Tag Archives: restaurant

Babaji, Piccadilly Circus

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Alan Yau is one of London’s most successful and influential restaurateurs, from highstreet favourites like Wagamama and Busaba Eathai to renowned eateries like Hakkasan and Yauatcha. These venues all have one thing in common, serving innovative Asian cuisine. So when Yau launched Babaji, a casual Turkish pide restaurant on touristy Shaftesbury Avenue, we were all quite shocked.

Babaji is a labour of love, the result of a long-standing Turkish connection. Alan’s wife, and occasional business partner, Jale Eventok is Turkish. Babaji is casual and humble, offering simple traditional food with a focus on authentic Turkish pizza, pide. Situated on the edge of Soho, Babaji will be popular with tourists passing by or could possibly become an exotic late night drop-in for hungry drinkers.

We went along on a weekday for an early speedy supper. It was efficient and useful as a pre-show feed, though the food had little wow factor. Many favourite Turkish dishes are represented on the menu, including manti (ravioli-like dumplings), coban salad, flatbread and delicious small plates of meze. With, of course, baklava for dessert.

The restaurant is arranged over two spacious floors, decorated in muted shades of brown and blue with Turkish tiles adding colour and pattern. There is a Middle Eastern vibe although I thought it felt a little like a formulaic chain. The thin and fresh pide pizzas are what most come to try. Cooked in the oven minutes before reaching your table it is steaming hot, light and crisp topped with vibrant ingredients. We tried the kiymali pide with minced lamb, tomato and pepper.

Alongside our pide, we tasted the oven baked halloumi, which looked a bit pathetic on the plate and was a pitifully small portion. However the Beef and lamb kofte was absolutely delicious, highly flavoured with spices and herbs and nicely grilled to give a caramelised salty edge. Ask for some chilli sauce and wrap a bite of kofte in a piece of bread.

If you are really in the mood, you can order a Raki aperitif, designed to accompany your meze, or a freshly pressed pomegranate juice.

Babaji offers passable Turkish food, but if you want the real deal head to Kingsland Road, Dalston where the atmosphere is more alive, the prices more friendly and the food more exciting.

More information here: www.babaji.com.tr

Ganapati, Peckham

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Everyone who lives in Peckham knows Ganapati. It is the place to go for comforting home-cooked curries and fragrant thalis. This characterful little local Indian restaurant, recently celebrated its 10th birthday. It is found on Holly Grove, close to the popular Bellenden Road. Inside the decor is simple with basic wooden tables and chairs, the focus here is on the food. In summer, guests can enjoy the small terrace outside.

Ganapati is run by Claire Fisher, who came back from Southern India inspired by the evocative scents and flavours of the canteens and street food stalls. Her restaurant is now known across London for serving up some of the best South Indian food on offer in the UK. I was a novice of the cuisine when I visited, and was surprised by the similarities to Thai cooking: the curries are most often coconut-based and use a great deal of fresh herbs to create the often floral taste.

As you can see from the photo above, I was too busy devouring my food to take many snaps. We enjoyed a selection of dishes from the innovative menu. Poppadoms and pickles are much more than you would expect, vibrant homemade chutneys and deliciously punchy sauces, a far cry from the supermarket condiments I am used to. Vegetarian street snacks is a plate of delectable treats, the spicy mouthfuls feel indulgent even though they are not at all oily. Kottoor Quail is a must, wonderfully aromatic meat marinated in Kashmiri chilli and Indian shallots and quickly pan-fried to give an irresistibly crispy edge.

It was a challenge to pick from the list of intriguing curries, which include unusual ingredients like beetroot and fennel. We chose to share the Cashewandi Kozhi curry, a mild dish with free-range chicken cooked in cashew nut and coconut masala with a touch of green chilli and tomato. It was blissfully light and full of zesty flavour, big chunks of juicy tomato added a summery freshness. We ordered one of the highly regarded Kerala paratha, a perfectly flaky flatbread cooked on the griddle, and a portion of coconut rice to soak up the sauce.

I can’t comment on dessert as we didn’t try one but they looked equally inventive and exciting with ingredients such as saffron, cardamon and pistachio. And now for the best news? Ganapati offer takeaway and delivery, so you can enjoy the spectacular flavours without even moving from the sofa.

More information here: www.ganapatirestaurant.com

THOROUGHLY MODERN MAN: Lobster Kitchen, Tottenham Court Road

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Lobster has undergone something of a rebrand in recent years. Gone are the snooty connotations of words like thermidor and accompaniments like champagne; in their place we now have sliders and craft beer (ok, so thermidor is still on the menu). Lobster Kitchen in Tottenham Court Road has continued this revival with a reimagined New England lobster shack nestled away in the heart of London.

A steaming open kitchen bustles in front of you as you take your seats, either at the bars around the room or on the giant communal table in the centre. The space is decorated in true New England style, with tacking and lobster pots adorning most walls and hung from the ceiling. It’s a lot more tasteful than it sounds, I should add.

A good bisque should be a simple warming staple of any New England eatery, and this lobster offering was no different, if slightly unspectacular. Our selection of lobster rolls was beautiful, the brioche bun the right balance of sweet and crispy and rich while the lobster meat took on the subtle variety of flavours, as one would expect. Asian, garlic, classic cocktail sauce, and an innovative Italian twist with garlic and chilli, inspired by co-founder Valeria’s background.

Sides are almost as important as the main event at a spot like this, and they do not disappoint, with the oh so trendy-at-the-moment mac n cheese taking centre stage, although the fries and were decent and the deep fried lobster legs were an interesting twist on an otherwise unused part of the animal.

The cocktail list is short and sweet, and specials rotate through the board, including offerings from the public. If you like your lobster a certain way, if it’s tasty enough then it can become part of the menu!

So get involved, duck in out of the rain and cold for a hearty filling feast, and you can show off to all your friends through the power of social media as you take nautical themed photos using the iPads generously strewn around the tables as you peruse the menu. Just remember to stick in a #lobsterkitchen for good measure.

More information here: www.lobsterkitchen.co.uk

Written by a Thoroughly Modern Man, James Bomford.