When I Go to Southall…

When I go to Southall, I make sure I have a nice meal there. This time, it was chole bhatura, a North Indian combination of spicy chickpeas (chole) with fried soft flatbreads (bhatura), at Rita’s Samosa House. I love the spicy tamarind sauce that comes alongside.

I also like to buy nibbles to eat at home, like these pakoras. There were pakoras of potato, onion, aubergine, cauliflower, and stuffed whole chilies. These were purchased from Ambala Foods.

Also for home are a boxful of mangoes. It’s the season for the king of mangoes - Alphonso mangoes. They were so delicious - sweet and heavily perfumed. I can’t imagine using them in any recipe; they’re perfect just as they are!

Sure, it’s a bit of a trek from central London but it’s a fun place to visit for the day!

Rita’s Samosa House
112 The Broadway
Southall, Middlesex
UB1 1QF

 

Pierre Hermé

From what I can find online, it looks like the battle of the best macarons seems to be waged between Ladurée and Pierre Hermé. Now that we have the former in London, I was on a mission to get some from the latter in Paris. After we were kicked out from the Louvre (we did not cause a ruckus; it closes at 6pm), we made our way to the branch of Pierre Hermé on rue Bonaparte, about 15 minutes walk away. As it was a weekday and not far from closing time (they close at 7pm), there was no queue. Unfortunately, they had run out of their famous croissants by then - oh well, I’ll have to go back!

When you enter the shop, you’re presented with many jewel coloured confections in the display cases on the left. Cakes to feed 10, individual pastries, boxes of bite-sized macarons, rows of larger ones…and then the cash till. On the right hand side, there’s a row of shelves with chocolates and candies and baskets of Viennoiserie in the back (well, empty baskets by then) and rows of Christine Ferber jams in the front. Her jams are quite legendary from what I’ve read online and these jars on offer are made using the flavour combinations that Pierre Hermé himself uses in his patisserie. Of course, I had to take home one of those jars! After much deliberation, we chose the gorgeous confiture montebello, with its two layers of pistachio cream and strawberry jam.

After further perusal, I wanted one of the Ispahans, his creation involving rose, raspberry and lychee. It’s the beautiful ruby coloured delight you see below - a large rose macaron sandwiching rose flavoured buttercream with bits of lychee and whole raspberries.

And then of course, the main reason why I had dragged poor Blai all the way there…the macarons! As there were ten flavours, I figured one of each wouldn’t be too unreasonable! Seven were placed in a box and the three extra were placed in a bag. Here’s a tip - if you’re going to be doing any kind of travelling with macarons, just get boxes - the three in the bag got a bit too squished. Of course, this doesn’t affect the flavour at all!

After paying for our goodies, we walked up and across the road to a bench in front of a church (which was totally under scaffolding last weekend). There, we annihilated the gorgeous Ispahan. The scent of rose wafts up your nostrils as you take a bite and then the sweet and tart raspberries squish under your tongue and then within the cream, little bits of juicy and fragrant lychee surprise you. Oh, I want another. The smaller macarons we took back to London where day by day a few would disappear (but not without recording every little detail of each, almost to a scientific level) - wow. I’m still a fan of Ladurée’s macarons but those from Pierre Hermé beat theirs in terms of originality!

Pierre Hermé
72, rue Bonaparte
Paris, France

There’s another branch at 183, rue de Vaugirard.

 

Ambala Foods

When I go to Southall for my regular Indian food fix, I make a point to stop into Ambala for some delicious savoury snacks. I first discovered the shop when I wandered round looking for a good place to buy some samosas to take home. Of all the sweet shops (most also sell savouries) on the Uxbridge road, this one consistently had a queue and a queue of locals is always a good sign.

Inside there’s a glass case full of colourful, milky Indian sweets and behind the counter, behind the men clad in white, there are even more sweets, but those are more difficult to see. They (the men) are very nice there and are always happy to answer your questions. But say you’re like me and these sweets don’t get your heart a-thumping - I much prefer the savoury, crunchy things all studded with lots of cumin.

At the far end of the counter are baskets full of freshly fried delights. Samosas and pakoras make their home there. Their samosas are some of the nicest I’ve had, mainly because of the delicious, flaky pastry encasing them. If I don’t feel like having a whole samosa, I buy these nimki, little diamonds of flour pastry, the same pastry used for their samosas.

Thanks to Planethalder, I’ve recently discovered their Ambala mix, a mixture of fried gram flour crunchies and raisins and nuts and fried peas and fried lentils and sugar and spice and all things nice. It’s very addictive. Very very additictive. It comes in both handy tubs or bags.

Of course, if you really like the sweets, they’re pretty well known for that too! But don’t take my word for it, look to the queue.

Ambala Foods
107 The Broadway
Southall
Middlesex UB1 1RP

There are branches across the UK and one in Paris.

Not food related but the salons in Southall do good and cheap eyebrow threading too - only £2.50 compared to the £17 charged at Blink.

 

Minamoto Kitchoan

If you’ve ever been to London, chances are you’ve walked by Minamoto Kitchoan as it’s well-situated on Piccadilly Road, not far from Piccadilly Circus and across the street from Fortnum & Mason. A cursory glance inside might have you think that it’s jewels or expensive cosmetics they’re selling but walking inside, you’ll see that there are little cakes in the display cabinets. A closer look (or perhaps a double take) will reveal that those cakes are plastic and that the actual products sit on top of the counter and are all elaborately packaged. Welcome to the world of wagashi (Japanese sweets)!

I brought Blai there for the first time last Saturday afternoon. He watched and waited patiently     as I wandered back and forth along the shop, hmm-ing and haw-ing at every little dainty. I finally made a selection and asked to have them there and then. Do you know, if you have your little treats at one of the exceptionally tiny tables in the shop, they’ll be brought to you on little plates along with a small cup of green tea?

I had chosen three wagashi. The first was a tsuya, a mixture of sweet red beans between two pancakes, a very Western-influenced cake. Does anyone know how this differs from dorayaki?

We also had a mochi and a tiny plum jelly. Their mochi is the best I’ve had in London, outstripping those sad refrigerated versions from the shops in Chinatown. They’re so wonderfully chewy! The jelly was new to me and though tiny, it was very aromatic. It’s like a grownup jelly cup.

And here’s the setup of a tea I had there many months ago. Isn’t it cute?

Our little teatime treat came to under £6 altogether. Of course, if these Japanese flavours aren’t for you, La Maison du Chocolat is right next door!

Minamoto Kitchoan
44 Picadilly
London W1J ODS

Shops also in Tokyo, New York, and Singapore.

 

Jamón Ibérico de Bellota

Apologies, all, I just needed to share this beautiful slice of jamón ibérico de bellota that I brought back from Barcelona. This is top of the line ham from free range Iberian pigs fed with acorns. We only just opened up the package (vacuum sealed) this past weekend.

Here a slice is presented on a slice of sourdough bread but I ended up picking it off and eating them separately. Oh my goodness, it’s so marvelous. It’s soft and not very salty and oh so tasty. Well, it had better be good for the price I paid! While a small amount (I bought a little under 100g) is still affordable, it’s definitely not everyday ham.

I purchased this ham at El Celler del Pernil, C/ Pi I Margall 71, in Barcelona.

Update: The sister photo (shown below) to the above was featured as Photo of the Day on Serious Eats on Sept 27!