sometimes.

As I am still trying to find a decent pizza joint near to my house I wanted to give them a try. So I ordered the margherrita. If they can do that right then all is well in the world. Lina opted for the milanessa and specified no spaghetti. I am still mystified as to why they have as one of their sides, a portion of spaghetti. I mean who wants a portion of meat with some spaghetti. What is the world coming to? Is this how tourists eat in those crap restaurants in Italy you see?

I think Il Bacio get quite a few people asking for no spaghetti, as it was changed with no fuss with patate fritte. I.e. chips.

They have peroni on draft so I was happy, but kinda was wondering why there was a large flat screen TV on the far wall with MTV on it, but no sound.

My pizza came and had a tonne of gooey mozzarella, which was rather nice. The base was a tad hard but it was ok. It was nothing to write home about, or much to put in a blog about. So I’ll stop.

The milanessa baffled me. It was 4 small pieces of slightly burnt chunks of breaded chicken with some rather nice oven chips. Oh memories came flooded back of my teens where my mum hit those culinary heights. Oven chips and fried eggs. God how I miss the 80’s. She still has them now, I am sure of it. 

When the bill came, Lina almost flipped. They had charged her for the chips, instead of replacing them with the spaghetti. Amazingly she bit her lip, paid the bill and left. The manager called to us and said goodbye. She gave him a hard stare and a curt nod of her head in a way that in other circles would have meant a death sentence.

I’d only seen her act like that once before. It was in an Italian restaurant, well actually it was in Italy. It was not long after we got to know each other, and we found ourselves in Italy camping our way through the country. Shame we really had no money, as we ate pretty shit in those days.

In one restaurant in Rome, we had a good meal. Simple and nice. The bill came and it had il pane on it. Which means bread. But also as we found out about 10 years later, it means service charge or similar. Lina thinking and rightly so that they were charging us for the bread. She flipped. She gave that poor woman a torrent of abuse in Spanish. I’m not sure if she was understood as no move was made to take il pane off the bill. Actually she just stood there behind the counter and stared almost in disbelief at this crazy Latina going off on one.

It was kinda amazing really to see this woman kick off over a 2 euro charge. Needless to say we never went back, and I know for a fact we shall never venture into Il Bacio again. Damn as I kinda liked the naff pizza.

Garufa and Still Turning Down Baby Sitting Duties

The good thing about being away for 10 weeks, well apart form being away for 10 weeks, was getting to meet up with lots of people upon my return.

One of the first we met up with was Lina’s cousin, his soon-to-be-wife and their little or now not so little baby Emma. She had grown. Last time I saw her she was a tiny two month old insect. Now she is a large seven month old eating machine.

Her parents have taken on some new ideas to heart. They basically feed her what ever they are eating. And I mean anything.

I was joking when I suggested Garufa, saying that it was about time that she started on her first steak. Little did I realise that she was an old hand at this. I was disappointed that she hasn’t mastered the knife and fork yet, but she certainly showed her love of a lovely medium rare piece of steak.

After 10 weeks of eating really nothing but curries in one form or another. Ranging from those lovely south Indian fiery curries in Oman to the watery ones in Bhutan, I have been in craving everything but spiced food.

I’d been thinking a lot about Argentina as a friend was telling us spring had nearly arrived there and he was getting ready to wear his sandals everyday. To say Lina was slightly upset was an understatement. She is still clinging to summer like a crazed person.

But it got me thinking, and I got to craving milansesa. A dish that Gonzi had got me addicted to way back when in Buenos Aires. It was probably this that got me eating katsu curry in the Tokyo Diner the night before.

Obviously the katsu wasn’t enough for me and I wanted that milanesa in Garufa. I needed that milanesa.

We’d tried to eat at Garufa earlier this year, but it was a Friday or Saturday night and they were busy, and we hadn’t made a reservation. So we ate elsewhere. For some reason after that we never got round to going back, plus me being away on hotel inspections for 10 weeks. Well now we had an excuse.

The menu at Garufa is pretty standard Argentinean restaurant in London. They have their cuts of meats, bife ancho, bife de chorizo, lomo and cuadril. All these come with a side of salad or chips.

They also have their mixed parilla, which comes with an assortment of meats, sausages, black pudding and a portion of provolone cheese. A must for any parilla. Normally the provolone cheese is for the veggie that always turns up to an asado in someone’s house.

Ordering was pretty simple 3 bife de chorizo all medium rare, 2 side orders of chips, and my milanesa, which came with chips. Plus a pre order of provolone cheese, moron asado (grilled red peppers) and a couple of what turned out to be very dainty empanadas.

It’s took me a week or so to calm down over the empanadas. They were titchy, and I have to say not that good. The meat one lacked real flavour, plus it was fried. The locro (sweetcorn) one was just so so. The corn needed the creaminess of a Tucuman empanada. Plus as I said they were really small, and at £5 for two. Not very happy. I have to say Lina could and should make them for the restaurant. Hers are so much better. This was the low point of the meal.

The provolone cheese was really nice. It had been grilled over the coals and came in a dish to be shared, as all good food should be. Equally good were the peppers. Nicely charred and drowning in olive oil. Fantastic for the bread to soak it all up.

But the star of the show was the mains. My milanesa was a flattened rump that had been breaded and nicely fried was the size of my plate. The chips were knock down gorgeous. I wish some chippies would do chips this good. Lovely and crispy.

The steaks all 300 grams, were just awesome. Unfortunately I only got to eat a little, as my wife was enjoying hers too much to share. Even with me offering her vast quantities of Milanese. She wouldn’t budge. But I did get a small taste, and it was juicy and the taste of the charcoal came through in bounds.

Since I haven’t eaten a steak since god knows when, this was top of the shop by a long way. Prob the best since we left Argentina. Even better than the disappointing one we had in New York.  Actually that doesn’t count as we had it at Newark airport.

All in all it was a really good meal, and since we only live 5 minutes away up the hill I think Garufa is going to be on our list as our local. Especially as the have choripan for £5. Life is good huh?

The other star of the show was definitely Emma. Our 7 month old eating machine. The only thing she never ate was my milanesa, as she wasn’t willing to swap her steak with me. I’ve never witnessed a baby eat so much food, and none of it was puréed. I always pitied my nephews having to at that junk they were given as kids. These new fangled ideas on how to bring up babies seem to be pretty good.

We also seem to be pretty good at still managing to turn down baby sitting duties. I’m not so sure how many times we can claim that she is too small for us to look after. Emma will one day be forced upon us for the night. Until then we enjoying our baby free life.