The Lemon Fool

melonfool wrote:... or it might be a day I'm at my new company's head office.

You must have expanded rapidly. I recall the days when your company was a one-woman band.

RececaDron wrote:Postscript - we went to Dishoom King's Cross while overnighting in the Metrop.

Pretty disappointing overall:
- Paneer Tikka (tasteless, tiny amount)
- House Black Daal (really not very nice; tasted like the free Chai they were giving us in the queue)
- Bhel (novel and quite nice)
- Pau Bhaji (veg curry very nice; buttered buns meh)
- Rotis (OK)
- Far Far (OK)
- Bowl of Greens (OK).

I often cook better stuff at home. Overall, 4/10 from me, 5/10 from my partner. Tough audience! Score lower than it might due to the sheer amount of @rsing around to get to the point of being able to eat, a wait that's not remotely warranted by the actual food.

NB with hindsight, probably didn't order that well.

I was very interested to read your experience there as my Indian friends assure me it is a genuine Indian outfit (not like 99% of "Indian" restaurants around my way that are actually Bangladeshi) so I had it on my list of places to try. I still might.

One of my girlfriends, sadly deceased, was ultra-enthusiastic about the Diwana Bhel Poori House on Drummond St. so I eventually visited the place. She told me to try the Bhel Poori starter and just about anything else. I did. It was absolutely fantastic. I have no idea whether it is Indian, Bangladeshi, or whatever else. The food was divine. I've tried to reverse-engineer the starter with limited success. I really, really must go back again. I've been a couple of times without disappointment. It is not romantic. The food is the feature.

I am in no way affiliated with the place.

http://www.diwanabph.com/

Regards,
Chris

My Dishoom comments look a bit harsh, but when expectations are set high, you've got to deliver the culinary 'goods'

As mentioned, our ordering was probably a bit ropey (we were attempting to load up on veg before entering France, which restaurant-wise, tends to be something of a veg-free zone!). The paneer was pretty rubbish and the black daal's sweet spicing really wasn't very pleasant, which to a dhal fan like me was a shock. The rest was fine, quite interesting, and some bits really nice.

The food quality didn't warrant the queueing outside then kicking our heels in the basement.

I used to live in the Metrop but left years ago and never really visit. I've recently been to Manchester's Indian Tiffin Room, which was a quite a lot better than Dishoom. But my fave place currently for spicy food is Manchester's Kabana, which is in the cafe/"eating station" mould. I've just managed to arrange a Christmas-ish-time train journey to detour via Manc just so I can load up on Kabana food!

I used to eat at Jai Krishna in Stroud Green, which was excellent. It appears to be still going, but this was when I lived in Crouch End, too many years ago to contemplate!

AleisterCrowley wrote:I used to eat at Jai Krishna in Stroud Green, which was excellent. It appears to be still going, but this was when I lived in Crouch End, too many years ago to contemplate!

I am usually more a fan of downmarket curry establishments, going back to my time as a student in Brum in the 1970s when I witnessed the birth of the balti first hand in Balsall Heath. Subsequently I moved up north and spent many happy lunchtimes in the likes of the Karachi Social Club in Bradford (curry plus all the chapatis you could eat for less than 2 quid).

More recently my curry sojourns to the capital have revolved around either Southall (Ritas, Brilliant or Omis) or the East End (Lahore Kebab House). I have eaten at Dishoom and really enjoyed it, went for an early lunch, no queues, ate outside on a sunny day. The brain curry was particularly good and we ordered so much food that the manager said he would give us our beers for free if we ate it all...we drank for free!

John

I've more or less gone off 'Indian' food (or rather the Bangladeshi/Pakistani UK interpretation thereof)
I'm sure there are some excellent ones around, but I tend to avoid the high street 'curry houses'.
I do like South Indian/Sri Lankan based on very limited experience, but would probably go for Thai or similar if pushed. Beef massaman ...mmm

AleisterCrowley wrote:I've more or less gone off 'Indian' food (or rather the Bangladeshi/Pakistani UK interpretation thereof)
I'm sure there are some excellent ones around, but I tend to avoid the high street 'curry houses'.
I do like South Indian/Sri Lankan based on very limited experience, but would probably go for Thai or similar if pushed. Beef massaman ...mmm

Not quite sure how you maintain your svelt physique what with your passion for all things culinary. C.

csearle wrote:Not quite sure how you maintain your svelt physique what with your passion for all things culinary. C.

Lots of (a)walking (b)worrying

Amyway, this is all rather o/t - soooooo....dates for TLF Autumn Social???

AleisterCrowley wrote:I used to eat at Jai Krishna in Stroud Green, which was excellent. It appears to be still going, but this was when I lived in Crouch End, too many years ago to contemplate!

I lived around the corner from there in the early 1980s and that was a staple of mine back then. It is indeed still there, or was the last time I walked by a few weeks ago. But I haven't eaten there in years.

Isn't the saying that the best Indian restaurant is the one that opened most recently?

AleisterCrowley wrote:Amyway, this is all rather o/t - soooooo....dates for TLF Autumn Social???

November?

PinkDalek wrote:

AleisterCrowley wrote:Amyway, this is all rather o/t - soooooo....dates for TLF Autumn Social???

November?

November ? That's practically bloody Christmas!