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Tag: london

January 28 2020

Sugo, Glasgow

finnieston, Food, Italian, PASTA alfiefoodwala, comfort food, edinburgh, glasgow, gourmet, italianfood, london, MICHELIN, PASTA, rustic, soho 0

Hey, Foodwala’s… Welcome to another tale of the gastronomic trials and tribulations of Alfie Foodwala.

As you well know I am a passionate walla, I am passionate about restaurants, Cars, and movies.

As an 80’s child, I grew up watching Spaghetti Westerns on the VHS video cassette with my Chacha Foodwala. I used to look forward to Wednesdays when my uncle would be off and we would watch Clint Eastwood do his silent hero thing or Lee Van Kleef doing his squinty-eyed stare.

Our favorite was a Fist Full Of Dollars, and my favorite scene was when our steely-eyed hero Cline Eastwood walks into the dusty town square and squares up to the oily baddies.

The boss baddiewala takes exception to Clint raining on his and his baddie pals parade and shoots Clint in the heart… like what the hell!!!

But Clint staggers but gets up, the baddiewala shoots him again, and he gets up again, he does that six times and Clint gets up seven times, so the old baddiewala is a little perturbed, to say the least. Not only that, he is losing face in front of his posse and that is itself is big-time baistee (embarrassment)

So Clint calmly as you please walks up to the baddiewala and utters the iconic words

“When a man with .45 meets a man with a rifle, you said, the man with a pistol’s a dead man. Let’s see if that’s true. Go ahead, load up and shoot.”

while all this is going on the tension is ratcheted up by the Ennio Morricone’s mournful music…. absolutely seminal.

We used to rewind this scene and watch it again and again.

Furthermore, this climactic scene further ingrained the sense of right and wrong and justice in me, more than lectures from school teachers and elders, who said movies were not educational.

As a fan of Spaghetti Westerns, I was over the moon when Sugo Pasta opened up.

We visited the restaurant on a cold wet January on the eve of blue Monday, the restaurant was packed and had a lovely relaxed atmosphere.

My fellow foodwala’s on this visit was Bakree Foodwalee and Montana Foddwalee

Spicy Cannelini beans with sunblush tomato
£3.50

We placed our pasta order with our friendly Italian waiter, and while the freshly cooked pasta was prepared we kicked off the proceedings with some sourdough bread dipped with Olive Oil and balsamic vinegar, and Spicy Cannelini beans, the bread was delicious and chewy.

The Cannelini went well with the sun-dried tomatoes and the bread.

Definitely a good start.

Tagliolini with pesto, green beans, and potato
£6.00

Next up was the pesto Tagliolini, Tagliolini is a thin version of Tagliteli

The Pasta Tagliolini was absolutely delicious, the creamy pesto with potatoes and green beans was a revelation, the pasta was cooked al dente and the pesto sauce was a masterpiece.

Spinach and ricotta ravioli with sage butter
£9.00

The Ravioli was fabulous, little pillows of cheesy spinach with a thin pasta casing, the hot sage butter was poured over the ravioli.

It was outstandingly delicious in its simplicity.

Rigatoni with san marzano & fresh baby plum tomato sugo
£6.00

In other words, Margherita Pasta, but I am not doing it justice, the Tomato Sauce (Sugo) was tangily sweet with a hue of fresh olive oil (Evoo), simple and again delicious, the Rigatoni was lovely and chewy.

Squid ink Spaghetti with baby squid ragu and lemon pangrattato
£9.00

The squid ink spaghetti was subtle yet bursting with flavour, the baby squid ragu was wonderfully crafted with sun-dried tomatoes and evoo, the Lemon pangrattato is basically lemon-infused breadcrumbs.

Overall the dish had a very subtle flavour of the sea but no one ingredient was overpowering.

Tagliarini with olive oil, garlic, chilli & pangrattato
£5.00

This was the simplest dish on the menu, it had a slight hint of chill

In Conclusion.

The pasta at Sugo was simply delicious, the menu was innovative and highlighted each area of Italy, each dish was executed with care and finesse

The service was efficient and friendly. The waiter was Italian and added to the enjoyment of the experience, the chefs were also Italian.

Top marks for the effort

A carb lovers Paradiso

Honorable Mention

In my opinion, Sugo was above excellent, yet slightly behind the superstar pasta restaurants likes of Padella in Borough Market, London and Enoteca de Luca in Old Street London and Officina 00

Halal Rating

The Beef is certified NOT HALAL,

Alcohol is served at the restaurant

Pork is on the menu

January 17 2020

Hankies Brasserie @ The Montcalm Hotel, London

Food, Indian, indian food, london, mayfair, pakistani food alfiefoodwala, business, chicken tikka masala, glasgow, gourmet, london, MICHELIN, rustic 0

61 Upper Berkeley St, Marylebone, London W1H 7PP

Hey Foodwala’s… welcome to another episode of the trials and tribulations of Alfie Foodwala

Hankie

[ han-kee ]

noun

a gentlemen’s folded handkerchief

2. Hankie Roti also known as Rumali roti also called Manda is a thin flatbread originating from India and Pakistan, popular in Punjab Pakistan and India. It is eaten with tandoori dishes. The word rumal means handkerchief in many north Indian languages, and the name rumali roti means handkerchief bread. In Punjab

Sometimes you can get a most memorable meal in the unlikeliest of locations, I was with my grandfather in the deepest darkest Muridwala and my grandfather had just taken delivery of his latest Toyota Carolla.

The car had a slight defect and we decided to take the car to the closest Toyota dealership, which was in Faisalabad, on the way we picked up Uncle Taj, who had one of the biggest bus companies in Pakistan and was a complete petrolhead.

We arrived at the dealership and in his inimitable way uncle Taj marched up to the dealer principles office, past a protesting secretary and office boys and barged into his office, the startled man looked up and was going to complain when Uncle Taj throws the keys at him and harangues him for selling him such a terrible product.

The manager scurried to his service department and told the engineers to stop all work and give my grandfather’s car priority.

But with the engineers and other staff, he was kind and courteous

He explained that to get the true measure of a person look at the way he treats the waiting staff and other services people.

The staff, in turn, appreciated the way Uncle Taj stood up to the hated dealer principle and invited us to eat lunch at the staff canteen.

As we stepped into the staff canteen we were treated to a cacophony of scraping chairs and animated conversation and the aroma of spices.

The chef brought over some chicken curry and romali roti, honestly, it was one of the best meals I have had, the chicken was lovely and tender and the accompanying broth was thin yet incredibly flavorsome. we dipped the fresh hot romali roti into the gravy and it was sublime.

The chef would keep an eye on our plates and topped up the hot shorba when it was going low and the roti wala would come over with hot roti, the meal was absolutely delicious yet so simple.

The romali roti can only be made by a true artisan and has to be whirled over his head to make it so thin it is like a silk handkerchief.

The Hankies restaurant is situated in the exclusive Montcalm Hotel in Marylebone Village, it was an elegant room with dark woods and leather giving a clubby feel.

The pleasant waitress first brought over the amuse-bouche, which was an intensely flavoursome vegetable soup, it had an incredible depth of flavour for something so small.

The Mantu Chat was first up, steamed chicken momo’s or as Hankies grandly called it chicken ravioli in a chili oil yogurt dressing and topped with lentil salsa.

this was a very unusual and innovative chat, the momo was soft and flavoursome and the chili yogurt was equally smooth and subtle, the lentils in the salsa was on the raw side of Al Dente, but altogether it was pleasant.

The Chili lamb chops are the signature elements of the Hankies Menu as well as the Romali Roti, The lamb chops were marinaded in ajwain and chili, although the marinading was spot on the flavour was not a million miles from the lamb chops from a standard curry shop.

The chop itself was fatty in some bits to a point that it was difficult to bite through.

The main event was the Handi Gosht with Romali Roti, the lamb was cooked in a clay pot (handi), the lamb was cooked to perfection, the lamb was soft and tender and the spices were cooked through without overpowering the lamb.

The thick rich gravy was on the right side of spiciness and was sublime, scooped up with the romali roti it was delicious, the lamb was tender enough for the delicate romali roti to pull apart.

In Conclusion.

The food at Hankies was definitely above average, the menu was innovative without showing, yet the signature lamb chops were average in my humble opinion.

The service was efficient and friendly.

Honorable Mention

In my opinion, Hankies was above average, yet behind the superstar, restaurants likes of Gymkhana and Indian Accent in London and Opheem in Birmingham

Halal Rating

The Lamb and Chicken are both verbally certified HALAL, the Goat is not halal

Alcohol is served at the restaurant

No Pork is on the menu

December 30 2019

Bertie’s Fish & Chips, Edinburgh

Food alfiefoodwala, business, citycentre, comfort food, edinburgh, fast food, fish and chips, haddock, london 0

Hey, Foodwala’s… I am back from my travels, I was in Baku, Dubai, Lahore, Karachi, Beijing, and Singapore and I had quite an adventure, no doubt I will regale you of my eating adventures in future blogs.

I was in the Instagram friendly streets of the old town Edinburgh and some crazy Instagrammers were standing in the middle of the busy street searching for the perfect picture.

“Fur Coat nae knickers” came to mind, in a nutshell this means that Instagrammers are risking life and limb to post a perfect picture, irrespective of the cost and context of the post.

Everything has to look good, Instagram is distorting reality, which in turn is causing a race to the bottom.

Much like Edinburgh itself, It looks nice enough but under the surface its an unfriendly soulless place, whereas on the other hand, Glasgow is the exact opposite, it may not be as Instagram friendly as Edinburgh but it is warm friendly welcoming.

It’s amazing how much difference 50 miles makes.

Another difference between Glasgow and Edinburgh is how people eat their Fish and Chips, in Glasgow and for that matter the rest of the civilised world, Fish and Chips are eaten with salt and malt vinegar, however in Edinburgh, they eat it with salt and sauce, so what is this sauce that the people of Edinburgh so proudly eat.

Apparently it is diluted HP brown sauce! and even the sauce is made in Glasgow, the sauce was a failure in Glasgow but a huge success in Edinburgh.

Fur Coat nae knickers indeed.

Bertie’s Fish and Chips
9 Victoria St,
Edinburgh
EH1 2HE

We decided to visit the newly opened and biggest fish and chip shop in the United Kingdom, Bertie’s, they apparently serve proper fish and chips.

The restaurant is in an old church and again insanely Instagram friendly, will it live up to its claims?

We kicked off the proceedings with Bertie’s house Fish Pie, the moist fish and prawns were in a white sauce and topped with mashed potato and cheddar crumble, the pie was I felt under-seasoned however the ingredients were nice and fresh.

It was served piping hot with twice-cooked fries and was perfect for the cold outside.

Next up was Bertie’s signature battered haddock and chips, the haddock was fresh, moist, flakey and meaty and the batter was crispy on the outside and wee bit soft inside, we requested our Fish and Chips be cooked in vegetable oil.

The fish was very adequate but it was debatable if it was better than Catch Fish and Chips in Glasgow.

We also opted for the Breaded Haddock and chips, the breadcrumb coated fish was served with delicious creamy mash potatoes, The fish itself was perfectly adequate.

In Conclusion.

Bertie’s was perfectly adequate, not sensational but not bad either, it did what it said on the tin without any fanfare, the location was most definitely beautiful and had a lovely cheery festive feel to the restaurant.

The service was efficient and friendly.

In my opinion Catch in Glasgow pipped Bertie’s in the food stakes.

Halal Rating

Fish and Chips are cooked in Beef dripping, but Halal fish and chips can be requested and are cooked in a separate vegetable oil fryer and avoid cross-contamination.

September 10 2019

Caffe Parma, Glasgow

Food, Italian, PASTA, Provençal alfiefoodwala, comfort food, glasgow, italianfood, london, mediterranean, PASTA, pizza, rustic 0

Hey, Foodwala’s… Welcome to another tale of Alfie Foodwala

The Summer of 1963… I was a twinkle in Papa Foodwala’s eye yet it was an important year for me… how so you may ask incredulously, let me indulge myself and i will explain all.

It was the summer of 63 when Papa Foodwala saved up enough money from working 2 jobs, 7 days a week, 20 hours a day to open his first restaurant.

One evening he was returning from one of his jobs when he walked past the Fionda Oil Company in Gibson Street, as he walked past he spotted old Mr. Fionda sitting at his desk, so Papa Foodwala decided to pop in and say and pay his respects.

Mr. Fionda was the old school Italian gentlemen, who always wore a waistcoat, shirt, and tie and baggy corduroy trousers, Mr. Fionda started to ask what my dad was doing etc and the conversation turned to their mutual favorite subject…food.

The old man opened a box and offered my dad a freshly baked Cannoli, baked by none other than nonna Fionda that afternoon.

Eating the Cannoli Mr. Fionda regaled dad with tales of the motherland, the passion of the people, the love for their food, the history, the matriarchal mommas and nonnas.

Mr. Ali discovered that the Italians had so much in common with Pakistanis, they also were passionate people who loved to argue, who loved to eat and loved their mommas and held a grudge for a long time.

The unlikely friendship developed and eventually, Mr. Fionda decided to sell his shop to dad and the rest is history.

Another legendary Scottish Italian gentlemen who came to Scotland at the same time as for Fionda was Mr. Giovanazzi who opened the La Parmigiana restaurant on Great Western Road, This week we decided to visit his son’s restaurant, also a seasoned restauranteur in Hyndeland, Caffe Parma.

On this occasion, i was accompanied by Rarri and Bakree Foodwala’s, we visited on a Sunday afternoon and the restaurant was busy with late Sunday lunch crown, a mix of parents with tennis mad children and Hooray Henrietta’s who were braying and laughing a touch too loud, possibly well oiled with Prosecco.

we kicked off the proceeding with Focaccia Rosmarino, the focaccia was delicious and subtly crispy and topped with Italian cheese and rosemary, a promising start.

I opted for the Rissoto with Pan-seared King Prawns, the risotto is a dish that can only be cooked by a master as the tolerances are so fine, The perfect risotto should be al dente yet the consistency should be that when you wriggle the dish the risotto should move yet hold its consistency, In my opinion, the risotto was in the dry side and the rice was a tad north of al dente.

The Spaghetti with prawns was simple in its execution yet full of subtle flavour. Pellegrino Artusi, one of the great cookery writers, wrote that flavourings should not be detected; they should only be a gentle foil.

The Pizza was also simple, roasted peppers with sugo, pesto, and chicken, the crust was thin and crispy, however, the base was slightly soft and soggy, all in all it was pleasant.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, Caffe Parma showed its pedigree, the food was delicious and fresh and the restaurant had a nice relaxed vibe to it, The service was a little distracted and laissez-faire, it would have bothered me if the other parts of the experience were careless.

All in all a pleasant Sunday afternoon with my Foodwalee daughters.

Halal Rating

The Chicken is Halal

November 15 2018

Padella, London

Food, london, PASTA BOROUGH MARKET, HIPSTER, italianfood, london, mediterranean, PADELLA, PASTA 0

Hey, Foodwala’s welcome to another tale of Alfie Foodwala.

This week yours truly was asked to judge the SPICE restaurant awards, so I will be traveling the length and breadth of our fair land eating at restaurants who have spice as their common element.

Anyway, I was again down in London this week and as I was flying down on British Airways I found myself reading the M&S inflight food booklet and I noticed to my amusement they were selling courgette spaghetti and other veg based pasta knockoffs.

I pointed this out to my Italian friend sitting next to me and his expression was akin to someone putting diesel in a Ferrari 250 GT California, In other words, it was sacrilege of the highest order.

He said in his expressive Roman Italian that the vegetable pasta “could not touch the cloth” of the flour and water concoction and the vegetable pasta was invented by some clever marketing people paid by the vegetable industry to arrest the decline in sales of vegetables by rebranding vegetables for the fickle and fad are driven health food market.

he said no self-respecting nonna would ever contemplate serving this to her brood.

To further emphasise this point I decided to go to a Pasta cafe run by Artisan pastawalas, I walked up to Padella and noticed people waiting outside the restaurant, from where I could see it just looked like a few folks so I decided to join the wait, however, I followed the hungry queue and it went theme park style well into Borough Market.

I decided to wait and 30 minutes later I was shown to our places overlooking the bar.

The menu is only small, six antipasti and ten pasta dishes.

This Tuscan Gnudi Gnocchi was an expert blend of steamed potato and semolina dumplings finished with creamy nutmeg butter and black pepper, simple yet delicious.

Tagliarini, Dorset crab, chili and Lemon
£11.50

The thin ribbon-like pasta was tossed with soft flaked Dorset Crabmeat and dried red chili and zest of Lemon.

This was absolutely delicious, the subtle flavour of the soft shell crab was complemented by the parmesan and the lemon acidity helped balance the opposing flavour elements.

In other words, posh mac and cheese but this was like no other mac and cheese I have tasted, the worm-like pasta was chewy and the cheese and black pepper sauce was simple yet delicious.

In conclusion, It is what rustic Italian food should be, simple yet delicious where the ingredients are the symphony and the chef is the conductor. The pasta concept was unremarkable yet the execution was exceptional.

The service was friendly and simple, they took the order, put the full plate in front of me and took the empty away, simple like Padella.

September 27 2018

Darjeeling Express, London

emirates, Food, indian food, pakistani food asma khan, chefs table, darjeeling express, london, netflix, soho 0

Top Floor,
Kingly Court
Soho, London
W1B 5PW

Hi Foodwala’s… Welcome to another tale of Alfie Foodwala.

I have always wondered where the oft-used term

“Standing on the shoulders of giants” came from.

Funnily enough, it originates from a 12th Century thinkerwala, John of Salilbury who said…

“We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours.”

in a nutshell what it alludes to is what we achieve more and further by building on the achievements of previous great and influential people.

Why is this relevant?

let me indulge…

I was on another of Alfie Foodwala’s famous wanderings in the big smoke and I stumbled on Darjeeling Express, the story of Darjeeling Express and particularly the chef patron Asma Khan is very interesting, Ms Khan who is actually a lawyer loved food and cooking so much she started to cook for her friends at home and one thing led to another and that evolved to supper clubs and manifested itself into a restaurant as she outgrew her dining room.

Asma Khan, caught the attention of Chefs Table on Netflix and rest is as we say… history.

As with the case with Avant Garde chefs, they look down and downplay the achievements of the great men and women who came to the UK in the 60’s and 70’s and opened restaurants on what can only be said in very hostile and challenging market conditions.

However, it was refreshing to hear Asma giving the early pioneers credit in making her journey easier and how she is indeed was “standing on the shoulder of giants” and in particular reference to Mr Ali of the Shish Mahal who first invented the Chicken Tikka Masala.

The dining room of Darjeeling Express is compact, it feels intimate without feeling claustrophobic

We kicked off the proceedings with some pre appetiser, Dahi Vada.

Dahi Vada is a street food snack originated in the Indian subcontinent and is medallions of fried Urid Dall fritters topped with sweet creamy buffalo yoghurt and topped with roasted spices, Sev(fried chickpea noodles) and in my case, I prefer it Punjabi style so with some chopped green chillies.

The Dahi Vada was delicious and light with the clear tasting of the individual elements, if cooked with a less delicate hand it can be stodgy and unappetising.

These King Prawns were heavenly, the Prawns were cooked without making them rubbery, even although they were out of the shell, the Prawns were sauteed in garlic and dried chilli tarka

the flavour notes were fantastic, subtle smokiness with a slight sweet afternote.

The venison Kofta was indeed a novel take on Kofta.

The Venison was rich and earthy with a slightly sweet nutty taste, possibly from the diet of the deer, the Shikar Masala shorba was subtle, delicate, smooth and rich and perfectly seasoned.

The second indulgence was the Lamb Keema with Spinach Leaf and ground Talichery Black Pepper…one word Yummy

The mince was moist yet not greasy it was light without being under seasoned.

In Conclusion, Ms Khan has disrupted without being a disruption, her take on her native Calcutta was heartwarming, her team of all female chefs was groundbreaking, the subtleness of the female hand was evident in the cooking.

I had an amazing afternoon having my taste buds teased and tantalised.