The Spice

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161 Fortess Road, Tufnell Park , London. NW5 2HR. 22nd November 2015

After the debacle of the previous PRCC, we (well, Gonk) flipped a coin for the next venue and informed people a good week in advance. We had a decent turn-out and a few hangers-on to boot – the more the merrier!

We met up in the Boston Arms around half past six and then had a couple of pints whilst waiting for others to drift in. From the club proper there was Jack, Gary, Gonk and myself; the others included Kylie, Dick Sacs, Graham and Pus.

We walked the 20 yards or so from the pub to the restaurant, which was just under half full, and got three tables pushed together in an area near the door. The decor was well lit, high ceilings, well upholstered chairs etc. A better than average standard.

The menu has all the standard and basics you’d expect in most curry houses (have a look here), but the best thing was a special on the board – £9.95 for a starter, main, rice and bread – it wasn’t everything on the menu, but a huge percentage of it!

We all went for the deal – it would be stupid not to – and beers and wine was ordered. As we sat waiting the usual banter around the table started, and a couple of the staff, all good natured and relaxed. Nearly everyone had onion bhajis for starter, I tried the aloo (something, I can’t recall exactly). Good reception all round – the bhajis were compared equally with Bangalore Brasserie’s mammoth bhajis, but instead of 2 huge bhajis, The Spice did 4 smaller ones. The potato starter was good also.

The mains arrived with rice and bread. Good sized portions of all and again everyone was pleased with the quality and quantity of ingredients.

The atmosphere was relaxed and jovial – from the table as well as the staff and patrons, everyone seemed to be enjoying the meal and company they had – a fair few people filed in during the night. We paid up and got a free shot of port at the end of the meal – nice touch.

Prices with beers came to about £135, so we threw in £20 each as we couldn’t be arsed to mess around, and people were happy with that.

Solid 8’s all around and 3 8.5s, so 65.5/80.

Recommended and would visit there again.

(3rd September 2014)

Zias

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680 Holloway Rd, London, Archway N19 3NP. Sunday, 18th October 

Charlie McHarper booked a table there for us at 8pm for a few of us. Four of us turned up as there was a mess-up on arranging and half the usual reprobates went elsewhere.

The restaurant was really quiet, like really quiet. We were the only people in there! Large and fairly bright. We got shown to our table – way at the back to find out they weren’t ready for us at all – obviously the booking had been forgotten about.

We ordered – a fairly standard menu (link here) and fairly standard prices.

As this was a month ago I’ve been too busy to write it up and I forgot all the details – like a twat.

From what I remember it was pretty solid 8/10 from the four of us that went: Jack, Gary, Charlie McHarper and myself; but with a couple of annoying things like the food being served before cutlery or crockery on the table, Charlie’s fish was a bit tough but everything tasted really good. The portions were generous and the beer was decently priced as well.

Overall 8/10 – above average.

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(25 September 2014)

Madras

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As it’s a couple of weeks until our next outing, here’s another recipe, a Madras I made today for Punk Night at the Dev.

The Madras is a staple on nearly all take-away and restaurant menus, noted for hot and strong flavours.

My recipe is a variation and completely not “traditional” but I don’t care as almost everyone who tries it loves it.

Ingredients
2 onions finely chopped
2cm cube of ginger, grated
2-3 garlic cloves finely chopped
400g chopped tomatoes / passata
300ml water
1tsp garam masala
2-4 red chillies finely chopped (I use Bird’s Eye Chillies for hotter)
2tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1tsp ground coriander
1-3 tsp hot chilli powder
6-8 curry leaves (like Bay leaves, they’re to give a slightly sour taste, optional really and most people don’t notice if you leave them out)
Half a lemon or lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Whatever meat / veg you want to cook (I usually use chickpeas and red lentils but for this post I used sweet potato and lentils)
Handful of fresh coriander leaves to garnish if you’re that way inclined.

Heat some oil, just enough to cook onions in, and cook the onions on a medium heat until they soften (5 or 6 minutes) with pot lid on.


Add chillies, garlic and ginger and cook for 2 or 3 more minutes.

Add water, tomatoes / passata.

Add meat / veg ingredient with salt + pepper, lemon / lime juice and all spices and curry leaves except the garam masala.

This many lentils, as with the vindaloo…


Bring back to the boil and reduce to simmer for 30 mins with lid on, stir occasionally, cos I use lentils, got to make sure it doesn’t get too dry and start to burn as the lentils soak up all the liquids!
Stir in garam masala and leave uncovered to simmer for another 10 mins.
Important not to let it dry out too much and start to burn, add little water when needed.
Curry leaves are like bay leaves – throw them away when cooked

Bangalore Brasserie

~ Ginger Cunty Bollox ~ 1 Comment
1 Brecknock Road, London. N7 0BL. Sunday, 13th September.

Bangalore Brasserie is a regular haunt for us – it’s not far from the centre of Camden, just behind The Unicorn which does some great free gigs with cheap (for Camden) beers. Here’s where it is on Google maps.

It’s always been a restaurant with low prices and high quality food, and one of our favourites due to their huge onion bhajis, but more about those later.

We met in the Dev as usual, a bit of confusion about whether it was or wasn’t an official curry night as we’d all got drunk and forgot over the previous couple of weeks; except for Ratu, the Prospect, who remembered and was actually excited to visit Bangalore Brasserie as he’d never been and had heard us talking about it so often!

Because it was getting later in the evening and the weather was crappy we jumped on the 253 bus for 10 mins and got to the restaurant at about 19:45. It was completely empty, which was a first for us, but many more people came in during the evening. The staff greeted us, and recognised us from many previous visits – either as a collective, or singly (we like to grab some onion bhajis for the trip home when been to a gig at The Unicorn!)

We were given a good sized 6 seater table, and had some friendly banter with the two older men (there’s an old guy with beard, a middle-aged guy and that time also a younger guy who we hadn’t seen before). Greetings and pleasantries were exchanged and beers ordered (just the usual Cobra, 3 other lagers or soft drinks). We chatted and talked nonsense amongst each other and the poppadoms with raita / mango chutney and lime pickle arrived. The poppadoms were crispy and dry, the lime pickle a decent strength, the mango not too sickly sweet and the onion raita was as you would expect.

We ordered our dishes and more relaxed chat and banter between each other and it wasn’t long until the starters arrived. Jack forwent a starter, I thought I’d try the vegetable kebab, everyone else had onion bhajis. The vegetable kebab was 4 smallish kebabs with salad and kinda ok – not very spicy or full of taste like I was hoping, the onion bhajis with salad were a hit as always with everyone – crisp on the outside, moist in the centre and both about the size of a cricket ball.

After we’d finished that, the mains arrived after a short delay. Chicken Tikka Masala, plain rice, garlic naan, Vegetable Biryani (with the vegetable curry as a side), Bhindi Bhaji, garlic naan, King Prawn Pathia, chilli naan, Chicken Kasmir, pilau rice and a vegetable madras.

All portions were generous with main ingredients (none of that 4 bits of chicken / prawn / carrot floating around in sauce here!) and tasty, those that had the naan praised it for taste, texture and fluffyness. The rice was well prepared and also of good texture and flavour.

Overall the ambience was relaxed, no one hovering over us causing stress or pressure to finish up and get out. We were given space and time to complete our food at our own pace and when the table was staring to get a little cluttered, the staff were attentive enough to clear away the clutter. The food was exemplary and good sized and generous portions with high quality.

Bangalore Brasserie

Summary

GCB = Ginger Cunty Bollox. G = Gary. Gonk = Gonk. R = Ratu. CM = Charlie McHarper. J = Jack

9.1/10
  • Ambience / Decoration / Staff (GCB: 8, G: 8, Gonk: 8, R: 8.5, CM: 8, J: 10)
  • Value for money (GCB: 9.5, G: 8, Gonk: 8, R: 9, CM: 8, J: 10)
  • Quality (GCB: 9, G: 8, Gonk: 9, R: 9, CM: 9, J: 10)
  • Ease of bespoke dishes (GCB: 10, G: n/a, Gonk: n/a, R: n/a, CM: n/a, J: n/a)

Me: 9, Gary: 8.5, Charlie McHarper: 8, Gonk: 8.5, Ratu: 8.9, Jack: 10

Total: 52.9/60, averaging 8.8/10

Excellent as always.

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(3 March 2015)

Vindaloo

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During the punk nights at the Dev in Camden, we have a bring-your-own picnic kinda thing going on. Gary DJs and brings along cheese, pickles, pitta bread, stuff like that; others make and bring guacamole, crackers, dips, etc. I usually make a curry.

I alternate between vegan vindaloo and madras usually, but I may try my hand at a tikka masala soon… who knows.

As it’s been a quiet month for the PRCC, I thought I’d add the vindaloo recipe here. I make up the quantities of the main ingredients as I go along, only really using measuring spoons for the spices.

So, some background. Vindaloo is based on a Portuguese invention, and nothing to do with potato (yes, I know “aloo” is potato), but it’s actually white wine and garlic (“Vinha de Alhos”). The Indian version grew up around the Goa region and got the chillies and spices added to it.

The recipe can be tweaked and messed around with, but the amount of vinegar should be kept – the distinctive taste comes from that.

Ingredients

3 red onions finely chopped
4-8 crushed garlic cloves
4+ red chillies finely chopped (I use 7-8 Bird’s Eye Chillies for MUCH hotter)
400g chopped tomatoes / passata
1-2tbsp tomato puree
1-4 tsp hot chilli powder
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground turmeric
1-2tsp garam masala
1/4tsp ground cinnamon
2tsp mustard powder
1tsp ground coriander
2cm cube of ginger, grated
3tbsp white wine vinegar
1tsp sugar
1tsp Cayenne pepper
Whatever meat / veg you want to cook (I use chickpeas and red lentils)

Method

Heat some oil, just enough to cook onions in, and cook the onions on a medium heat until they soften (5 or 6 minutes) with pot lid on.

 

Add the garlic, chillies, ginger and sauté for a bit

Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, tin of chickpeas …

And about this many lentils

This is the spices that also go in

like this

 


Give it a good stir – the tomato purée and such should be well mixed in.
Bring to boil and reduce to simmer, stirring occasionally and making sure not drying out, approx. 1 hour, until the sourness of the white wine vinegar has all but gone.

Moving to own site

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I am in the process of developing this at home and for a new site – so I can install more fonts and cool stuff rather than have to go through WordPress and such with their limits on uploads.

Until I got this working 100% as I want it, I will be doing both the local development and the wordpress hosted PRCC blog at the same time.

Drummond Villa

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118 Drummond Street, London. NW1 2HN

We’d decided some months ago to head down Drummond Street behind Euston and check out the range of curry houses down there.

The day before, I had a wander down with a friend and went into a fair few asking about vegan options. About half gave me blank stares, a couple said no, and three said fine. Of the three, we chose Drummond Villa as the first target.

You can see inside and all that malarkey here

The six of us walked down from Camden, got seated as it was mostly empty. Not a huge place but does have more seats downstairs next to the kitchen. Not a great selection of beers (Cobra / Kingfisher etc), but it is licensed, and not cheap (over a fiver per bottle).

The staff seemed really nervous and eager to get us in and out during the meal. Clearing dishes and such whilst others still eating and chatting. Perhaps they thought we were bringing the tone down.

Popadoms and raita to start was passable, lime pickle could do with more heat.

Onion Bhajees for starters were ok. Flat and relatively well spiced.

Mains was a vegetable madras, vegetable vindaloo, vegetable curry, chicken madras, chicken tikka masala and prawn something; a couple of naans and 3 rice.  Good sized portions. The bill came to about £120, and they include the service automatically.

My madras was OK – hot enough but not too overpowering. Same was said of the other dishes, a large helping of prawns, good amount of chicken etc. The big disappointment was the vindaloo. Although the sauce was good, it came with only a meagre slice of carrot and half a potato cut in half (so 2x quarters)… not really a “vegetable” anything, whereas the vegetable madras had loads of veggies in it.

Ratings were:

Drummond Villa

Summary

GCB = Ginger Cunty Bollox. G = Gary. Gonk = Gonk. R = Ratu. CM = Charlie McHarper. J = Jack

6.9/10
  • Ambience / Decoration / Staff (GCB: 5, G: ?, Gonk: 6, R: ?, CM: ?, J: ?)
  • Value for money (GCB: 7, G: ?, Gonk: 7, R: ?, CM: ?, J: ?)
  • Quality (GCB: 7, G: ?, Gonk: 7, R: ?, CM: ?, J: ?)
  • Ease of bespoke dishes (GCB: 8, G: ?, Gonk: n/a, R: ?, CM: ?, J: ?)

Me: 7, Gary: 7, Charlie McHarper: 8, Gonk: 7, Ratu: 7.5 down to 7, Jack: 7

Total: 43/60, averaging 7/10

OK, but not great.

(9th April 2015)