Indian Cookbook

Last week I was invited to Moti Mahal, an Indian restaurant in Covent Garden, for an Indian cookery masterclass followed by dinner. The occasion was to mark the publication of a new Indian cookbook, aptly named ‘India Cookbook’. Published by Phaidon Press, the book is authored by food writer Pushpesh Pant following twenty years of research across the gastronomic regions of India.

The book is divided into various chapters covering Spices, Mixtures and Pastes; Pickles, Chutneys and Raitas; Snacks and Appetisers, Main Dishes; Breads; Desserts and Drinks. There is also a Guest Chef section containing signature dish contributions from a number of well regarded Indian chefs from around the world. London chefs include Anirudh Arora from Moti Mahal (host of our dinner), Alfred Prasa from Michelin starred Tamarind, and Vivek Singh from Cinnamon Club.

The book contains 1,000 recipes and is beautiful to look at. Traditional Indian rice bags provided the inspiration for the book cover, and the photographs showcase a range of delicious looking dishes in technicolour.

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The thing that has always put me off about going to Barrafina, a Spanish tapas restaurant owned by Sam and Eddie Hart (the brothers who also own Quo Vadis and Fino), is the fact that you have to queue for a seat. Whenever I’ve walked into Barrafina and asked them about the waiting time, the standard response has always been 40-45 minutes. This is why I have never eaten at the restaurant even though it has been opened for a number of years.

Well I finally decided to brave the queue. Even with an early 6.15pm arrival, the wait still ended up being an hour, the boredom of which was alleviated only by the fact that you can order drinks as you stand in line. By the time we were seated, not only was I starving, I was also a little irritable after having stood for so long. But eating at Barrafina made it all worth while. It was like an epiphany, and I now understand why the crowds come back again and again and endure this exercise in patience. It’s simply because the food is so damn good.

To get us going were ham croquetas (2 for £3.50). The filling was made up of a decadent, runny béchamel sauce with ham that oozed deliciously as you broke into the crispy breadcrumb casing. These were scrumptious. Gambas al ajillo (£7.70), prawns with garlic, were moist, tasty and aromatic from the garlic.

Ham croquetas & garlic gambas

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I like Dean Street Townhouse. My last meal there (to read about that meal, click here) was very enjoyable and it’s the kind of place I’d happily go to again and again. I was especially looking forward to trying the grouse that I had spotted on their menu. Not that many restaurants in London serve grouse even when it’s in season, so it’s a bit of a treat.

To start was a soused Cornish mackerel with sea purslane (£9). As one would expect, there were wonderful vinegary properties to the fish, similar to what you would find in the Scandinavian pickled varieties. The accompanying purslane, tapenade and wafer-thin crisp breads worked well with the mackerel, although this dish didn’t feel particularly autumnal. But it was great if pickled fish is your thing.

Soused Cornish mackerel with sea purslane

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Having recently gone to Polpo and enjoyed it, I couldn’t wait to try its recently opened sister restaurant, Polpetto. Perched on top of the legendary Soho pub, The French House, it is a tiny imitation of its bigger sister. Not only is the dining room smaller, the décor, with its hole in the wall look, is more subdued and relaxed. Unlike Polpo, Polpetto doesn’t come with its own bar area, so I can only guess that those waiting for tables must do so in the pub downstairs.

The menu is similarly designed to Polpo’s – barcaro type eating at reasonable prices. We started with several items from the cicheti (small bites) section. Our first choice was the duck and porcini meatballs (£1.50 each) which were divine. Packed full of rich duck and porcini flavour, the only slight drawback was that I got too much black pepper in one particular mouthful as the seasoning hadn’t been evenly dispersed throughout the meat. The meatballs came out piping hot – so hot in fact that it made me wonder if they had been microwaved before serving.

Duck & porcini meatballs

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I’ve been past a Polpo a few times, and the queues have always deterred me from going. The restaurant operates a no-reservations policy during dinner time which means if you want a table, you have to go early, wait or get lucky. So I decided to try my hand at turning up at 6.30 to see if I could avoid the queue. But alas, it was to no avail. A 45 minute wait ensued, and I have to say, it wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences. First, the bar is tiny with barely any standing space. Second, there were already loads of people waiting, which made the tiny space seem claustrophobic. Third, we were told we weren’t allowed to wait outside with drinks even though some people did. And finally, to make an unbearable situation worse, our drinks (a glass of proseco and coke) weren’t cold. The coke hadn’t been refrigerated, although we did get a glass of ice to go with it. Hmmm.

But when we finally did get a table, I found the food to be quite delightful and the prices reasonable. Polpo is a Venetian style Bacaro with tapas-style dining. We started with some chopped chicken liver crostini (£1.50 each) which was rich with the flavour of pure liver. This was very tasty but it could have done with a little acidity to cut the richness.

Chicken liver crostini

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Selection of breads

21 Romilly Street was previously the home of Richard Corrigan’s Lindsay House, a restaurant that I enjoyed immensely and preferred much more than his current venture, Corrigan’s. But whilst I liked the food, I was never enamoured with the building itself. A 4-storey Soho townhouse, it is narrow and tiny. Lindsay House closed last May, and the site was taken over by Alexis Gauthier, who recently left his post as head chef at one Michelin starred Roussillon. I believe the reasons for the move are complex, but from what I could gather from our waiter, Alexis now becomes proprietor as well as chef. This is a serious move as he took his sommelier from Roussillon to Gauthier Soho as well.

The dining room is sparsely finished, and with the all-white walls, the space feels formal and stiff. I also found the acoustics ill-judged. Early on in the evening, with only 3 seated tables, the room was deadly quiet. This meant that S and I ended up whispering. Girlie gossip is not something that you necessarily want to share with strangers. Later on, when the restaurant became busier and noisier, we struggled to be heard.

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My first impression of the recently opened Hix Soho, the latest offering from celebrity chef Mark Hix on Brewer St, was that it didn’t have a door. If you’ve been to the restaurant you’ll probably understand what I mean. But it obviously does as there were people inside – I could see them – but how they got in was a bit of a mystery to me. Inquiries made of the smokers standing outside the restaurant revealed that the door was in fact the colossal piece of wood (very tall and very wide) with no door handle anchored near the Hix sign. But no amount of pushing would budge it. “You need to push harder” the smokers advised. Obviously all those body pump classes at the gym hadn’t helped. I duly pushed harder and finally the behemoth gave. Clearly, you need some muscles to eat at Hix Soho.

But once I got in, I discovered to my delight that the place looked absolutely fab. Glamorous mirrors with an art deco touch line the length of the elegant bar which stands along one side of the room. The restaurant is finished in black and white, the tables are made from a warm walnut, and the lighting is fantastic. It’s soft, cozy and sexy, all at the same time. Only the various bits of ‘art’ hanging from the ceilings seem a bit odd. I couldn’t work out what they are meant to represent, although I am sure they are very expensive. This place dazzled and no doubt it’s been designed to cater to the well-heeled clientele.

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Roast beef

I have long wanted to try Sonny’s. It’s one of those restaurants in South West London (Barnes) that is well liked by the locals and holds a steady reputation as a pretty decent venue. Ed Wilson of Terroirs use to cook there, so it’s churned out some notable chefs. I’ve booked to go there before, but for one reason or another have never quite made it. So it was not without irony that we ended up at Sonny’s on this occasion purely by chance – when the first restaurant we went to around Richmond way was booked out, and the second one we tried to find a table at stopped serving Sunday lunch at 2pm.

But it was my fault that we were so late. After having been homeless for about six weeks after getting back from my summer trip, I finally moved into my new flat a couple of weeks ago. It therefore seemed opportune when arranging to meet up with some guy friends who I invited around to check out my new pad before we headed out for lunch, that I may as well get them to help me move some furniture around. And then it seemed like another good idea to ask them to help me with those mysterious problems that I always seem to have with certain electronic devices, eg, the TV. When all was done and it was 2:15pm, I was not only starving but ever so grateful that we finally found a restaurant that would accommodate us

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