1. THE
GreenwichVisitor November 2016 Page 17
we test old and new curry TAKEAWAYS
comedinewithcomedinewith
edited by
solangeberchEmin
I’vefoundan
Indianfeastthat
reallydelivers
DID you celebrate the 19th
National Curry Week last
month? There are way too many
daft diary dates nowadays for
my liking – do we really need
much encouragement when it
comes to Indian food?
Britain’s love affair with curry is
around a century old and there are
an estimated 10,000 curry houses
across the country. But, of course,
you don’t just go out for a curry.
It’s the classic delivery food.
Truth is the Indian restaurant
business is facing difficulties.
Standards seem to be slipping.
There is, apparently, a shortage of
chefs. And, frankly, you can make a
great curry at home with excellent
ingredients more widely available
than ever..
But we’re lucky to have many
good restaurants here, so we ought
to use them. In fact you may recall
we ran the Greenwich Curry Club
Awards. Always near the top were
places like Taste of Raj in
Blackheath and Gurkha’s Inn on
Colomb Street and The Coriander
in Westcombe Park.
Relative newcomers such as
Mountain View, in Trafalgar Road
and it’s near neighbour Pathiri are
a m o n g r e s t a u r a n t s b e i n g
recommended.
In fact, a restaurant in south
east London
has just been
named Asian
Restaurant of
the Year...
but I’m not
quite close
enough for
the Barbur, in
Brockley, to
deliver. So I
decided to try a couple in
IF you had the pleasure of devouring
a melted cheese toastie at
OnBlackheath from the Cheese
Truck you’ll be delighted to know
that owner Matthew Carver is
opening a cheese bar at Arch 12 of
Deptford Market Yard at the end of
this month. I’ll have mine with
Deptford Death Sauce, please!
Talking of cheese, I’ve had more
feedback from very happy
clients of All in A Pickle deli in
Westmount Road, Eltham. Send me
YOUR recommendations and ideas...
Greenwich Market’s Macmillan
Coffee Morning cake winner
took her inspiration from her
favourite childhood
b o o k . J e w e l l e r y
designer Abby Hering
– who runs Beadoir –
made a Greenwich-
t h e m e d s p o n g e
clock from a recipe in
her old Ladybird cook
book her mum gave
her when she was four years old!
With melted chocolate numbers,
whipped cream, cocoa ad lemon
filling, clementine and white
chocolate button edging it’s no
wonder it impressed judges including
top baker Paul Rhodes.
Th e V a n b r u g h T a v e r n i n
Greenwich has Yoga classes on
Saturday morning. Yes, Yoga!
Proceeds go to charities in Syria.
More bizarre food diary dates:
It’s National Peanut Fudge
Day on November 20. Make of
that what you will.
KASTURI:
Refined
flavours
Montpelier Row, Blackheath SE3 0RW
Tel: 020 8318 4321 Email: salesmanager@clarendonhotel.com
www.clarendonhotel.com
festive lunches
Join us for this seasonal menu served under a wonderful
Enjoy a 3 Course Festive Dinner with great artists.
Free bottle of ‘Les Boules’ wine between four
canopy of Christmas decorations in our Meridian Restaurant
Served 5th-24th December
2 Course £19.50 / 3 Course £25.00
Live Dinner Events
Aiden Kent rat
pack night
£45
7th December
the 'fli straughan'
soul experience
£45
1st December
tina t motown
experience
£45
22nd December
Be transported to the
classic era of the Las
Vegas Casino’s and
those unforgettable
great vocals all shaken
together like a heady
cocktail with some
breezy Bossa Nova’s
to stir the mix.
Passion, energy and a
velvety smooth voice
create the ‘experience’
performing inspiring
versions of the latest
and classic soul songs
– this night is a party
night, so don’t forget
your dancing shoes
An evening of authentic
Motown, featuring Ian
Ritchie on sax’,
including hits made
famous by Diana Ross
and The Supremes,
Mary Wells, Martha
Reeves, Gladys Knight
to name a few!
Solange Berchemin, writer and blogger,
is from Lyon, French capital of food,
and has lived in London since 1993.
Send food news to pebblesoup@gmail.
com. Read her blog at
www.pebblesoup.co.uk
the comfort of my own
home. Yes, it’s a tough life.
But who to call? A classic?
Or a new kids on the
block? I know...both!
Monday: Le Popadom in Greenwich
High Road. I’ve heard good things. Strangely
I couldn’t find a phone number, so I used Just
Eat. The courier arrived right on time but
never removed his or her helmet. Impersonal
service, you might say. The food was
reasonably priced. The Tandoori Mixed Grill
(£8.60) was slightly bland, the Lamb
Madras (£4.75) was a better option,
though the chilli-pepper was masking
the rest of the flavours. A Peshawari
Naan (£2.15) wasn’t very subtle and
there were two free popadoms. Verdict:
Nothing very wrong. But nothing that
stood out despite strong online
recommendations.
Tuesday: Kasturi, in Charlton village,
has moved here from the City of London
where it won awards and was ranked in
the UK’s Top 30 of the British Curry Awards.
It specialises in Pakthoon cuisine which
originates from the North West Frontier. I
called and discussed their relatively small
menu over the phone. My order was delivered
on time 30 minutes later by a man with a face.
The Lamb Madras (£6.95) was full of
refined flavours. Dal-Dera Ismail Khan
(£3.95) – black dal and herbs, cooked
on a charcoal fire and a new dish to
me which is always exciting – and
an excellent Chicken Tikka Masala
(£7.95) which no-one not bought
up around an Indian kitchen
could replicate. Verdict: The
best Indian take away I’ve
ever had. No kidding.