Eat Like Ushi

After searching for several years and failing to find a decently rated Uyghur restaurant in London, suddenly there were two. I had read about Silk Road but it sounded like a Chinese restaurant that had Uyghur dishes rather than an Uyghur restaurant itself. Chance would have it that I would come across this article by Fuchsia Dunlop, the UK chef who allowed me to cook Sichuan food at home. And good fortune means that I trust her reviews for all things around here (https://london.eater.com/2018/2/22/17039556/etles-london-first-authentic-uyghur-restaurant).

Etles in Walthamstow and Dilara in Finsbury Park shot to the top of the to-try list. Etles was the first one for me and we went with friends of whom one is from Yili, the same town in Xinjiang as the owners/chefs of Etles.

- Da pan ji (chicken, bell peppers, potatoes, garlic, ginger, soya sauce, herbs, homemade pasta) £30 for big plate - mild flavour, quite nice;
- Lagman (freshly handmade Uyghur pasta, stirfried beef) £9 - also mild flavour and probably needed more spice for me;
- Uyghur sis kabab (lamb marinated with special recipe) £2 each - delicious tender and fatty proper lamb kebab with lots of salt and cumin;
- Lamb kidney kebab £4 each - really good with a characteristic kidney texture and flavour. Delicious.

Unfortunately they didn't have polo (rice) that day. I also read they had samsa but it wasn't on the menu, and I was really keen for this after the great Uzbek food in Russia. They didn't mention it - until I saw another table receive them at the end of our meal - oh, it isn't on the menu but you can ask for it. Alright, give me one. Sorry, they ordered the last ones. Great.

I liked the food overall. Both kebabs had the most flavour, but all dishes were good to me. Our friends said that the kebab was better at Etles, but the other dishes were better at Dilara. I'll have to compare them myself.

Another new opening in London and this one representing the food of Sicily. It's on my Mediterranean to-do list, but up until that point I'll have to settle for this gourmet restaurant. I was lucky enough to be there for the soft opening, otherwise the prices are definitely on the high side. And the cocktails were around the £12-14 mark to match. Oh well.

I perused the menu and was thrilled to come across raw red prawns. Could they be as good as the remarkable red prawn from Denia? (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/quique-dacosta-denia-09-2013). I would have to find out.

- Red prawns, rosemary, orange £15 - the highlight of the meal was a soft creamy thing with strong brains in the head. Perfect and excellent;
- Cherrystone clam, saffron, shallot pickle £4ea - they had some huge clams on view but we were served moderate sized ones. These were quite strong (a lot of the liquid had been drained I think) and there was a bit of chew to them. Good but not as much as the ones at Richard Haward in Borough;
- West Mersea oyster, salted capers, fennel oil £4.5ea - this time I preferred the oyster to clam topped with some capers that accentuated the flavour rather than to over-salinise it;
- Saffron arancini, wild mushrooms, parmesan £11 - a perfectly cooked crisp golden sphere of mushroom goodness;
- Panfried violet artichokes, pine nut puree £10 - the artichokes were soft and presented almost like lamb cutlets. The slight char was nice. The puree was ok although I had to look at the menu to see what the base was (pine nut flavour wasn't that strong);
- Norma aubergine parmigiana £18 - a decent serve of very lightly seasoned but very flavoursome grilled vegetables and topped with cheese and on a bechamel (or similar) sauce. Like a lasagna almost;
- Rose veal chop, black cabbage with lemon and anchovy marsala sauce £31 - cooked to a nice medium-rare pink, the meat was reasonably soft and tender and full of flavour and juice. The cavolo nero had been a bit overwilted and too salty though;
- Slow-cooked cherries, almond milk pannacotta, cherry sorbet £8 - refreshing with an excellent pannacotta for taste and texture;
- Norma house sundae (honey gelato, orange flower water, slow cooked figs, ricotta, raisins) £8 - a mix of textures and flavours which was alright, but a bit confused I thought.

The prawns lived up to my hopes. The other things accompanied well. It would be expensive to go back. I'll have to consider.

When a vegan friend visited from Australia, I thought Berber & Q (or Shawarma Bar) would be a good bet particularly for the roast cauliflower. However her veganism was going to be thankfully more liberal during the trip and so suddenly the options opened up. Oddly enough Shawarma Bar still ended up being chosen due to proximity and mixed options. However sadly for a non-reservations place, on this Thursday at 8pm the wait for 3 was going to be at least 1 hour.

Hmmm. The only other things along Exmouth Market on my list are Moro/Morito. After quickly scanning the street for not much and seeing that those two places were also very full, I thought I'd try my luck for the wait at Morito. There was a table right at the back available. How perfect is that.

The Moorish/African-inspired tapas reads wonderfully with so many great options to share. Between 3 reasonably hungry people, 6 dishes was enough with plenty of satisfaction.

- Flatbread £2.5 - wispy bread perfect for scooping up EVOO, the spice mixes (salt, za'atar, sumac, mild chilli);
- Spiced lamb, aubergine, pomegranate, pine nuts £8.5 - a beautiful classic mix of flavours and colours on a plate of aubergine yoghurt;
- Croquetas (salt cod) £3.25 each - shell flavour was nice but only mildly crisp. Insides were ok. The ones in Lisbon were a lot better;
- Octopus & pisto £9.5 - tender pieces of grilled octopus on stewed vegetables;
- Chicharrones (slow roasted pork belly, lemon, cumin) £8 - wow this was phenomenal. Crisp skin, not too much leftover fat, warming earthy flavours, outstanding. Picked by the vegan and adored the most;
- Crispy aubergine, whipped feta, date molasses £8 - soft aubergine chips charred and topped with an unusual feta sauce and mint.

Excellent dishes, all good flavours, showing the perfect Spanish and Middle Eastern crossover.

Smoking Goat has been on my London eating list for a very long time. Time passed by and so did the closing of the original restaurant in Soho, including my missing out on free offer of fish sauce chicken wings to the lucky last. It took a late night birthday to end up here and without a reservation the wait for 2 at 8.45pm on a Sunday bank holiday was only 20-30mins. Not too bad I say.

I've missed decent modern Thai food and in my mind the benchmark is still Longrain (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/longrain-melbourne-01-2017). I wonder if Nahm Bangkok will compare, but that's a while away and Nahm London didn't excite me.

It's a pretty busy place on the corner of Shoreditch High Street. Sitting at the bar allowed us to watch the 2 bartenders mixing drinks and serving ice cream. The staff are attentive, friendly and pleasant. Unfortunately despite the name, there was no goat on the menu. I know Soho had it on the normal menu and I thought this branch had it (or used to) on the banquet menu. The waitress said something about the menu changing regularly and the quality of goat at the moment. Not sure.

Drinks were Sorrow, Tears & Blood £4.5 described as Bloody Mary with beer. Gee that tasted bad. Each to their own. Celestial Blues (mezcal, lychee, butterfly pea flower, egg white) £9.5 was pleasant but there wasn't much smokiness in the drink. I think I'd go for the rum cocktails next time.

- Steamed oyster, roasted chilli, fried shallots £3.5 each - this dish is a serious waste of time. The oyster was so small there was no oyster flavour and barely any texture. It was smothered in fried shallots and the taste was this alone;
- Smoked aubergine salad with chilli & egg £6.8 - lots of bird's eye chillies dotted the plate with pieces of charred aubergine flesh creating a slightly smokey salad in a fish sauce base. You could choose how much fire you wanted from how many pieces of chilli to chew on;
- Smoked brisket & bone marrow massaman curry £14.5 - a remarkably excellent curry full of deep savoury flavour, although it could have used more brisket. The presence of smoked chillies also helped the flavour along;
- Smoked lamb ribs with pickles £24 - delicious lamb ribs (a bit fatty but not excessive) with reasonably crisp skin, extremely soft meat and littered with herbs, jalapeños, bird's eye chillis and some smoked chilli;
- Sticky rice £1.25 each - sticky rice but plain. I thought it may have some coconut or pandan, but I suppose not for that price;
- Coconut ice cream, plantain, lime & condensed milk £4.5 - two thick creamy coconut icecream balls sat on condensed milk with lime squeezed and plantain chips on top. I didn't like the chips that much, but the other 3 ingredients were harmonious.

Altogether other than the oysters, it was an excellent meal full of flavour and left me wanting to come back. I particularly liked their smoked interpretation of Thai food and the different types of (particularly Mexican) chillies in the dishes. I definitely need to try the fish sauce chicken wings next time and the lamb laab. I can't wait.

During the (now quite long ago) trip to India, the best Indian restaurant in New Delhi was noted to be likely either Indian Accent or Varq (for modern), Dum Pukht or Bukhara (for traditional). All sounded great and in the end I chose Varq (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/varq-delhi-01-2015) and Bukhara (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/bukhara-delhi-01-2015). Indian Accent is actually #60 in The World's Top 50 restaurants for 2019 and #17 in the Asia list.

Fate would have it that several years later Indian Accent would open a London branch in the expensive curry area of Mayfair alongside Gymkhana and others I haven't been able afford yet.

Indian Accent is certainly no cheap one either, but a special occasion meant that the price would have to come second to me getting one long term place off my eating list. Interestingly enough the clientele was unexpectedly Indian for the most part. However there were also some rich obnoxious loud Greek men with their much younger females. The waiter apologised but it's not his fault some people have too much money.

The cocktail Green chilli sour (hari mirch infused tequila, lemon oleo saccharum, mezcal) £13 was perfect. A drink with decent alcohol, smoke, chilli and a bit of tart/tang for balance. Really excellent.

Amuse bouche of a cheese stuffed naan and a delicious shot of spiced pumpkin soup started proceedings.

- Tofu masala, shishito pepper, quinoa puffs £9 - for a first choice I expected a few small expensive bites, but this was a a decent size starter of tofu fried with crisp puff texture for contrast;
- Tadka hamachi, avocado, calcutta chutney £17 - hamachi (he said it was a type of tuna, but it isn't quite) served raw with pieces of pomegranate, avocado (that was too hard and underripe) and some roe. It was actually very delicious;
- Baked sea bass, amritsari masala butter, sweet corn kadhi £25 - a nicely cooked fillet spiced with masala and served on top of kind of textured mash;
- Ghee roast lamb, roomali roti pancakes, chutneys £28 - I expected a roasted joint and ended up with a DIY set of condiments for wraps. There was coriander sauce, a spicy tamarind sauce (that actually tasted more sweet like hoisin), a strong garlic one and a moderately hot green chilli. It was fun compiling it all together and the flavours were good. A hot green chilli was available for the daring;
- Black dairy dal £7.5 - unusually sweet version for what I'm used to and less creamy. Still nice;
- Wild mushroom kulcha, truffle oil drizzle £6.5 - a bread stuffed with mushrooms and with some truffle flavour. Nice but I don't think it went well with the other dishes we ordered;
- 'Aamras', mangoes, cardamom cheese cake, summer berries £11.5 - a beautiful dessert. The cheesecake wasn't as strong in cardamom as I hoped (others could taste it more) and the mango sauce was very nice;
- complimentary Doda barfi treacle tart, vanilla bean ice-cream - a moist sweet warm cake with dotted icecream on top. For our special occasion.

The food is definitely nice, well executed and presented. For the price I do think I would prefer Farzi. Nonetheless I'm happy to have been here.

I didn't expect to eat Chinese food in Oxford, but after failing to get a seat at Oli's Thai, this was on the way back and looked alright filled with all mainland Chinese students.

Although some dishes are cheap, the one that interested me the most was Xinjiang Dapanji stewed chicken with potato and handmade noodles in spicy sauce £14.8. For the price it should and could definitely feed 2. However there seemed little point on getting some leftover takeaway and so on this occasion it fed 1 well. It was ok overall, the chicken had a lot of bones and the flavour didn't seem too unique. It could have had more chilli. The noodles were quite good though.

My flatmate from Xinjiang said the dish is traditional, although the fable may not be. I guess it makes a good story regardless.

I wouldn't order it again (from there). But I'm sure there are other things I would try next time.

I have to admit the service was excellent. I thought I left my book in the restaurant and the manager checked the place after closing at about 1130pm to look for me. I can only express appreciation for that.

I wandered past this bakery on the way to a curry dinner and it looked interesting. I have a fondness for middle eastern food and seeing the sweet desserts on the counter meant a mental note to return. A few evenings later I made the trek to have some dinner and peacefully read a book. The owner from Palestine was serving was very friendly and took interest in explaining some menu items to me.

Naturally being a bakery with their own oven, the mannakesh baked flatbread was recommended. I went for the very simple Zaatar & Cheese (half zaatar, half cheese) £3.6 which was a medium pizza sized dish with crispy base and a fine spiced zaatar mix and mild cheese. It wasn't very salty overall (perhaps could have used a little more) but the flavours were nice. The Syrian style with minced meat and pomegranate molasses appealed also, but I didn't think I could eat that much.

The main attraction on the menu for me was the Maqloubah (traditional Palestinian dish of tender lamb shoulder, aubergine, tomato, onion, garlic, spiced rice with yoghurt and cucumber salad) £9.5. It was an earthy spiced dish pleasant with coriander and a touch of cumin. Overall excellent with soft meat and nice vegetables.

For afterwards I took home some baklavah which was different in the fast it doesn't soak in sugar syrup and is therefore much more dry. The owner (who admitted he buys them) was quite proud to show me the metal pan was completely dry underneath. He also recommended their homemade kunafeh for next time which he also said is very different to the (mainly Turkish) ones I have had.

I would definitely go back.

The inventor of the cronut and World's Best Pastry Chef 2017 has this London store that isn't the most conveniently located (ok, it isn't that far away but I don't go to Victoria very often) where the wares are on sale and display. And they all look delicious I might add. Lots of people ogle and decide what to choose and how much to spend. Funnily enough the cronuts aren't (or weren't this day) on display at the counter and so I didn't see anyone in front of me order them. Silly them.

Takeaway is cheaper than eat in (although to be honest you could probably just sit after getting your takeaway and they wouldn't mind...

The cronut £4.5 TA is designed with one flavour topping per month. For April is was topped with raspberry. The icing probably wasn't that necessary (or maybe it would be to break through and add contrast to the cronut alone) but the cronut itself was excellent. Sweet, crisp, soft insides. More donut than croissant.

I also like kouign amman £4.1 TA (affectionately known here as Dominique's Kouign Amman or DKA which is a homage to diabetic ketoacidosis) since tasting the syrup soaked delicacies in Brittany (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/le-petits-caprices-rochefort-en-terre-06-2017). These were much less sweet and wet than the traditional ones but still good and more buttery than the cronuts.

Both were good, I probably prefer the cronut more.

The cakes also look delicious at between £6-8 each. I'll have to try one or two next time when my sugar levels are at a low.

After living in King's Cross for over a year, I haven't tried many of the local restaurants. Supawan has probably been the one missing the most as friends have told us how good it is. To verify that, we've actually been 3 or times before only to be told the waiting time is too long. Luckily on this impromptu late(ish) Thursday night before Easter we were bestowed the counter seats at the window, perfect for watching the world go by and the subsequent groups of people queuing or being turned away. Lucky.

- Pla Muek Yud Sai (braised stuffed squid with minced chicken, prawn, mushrooms in ginger, lemongrass, palm sugar, dark soy sauce) £13.5 - essentially a soft squid stuffed and served in a masterstock. Hearty, warming and earthy;
- Yum Hua Plee (banana blossom, chilli jam, desiccated coconut, shallots, mint, prawns) £9.5 - quite expensive for this pretty but small amount of salad. The flavours were nice but could have used more herbs within it. The small red chilli bits did build up after a while but nothing too painful;
- Pla Tod Naam Pla (whole sea bass fillets crispy fried, coated in fish sauce, palm sugar served with spicy apple salad) £17.5 - an excellent dish with the fried bones served for picking at also. The morsels were fried well and remains soft on the inside. The palm sugar and fish sauce liquid was only lightly placed under the salad bowl (maybe oddly) but did mean the sauce didn't soak into and soften the fish before you were ready. It was a very good combination of flavours and balance.

It isn't Longrain, but it's more traditional and definitely tasty. There's plenty more dishes I want to try which are mainly the curries, such as the duck or beef. Let's see if I ever get a table again.

Ever since Yum Bun branched away from Broadway market and dropped its quality, Bao opened to horrendous queues but isn't that good (although I only tried it several years after opening) and these buns have become quite common, it's nice to find a place less central and luckily also giving a discount on the new menu. After all, £5 for a bao is pretty damn high but that's what has become these foods in London.

I noticed that they had a sign outside for Happy Hour 5-7pm on weekdays. The cocktails aren't cheap but they do look/taste good. And at £9-10 each, Happy Hour would be very happy. I tried the Kenting Boba (quiquiriqui mezcal, rum, taro, coconut cream, coconut milk, lemon juice, popping balls) £9.5 which was essentially a delicious taro coconut milk tea with pearls and a strange taste of rum. I didn't detect any smokiness from the mezcal. The milk tea base itself was remarkably good with the frothy furry texture of taro. The normal taro milk tea was also pretty good but less thick and coconut.

There is a downstairs opium bar looking red room for drinks and a few little board games. That would be a wonderful place to relax for Happy Hour drinks.

- Smacked cucumbers £3.5 - pretty expensive for cucumber marinated in chilli oil and vinegar. Something fresher though;
- BBQ corn with Taiwanese spices £3.7 - little cobs of corn slightly charred in a savoury sauce. The corn itself had been cooked too long though such that there was no bite left to the kernels. But it tasted really good;
- Dan Bing traditional £4.9 - a crisp crepe filled with vegetables. Very nice indeed but need to eat it while hot and the crepe remains crisp;
- Taiwan beef noodle soup (rich beef bone broth, slow cooked beef shin, wheat noodles, chilli, bok choi, cilantro, spring onion) £11.9 - a remarkably excellent bowl of noodle soup with the delicate chunk of beef shin easily to pull apart, and the broth thick with beef and gelatin and coating the noodles and your mouth. It looked fiery and had red chilli slices but overall had little heat. I would definitely come back for this;
- Pork belly bao (mint, red cabbage, char siu sauce) £4.9 - probably the best of the tried baos with a not too fatty pork belly slice and a sliver of slightly crisp, slightly chewy skin tucked on the inside. The bao itself is good - reasonable size, very soft and fluffy, and not the dense dry stuff of Yum Bun in Spitalfields;
- Crispy shredded duck bao (cucumber, spring onion, hoisin) £4.8 - the ingredients list would usually make this my favourite and it was ok with a large amount of duck. The flavouring was mild and really needed more cucumber and spring onion to balance it out;
- Panko shrimp bao (cilantro, red onion, chiu chow mayo) £5.5 - two perfectly fried crisp prawns with mayo. Not bad at all;
- Shiitake friiter (mizuna, cilantro, chiu chow mayo, teriyaki) £4.7 - oddly while the prawns were crisp, the fried mushroom wasn't. It was juicy and ok;
- Wheelcake vanilla & matcha £3 - they have the open pan at the bar, but it is used to reheat the premade wheelcakes. As a result the outside was hot, the inside was not so and therefore the textures weren't right. The pastry was too plastically and the layered filling pretty but not soft. Maybe this is how they are meant to be and I just don't like them so much.

Overall the food is better than Bao. The noodles and cocktail were the clear winner for me with a few other notable dishes too. The service is also often without much of a smile. Not many words, thanks or gratitude. This could be worked on.