London Restaurant Reviews - Malabar Junction (Southern Indian in Fitzrovia)

Just off Tottenham Court Road on Great Russell Street in Bloomsbury, Malabar Junction is one of those places that despite the garish coloured lights and bright green façade, can very easily go unnoticed.

The restaurant has a tiny and unassuming entrance but the interior is one of most surprising I have seen in a restaurant - spacious, elegantly furnished and with a massive glass roof letting in plenty of natural light.

Malabar Junction serves Southern Indian cuisine from Kerala. The menu is reasonably priced with most main courses at around £10 (the most expensive is only £14.50), while vegetarian dishes cost £6.50. There are some interesting choices - exotic fish and seafood specialties from Kerala offered alongside other Indian classics like lamb rogan josh and chicken korma.

In the absence of a tasting menu, Dr G and I were tempted by a variety of different dishes. Some turned out more successful than others - the Crab Tenga Curry @ £10.95 was rather good - crab on the shell cooked in a mildly spiced coconut sauce with ginger, tomatoes, onions and delicious spices and chillies.

The Kerala Mutton Curry @ £10.95 was in our opinion one of the best dishes - very tender pieces of mutton cooked in a rich sauce with flavours of turmeric, coriander, chillies and black pepper. We enjoyed having this with the Malabar Paratha (flatbread) @ £3.

The King Prawn Poriyal @ £10.95 was good although somewhat spoilt by having to compete with dozens of ingredients fighting for attention in that small dish. The presentation was in my opinion naive.

I was disappointed with Malabar's Fish Fry @ £9. This is a whole, deep fried pomfret that would have tasted crisp and delicious had it not been for the thick layer of red sauce, onions and spices that smothered it.

To accompany our mains, we had two very interesting and flavoursome vegetarian dishes - Kalan @ £6.50, made of green bananas cooked in yoghurt with onion, turmeric powder and mustard seeds, garnished with sweet mango. I thoroughly enjoyed the slightly sour and sweet flavours from the green bananas, yoghurt and sweet mango in this dish.

Garlic Mogo @ £6 was the second accompaniment - pieces of cassava marinated in turmeric and tossed with ginger, garlic and herbs.

The Lemon Rice @ £3.50 was also delicious and perfect to soak up the coconut flavoured mutton curry.

What most impressed me at Malabar Junction was their excellent wine list at outstandingly affordable prices. Most bottles were marked below £20. We had a bottle of 2009 Alsace Gewurztraminer Dopff au Moulin, France at £23. This wine retails at around £15. It was a magnificent off-dry wine with sweet spice and lychee notes and a refreshing mineral acidity that matched perfectly the spicy Indian food that we ate.

We also noted Champagne Moutard Cuvee Reserve listed at a mere £27.95. This retails at most off-licenses for £25! So not much of a mark up on Malabar Junction wines.

Dr G and I were very pleasantly surprised by Malabar Junction's beautiful and unassuming rooms, its simple but well executed food, and were amazed by its wine list. If I find myself in the centre of town  craving a curry and a decent bottle of wine, I will make sure to check this place out again.

Cost: The London Foodie was a guest of Malabar Junction. I estimate that a meal for two will cost around £40 (excluding drinks).

Likes: the Kerala mutton curry and the crab tenga curry were both delicious as was the lemon rice they were served with. I loved the spacious and light decor, the attentive service and the very reasonable prices of its food and wine list.

Dislikes: presentation of some of the dishes could be improved. A tasting menu would also be attractive.

Verdict: good, reasonably priced Indian restaurant in Central London with an unusually broad and affordable wine list. Elegant and spacious, with attentive service. Recommended.

London Restaurant Reviews - Chilli Cool

 Chilli Cool

I first learnt of Sichuanese Cuisine when reading Fuchsia Dunlop’s book “Sharks Fin and Sichuan Pepper”. Fuchsia is an engaging writer – it was great fun reading about her adventures as a Westerner living in Chengdu, and learning about Sichuan and its cuisine. I have bought both her cookery books which are also very good.

After reading a positive write up by Mr Noodles of Eat Noodles Love Noodles (this is his favourite Sichuanese restaurant in London), I decided to try Chilli Cool last week. Mr Noodles is a real authority on regional Chinese cooking, and his blog is an excellent source of information on the subject.

Dr G and I arrived and headed to the wrong entrance of Chilli Cool – there are two: one for the Sichuanese hot pot restaurant on the left hand side, and another for the a la carte menu on the right. We were directed to the correct entrance (a la carte), and were soon seated.

The staff’s level of English isn’t great, although I found them to be efficient and polite. The decor was simple and with no frills, and the lighting was strong and bright. One unnerving aspect of the restaurant is how greasy the floor was – I could hardly stand on one spot without sliding away. If you can put that to the back of your mind though, you are in for a culinary experience.

The menu is well laid out and contains many pictures of the dishes to assist ordering which I found very helpful. Following the recommendations of Mr Noodles, we ordered a selection of dishes from the menu.

 

 

We started the meal with the less hot “Sea Spicy Shredded Pork” @ £7.80. This was utterly delicious, with the slivers of pork, julienned bamboo shoots and black fungus making for a sensational combination of flavours.

The sauce was rich and very flavoursome (I believe this to be also translated as “Fish Fragrant Sauce”), and despite the name, it has no fish ingredients – it is sour, sweet and spicy and made from ginger, soy sauce, garlic, chinkiang vinegar among other ingredients.

We also ordered “Sliced Beef Sichuan Style Lavishly Topped with Chillies and Sichuan Pepper” @ £8.80 (Also known as “Boiled Beef Slices in a Fiery Sauce” – shui zhu niu rou). This was another rich and delicious dish, and one of the highlights of the evening.

The beef was coated in flour and then boiled in stock and soya sauce giving it a silken texture. The addition of finely julienned celery and spring onions to the rich sauce made it hearty.

It was fiery but bearably so. It was about zero degrees outside but I was pouring with sweat – a perfect dish for this type of weather.

To accompany the meat dishes, we ordered some plain steamed rice @ £1.50 a portion, and two of my favourite Sichuanese vegetable dishes – “Dry Fried Green Bean with Minced Pork” @ £6.80 and “Sea Spicy/Fish Fragrant Aubergines” @ £6.80.

The greens were dry fried until tender and slightly wrinkled, and tasted delicious with the minced pork, Shaoxing wine and soya sauce. This was a simple but very satisfying dish.

The aubergine dish was the better of the two though – the fish fragrant sauce was complex and bursting with flavour. I have made this dish many times at home but have never managed to come close to the richness and concentration of flavour of Chilli Cool’s version.

We also ordered their “Chengdu Dan Dan Noodles” @ £5.80. I have tried this dish at several restaurants but Chilli Cool’s was I think the most authentic. It was seriously spicy and delicious with a generous helping of “Ya Cai” a type of Sichuanese preserved mustard green, and a rich sauce made from an assortment of spices.

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal, and it cost only £44. We ordered enough to feed 4 or 5 people as the portions were rather generous.

Verdict – Authentic Sichuanese cuisine in Central London at very reasonable prices. A must for anyone who appreciates this type of cooking. Delicious fish fragrant aubergines, sliced beef and shredded pork and charming service. Highly recommended.