On the Askew Road, directly across the road from Sufi, sits Adams Cafe. It’s most likely that you’d pass right by without paying it much notice. By day, it’s an ordinary local cafe. By night, it’s a cosy restaurant serving food from Tunisia and Morocco. Run by a husband and wife team (he is Tunisian, she is English and affectionately known as ‘the boss’ by the former), the little cafe has been there for 15 years. I’m ashamed to say last week, we made our first visit there; I’ve passed it countless times but had never made it in. I’m not sure why. Of course, we went in the evening to try some of their north African dishes.
It took us a while to decide what we wanted to eat – everything looked superb on the menu. There were some very Moroccan dishes we recognised and a few Tunisian ones we didn’t and this being our first time there, we just ordered what appealed. Soon after we’d placed our orders, two little bowls of nibbles arrived at our table. Lightly pickled vegetables were a refreshing little bite and contrasted nicely with the braised spiced meatballs in the other bowl. A good start and I could barely wait for our food.
My starter was the Brik au Thon – fan of crispy pastry with tuna, egg & herb filling. The huge brik stood in a lemon holder, looking very much like a peacock strutting its stuff. The tuna was nicely spiced, the egg yolk was still runny, and the pastry perfectly crisp. Imagine two Neanderthals ripping apart their huge joint of meat; we must have looked like that. The menu states that you can replace a main course with two starters; we discussed starting with a brik and then following with two further briks.
Blai chose the Sardines Sauce Chermoula – fresh sardines with chermoula sauce. Two large, fresh, grilled sardines with blistered skins arrived with the chermoula sauce in a little filo pastry cup. The sauce was quite strongly flavoured with plenty of herbs, lemon and garlic but it went well with the equally strongly flavoured fish. The fins and tail were moreishly crispy.
To follow, I wanted couscous and ordered the Couscous à l’Agneau – with lamb on the bone cooked in the sauce. I received a large bowlful of couscous, a tureen full of lamb and vegetables in a tomato based broth, and a plate to put together my meal. Wikipedia tells us that all of north Africa partake of these steamed granules of semolina. The combination of the gentle broth with the couscous was supremely comforting (I think it’s that combo of carbs soaked in liquid until mushy that makes it so). There was a very generous serving of lamb chunks in the broth along with lots of vegetables and chickpeas in the broth. Slurp!
Blai saw the word lemon and then his eyes saw nothing else; for him, it had to be the Tagine de Poulet au Citron confit et Olives vertes – chicken, pickled lemons, green olives, potatoes. The chicken leg and potatoes were tender and sure enough, everything was infused with the flavour of the preserved lemons. But this is Morrocan, no? Apparently, a Tunisian tagine is more like a frittata. I didn’t see such a thing on their menu.
We decided to split a dessert as we were both already quite full. It would be a Crêpe Berbère – Moroccan-style pancake with honey sauce. What arrived didn’t look promising – a perfectly round crêpe trimmed with a single mint leaf and dusted with powdered sugar. It just didn’t look very exciting. However, this became a good lesson on how not to judge things by its cover – this crêpe was thicker than a usual French specimen and had a tight honeycomb texture throughout (if you’re familiar with injera, that Ethiopian flatbread, this had the same texture but with none of the fermentation). And it acted like a sponge, soaked through with a thin honey and lightly citrus sauce. It was utterly gorgeous!
The pricing of their food is simple. One main course with tea or coffee is £11.50. A Menu Gourmet is two courses for £14.50. A Menu Gastronomique is all three courses for £16.95. And as I mentionned above, you can subsitute two starters for one main dish. With a bottle of water and gratuity, the total for all our food came to just under £40 for the two of us. Fab food at a fair price. We’ll be back for sure.
Adams Cafe
77 Askew Road
Shepherds Bush
London W12 9AH
Fri, 11 Dec, 2009 at 00:48
Su-Lin, what a meal, the cous cous is fluffly and light (it seems) and the chermoula with the sardines looks so delicious. i have a friend who lives in the area of the Askew Road, him and his wife and huge foodies (Pakistanis) shall fwd this post to them. x
Fri, 11 Dec, 2009 at 11:19
So glad you enjoyed it! Next time, you must try the lamb with prunes. You’ll be glad you did… Have you been to Sufi before too?
Fri, 11 Dec, 2009 at 19:33
yum, I just love the name Tunisia… everything looked well made and tasty, especially that moroccon crepe.
Sat, 12 Dec, 2009 at 21:02
The couscous and the lamb looks interesting – I’ve never had Tunisian or Moroccan food, will have to try it soon from the looks of the photos!
Sun, 13 Dec, 2009 at 09:10
[…] 13, 2009 by chrisunderwood Excellent local blog Tamarind and Thyme has posted this review of what looks like a cafe well worth visiting on the Askew Road. I’ll let their review, which […]
Sun, 13 Dec, 2009 at 17:12
oooh it looks delicious. I haven’t had much exposure of North African food, but what I have I’ve enjoyed.
Sun, 13 Dec, 2009 at 17:19
Mmmm…your food looks delicious. I haven’t had much African cuisine in the past, but now you’re making me crave it. The sardines look good!
Tue, 15 Dec, 2009 at 16:09
shayma: If your friend lives near the askew road, then I’m sure he’s seen it already! And Sufi across the road too. There’s also an excellent patisserie/bakery along there – Laveli.
CF: Yes! The link at the top of the post is to my post on Sufi. That lamb with prunes is definitely on my list of things to try there, thanks!
foodhoe: The crepe was sublime… oh no, I’m thinking about it now… drool…
breadetbutter: Do try it if you can! It’s good stuff!
Lizzie: Same here – I’d love to taste more (and travel there as well).
Nooschi: I do like Ethiopian/Eritrean food too… it’s all good!
Sat, 19 Dec, 2009 at 17:24
Grilled sardines with chermoula is one of my husband’s favourite ever starters! I must make my way to Hammersmith.
Sun, 20 Dec, 2009 at 18:49
We like Tunisian and Moroccan; such a pity the Moroccan resto in Salisbury is now an Indian … we never did get around to trying their tagine.
We loved the guy who said out ‘Tunisian barbecue’ at Port el Kantaoui wasn’t ‘genuine’, because the chef used charcoal instead of dried camel dung!
Tue, 22 Dec, 2009 at 21:11
Foodycat: Then he’ll love it here! I loved the two strong flavours together.
travelrat: Oh no… I guess Indian food is generally more popular. Haha…love the camel dung comment!
Sat, 2 Jan, 2010 at 01:37
I personally don’t recommend this restaurant,it’s far to be typical Tunisian food,the brick is pathetic not to talk about the couscous.But I have to admit,the fish was not too bad,not sure it was fresh tough.Won’t go back!Please bear in mind this is not Tunisian food,but rather meant to be mediterranean one.
Sun, 24 Jan, 2010 at 16:21
Amel: Sorry that it’s not up to your standard! Where would you recommend instead?