Mehak

Trafalgar Road SE10

I always wondered why this place used to be called The Standard Tandoori when its curries were best described as substandard, so when it was taken over and became the Mehak, I was very excited. That excitement lasted as long as my first meal there. It was going to take several encouraging emails and the recommendation of trusted friends to get me back in, even after the refurb.

I'd been particularly worried since during the redecoration, or at least during its early knocking-things-down stage, they continued to do takeaways. Note to self: avoid this one like the plague. I'm glad to say they did stop cooking when the dust got really bad, but all the same I wasn't in much of a rush to get back.

But lovely Phantom regulars have been nudging me for some time to give it another go, so we decided to try again. It was a Wednesday night.

Am I the only person who thinks of Henry VIII, wenches and whole sucking pigs at the mere mention of the word banquet? Well, at the Mehak, Wednesday nights are Banquet Nights but not quite in that sense of the word. It's basically an opportunity to stuff your face for £9.95 which frankly seemed too much of a good thing to turn down.

It's a large menu, with dozens of dishes and alternate options and all the old favourites. I'm an old favourites kinda phantom, so the Secret Control Order was placed (as far as possible) and we sat back to enoy the atmosphere.

I guess I should mention that almost every last scrap of the old decor is gone - instead of flock wallpaper and arch-back tapestry chairs, it's all white walls and sleek furniture. They couldn't really get rid of the columns and mosaics outside, but they've painted them black in the hope that they will shrink into the back of the mind. I like it (though I confess that if a curry house is truly amazing, I'm a bit of a sucker for flock wallpaper...) It was about half full, mainly with couples and families. Later on we were to be joined by the obigatory Bunch of Blokes^TM but apart from one guy who (much to his mates increasing irritation) kept popping outside to make phone calls (new girlfriend, I'd guess from the simpering I could see going on through the glass) they were model citizens.

The Puppodums (not included in the banquet deal but generally a good indication of the food to come) were fresh and crisp; their accompanying sauces (also extras) a bit on the neon-side but perfectly good to taste. But they didn't prepare me for the main event.

Which was very good indeed. The starters were beautifully prepared - well-presented with thought and care. They tasted fabulous. The mains were generously-sized (maybe Good King Henry wouldn't have felt so out of place after all) and again, nicely-executed, well-spiced and good-looking on the plate. There was no way we were going to finish that lot, but I gave it my best. I nearly asked for a doggy bag (BTW I've never done that in Britain - has anyone else? Somehow in other countries it seems fine but here I'm not sure what the reaction would be.)

The final course was a real throwback to the 1970s. Coffee with cream, which was somehow quite comforting in a childhood-celebrations kind of way, and a shot of Baileys - something I haven't tasted since I was about 17 and probably won't bother doing again. Still - it was a fun touch (probably more in keeping with the former decor) and I rather liked it. I liked the orange chocolate even better.

With the accompanying puppodums, sauces and (ahem) several Cobra beers, the entire bill came to £35 for two. I've paid more than that at the Bombay Bicycle Club for just the food.

It's good, folks. I'm still not totally convinced by the only takeaway I've had from there, but the eat-in option - go for it...

Ministry of Spice

Lewisham Road London SE13

With cars, they always say that intermittent faults are the worst kind. You get the thing to the garage and then look a total fool as the mechanic pokes around, sucks through his teeth and finally says there's nothing wrong.

Inconsistency in curries is my equivalent of the motoring annoying on-and-off knocking sound. You tell everyone a place is great, they try it and it's rubbish. Should you go back and try again, just in case it's as good this time as the very first chicken tikka you had there but didn't get last time, or just move on?

Some friends told me they'd just tried this place and had been quite impressed, and since I can't resist the opportunity to test out a new curry house, we all got together last night to have a tasting.

The usual control menu was ordered, of course, plus all sorts of yummy-looking extras, and we sat down with a nice glass to wait.

Time flies when you're having a nice glass, so it was some time before we noticed we still didn't have any curry. I'm trying to remember exactly how long we waited (we had had a couple of extra 'nice glasses') but it was at least an hour and a quarter; probably more like an hour and a half. Perhaps more. Presumably they're either busy or short-staffed or both on a Sunday night.

I have to say now, that nothing was really bad (save, perhaps, the non-specific extra sauces that arrived with the ok-puppodums - they were very strangely flavoured, strangely coloured and tasted suspiciously as though they were straight out of a bottle. Which bottle, I wouldn't like to say.) It just didn't shine. The rice was fresh and the puppodums were crispy (neither of which are a given, of course) but most else was really only adequate.

They'd forgotten to include the onion bhajiis - not worth calling and complaining about, of course, just worth a good grumble amongst ourselves. The meaty starter was good, and the salad (which hadn't been ordered but arrived anyway) was varied and included olives - not very 'traditional curry,' but an enjoyable extra all the same. Also not very traditional, but, I understand, perfectly ok, were some little meatballs. Another side-dish was excellent.

The rest of the sauces, though, were a disappointment. Thin-feeling, with little subtlely in the flavour. One especially, was very sweet, and very hot - but had no real flavour. Our friends agreed that this was nowhere near as good as the one they'd had before which had been so nice they had considered switching allegiances. On the basis of this test, I certainly won't be.

Has anyone else here had Ministry of Spice food? How was it? Did we just get a duff night?

Ginza

Woolwich Road, SE10

Good news, folks. I may have found a really decent local restaurant in Woolwich Road. Sounds unlikely? I know. I'm still trying to come to terms with it myself, but all the first signs of this new Japanese restaurant are extremely promising.

We've been watching the site of the old working men's club for sometime now, and I have to confess I didn't have great expectations for it, expecting yet another dodgy takeaway to compliment the array of average eateries already cluttering that part of Greenwich. I didn't even have much hope when I saw it was going to be Japanese food - I was just expecting the kind of substandard noodle bars we have in the centre.

But as we went past on Saturday night we noticed that, without any pre-publicity at all, it was suddenly open. I'm glad we went in as we were not only their first - but their only customers all evening. Hopefully I can change that in the future by telling you it was one of the best meals of any kind I have had for some time, and highly recommending it as a new local restaurant that isn't trying to pander to the cheap tourist pound.

It's simply decorated - dark wood bench seats and plain walls with wooden lattice-work lamps on the walls. The downlighters in the ceiling were a little too bright for my taste; I would have preferred it a little more 'atmospheric' (read 'dark') and the music was also a bit on the bright side (jolly Japanese pop music) but frankly this is nit-picking when there is such good food being served. They've spent some cash on getting printed paper placemats and chopstick cases, but on the whole they've gone for a traditional feel rather than 'funky.' There's no tatami room (unless it's upstairs and I didn't notice it) and no kneeling down - all the seats are normal western style, and although there are a couple of traditional dolls, scrolls and a lucky cat, it's all very tasteful.

Don't be put off by the photographic menu - it's normal in all but the very poshest restaurants in Japan and although in Britain it usually denotes that the customers they're trying to attract can't actually read, in this particular case they're just in keeping with modern Japanese tradition.

The full menu isn't 'on' yet, but what they are serving just now is still quite wide choice-wise and presumably when they have more than a handful of guests they'll open it out fully. We didn't know what to choose so we just got a selection - which meant we horribly over-ordered but, well, what a way to go. I can't remember if they actually do any noodle dishes - but if they do, it is not the main thrust of the restaurant. This is the Real McCoy - and very wonderful it is too.

We started out with some of those lovely rice rolls - I particularly recommend the "California Rolls" which have crab and roe in them, but there are several to choose from. There is a wide selection of sashimi too, which reminds me - if you're a vegetarian you will be able to eat, but the choice will be more limited.

As each of the dishes arrived, they seemed to become more exquisite - next, there was a giant stone bowl heated to volcanic levels containing various rice/veg meats and a raw egg. You're supplied with wooden utensils which you use to mix it all up - it sizzles and cooks as you do it. A bowl of soup containing rice and flakes of baked salmon was very yummy, though once you got down to the basic broth it was slightly less exiting. Not to worry - the pumpkin and sweet potato tempura had just arrived.

By this point we were slowing down considerably. Sadly the dishes weren't. They haven't got their licence yet, so the Asahi beer, plum wine and saki (and a rather dull selection of western wines - an opportunity for Theatre of Wine, methinks) will have to wait. Instead we had a very strange milkshakey sort of thing made with green tea, skimmed milk and fruit, with gooey bits of tapioca in the bottom a bit like raisins. We had the melon and mango varieties - my personal favourite was the melon, but both were very drinkable - if the bits of tapioca kept getting stuck up the straw, which comes with a little spoon on the end to fish them our with.

Just when we really thought it was all over, the grilled mackerel arrived - so beautifully cooked I almost wept that I couldn't finish it.

The service was understandably excited and attentive - it was, after all, their first night. Hardly any English spoken, bless them - the lady in charge spoke a little more than most of the staff, but still not much - but the welcome radiated past mere language.

Can this kind of service and quality last in East Greenwich? I can only hope so. At the moment it is probably my favourite restaurant in the area - but this comes with the small caveat that it was the first day of opening and if they can't get it right on the first day there is no hope...

For that reason I am not designating it a Favourite Haunt - yet. I'll just have to go back a few times just to make sure the food stays as fantastic as it is right now...

They will be doing takeaway - though the menu isn't printed yet. I recommend you go very quickly - not least because there's an opening discount of 10 percent on eat-in, 20 percent for takeaway just now. And yes, of course, this is entirely selfish. I want this restaurant to be a success so I can continue to eat there for years to come.

Mr Chung

166 Trafalgar Road, SE10

Another one of those lovely, homely restaurants that I've been meaning to write about for absolutely ages and kept forgetting to do.

Mr Chung looks ever-so-slightly out of place in the tatty parade of shops along Trafalgar Road. It's been there for ever, so the sign does look a little faded (though not bad at all) but the lovely stone Dogs of Fo outside and the little window boxes which, in spring especially, bring a little floral happiness to a concrete-ridden, traffic-clogged highway, stay fresh and never seem to get vandalised (ooh - maybe I'm tempting fate here... nah - I don't think the kind of meatheads who do that kind of thing read this kind of thing...)

Inside, the fresh pale green walls and simple, traditional pictures give a peaceful feel rather than the often dizzying 'Oriental' clutter you get in many Chinese restaurants. The menu, too, is simple and includes the classic dishes, but also a few unusual ideas and others that you think are unusual because they're actually executed well (the steamed scallops are probably the best things on the menu, IMHO.) The meat dishes are succulent and well-flavoured, with interesting dips and dressings.

Vegetarian choices in Chinese restaurants often tend to be plates of boring, slimy vegetables covered in mono sodium glutamate goo which veggies have to miserably suck while everyone else tucks into the crispy duck. I don't know whether Mr Chung actually uses MSG but it's never hit me as a big ingredient even if he does. Whether meat, veg or seafood, the flavour of the ingredients themselves shine through.

Mr Chung himself is a erudite, elegant omnipresence benignly overseeing the operations in what looks like a clean, well-run kitchen - the chefs always seem to be smiling, which I usually tend to take as indicative of rather more than mere mirth.

I would never argue that Mr Chung is fine dining. But it does what it does very well indeed. And what it does is good-quality, well-presented food for an informal, local meal with friends. And for me, lovely though fine dining is, having such eateries (or even better, a selection of such eateries) is far more important on a day-to-day basis.

Bombay Bicycle Club

Greenwich Kitchen, Trafalgar Road SE10

I don't recall a more fiercely anticipated arrival of any kind of takeaway anytime or anywhere than that of the Bombay Bicycle Club. When the old fish and chip shop closed it stayed shut for sometime. I recall writing a blog about the number of dead shops down Trafalgar and Woolwich roads - in the 30s, I vaguely recall. That has been alleviated to some extent (though there's still plenty of room for anyone contemplating any of the shops on our wish list - see 'streets' - don't hold back now...) and not least by the presence of several decent shops - Theatre of Wine, The Fishmonger Ltd - and now the Bombay Bicycle Club.

The BBC is a chain - the same chain as the new Gourmet Burger Kitchen, I'm told - a bird that makes its nests in swanky London urban suburbs - Holland Park, Hampstead, Clapham - you get the picture. The very fact that it has decided to come to Trafalgar Road must say something good for us - that they consider it an area worth investing in. Money talks and they wouldn't come here if they didn't think the area could stand it - with a bit of luck others will come (preferably individuals, but good SMALL chains will be fine in the short term) and the so-so takeaway jungle we already have there will be forced to pull its socks up.

The place itself is ok - not as pretty as some of its branches, but still smart and fresh. It's modern with a post-ironic touch - flock wallpaper and chandeliers making little statements about the traditional concept of the Indian restaurant. We tried to order a couple of days after the leaflet came through the door, but it took until the weekend before they actually opened.

We decided to enjoy our first order with friends. We were unable to get our usual "secret control menu" because, shock, the BBC actually do their own recipes and don't completely follow the same lines as everywhere else (though of course everyone has their own interpretations of the classic anglicised meals.) We decided to order 'off-piste' and see where and what we got.

The online ordering service isn't live yet, so we called up with our choices. The guy was difficult to understand, but it was worked out quickly. They promise a free bottle of house wine with your first order if it's over £ 20 - believe me that isn't hard at their prices. They don't actually have any house wine at the moment, so they substituted a couple of bottles of beer instead.

The order arrived quickly (they'd said 45mins, it actually arrived in around half an hour) and with a smiley delivery man (always a good thing.) But we were a bit surprised by the size of the bag.

Now I don't know about you lot, but the one thing I normally noticed about Indian takeaways is that you get plenty of food for your cash. We have got into the habit of under-ordering, because the portion sizes are so huge. When we looked at the prices of the BBC, we assumed that this must be the case with them too. Everything - from the poppadoms to the specials - was more expensive than everywhere else - some things just a few pence, others well into the pounds. This isn't really a major problem if you know in advance and the quality is excellent. It just makes it a 'treat' takeaway rather than an everyday naughty staple.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that we had spent well over twice what we normally spend on an average curry, the amount in the bag just didn't look like it was going to suffice. As our company hadn't arrived, I dashed round to our local 'normal' takeaway to get supplements - rice, an extra main course, and extra poppadoms. I thought it would make a good contrast anyway.

I have to say that fresh boiled rice is fresh boiled rice. I could taste no difference between the BBC (£ 2.50) and Cafe Massala's ( £ 1.40.) Of course some takeaways, especially if they're not very busy, send old boiled rice - you can tell as soon as you open the box - but both of these were light and fluffy, and well-flavoured. We didn't get any pilau from Cafe Massala, but the BBC's version was aromatic and light. Again, when they say it's for one person, it really is.

I think that there were two BBC poppadoms, but it's impossible to say. It was literally a paper bag full of crumbs. The crumbs tasted nice - well spiced and crisp, but they were just crumbs. Cafe Massala's version won that particular battle.

The onion bhajees were good - tasty and fresh. We chose one meat, one fish and one vegetarian dish as mains. Of these, the best (in my humble opinion) was easily the cod in masala sauce - rich, flavoursome and nicely spiced. Definitely one I'd have again. Of the vegetarian dishes there were no medium-spiced options (they do it in 'penny farthings' - one bicycle is 'mild,' two, 'medium,' three, 'hot') and I felt that their Dopiaza (£ 6.45, Cafe M's - £ 3.80) was a little too mild, though also very tasty, well-made and with lots of recognisable vegetables as opposed to the brown mush you sometimes get. The meat dish, Lamb Madurai, advertised as a club favourite, (£ 7.75) was ok. nicely spiced but a little brown-mushy and slightly chewy - enjoyable but possibly not worth the money. Our aubergine side dish (£ 3.95) was rather oily and not as flavoursome as some in the past.

As I have mentioned, these dishes really are for one, so I had ordered an extra bog-standard dansak from C.M - £ 3.60. Dansaks are, of course, by their very nature, a bit on the brown-mush side, but this one was the usual medium/hot very edible standard.

My advice on this one is that the food is of very good quality. But the prices are high (we paid well over twice what we normally would and then went to get supplements from Cafe M) and the portions, when they say are for one, really are. There was very little left over from our meal - and that includes the supplementary dishes. That said, I still cannot move this morning...

Desi Spice

27 Bramshot Ave, Charlton SE7

It doesn't take long to get used to the forests-worth of flyers that get shoved through the letterbox morning, noon and night round here. I know the exact repertoire of pizza flyers, curry flyers, Chinese flyers and requests for old clothing by now, the tedium really only interrupted by the odd hand-typed leaflet for a splendid-sounding exotic spiritual medium who guarantees rude health, undying love and immortality.

"Under New Management" is one of the few phrases in these flyers that attracts my attention. When it's accompanied by a new picture on the front too, I suspect they mean business.

Armed with the usual Phantom Control Meal order, I called an extremely friendly chap who was chatty and efficient without being obsequious. Much earlier than the estimated arrival time another very cheery chap arrived with carrier bags and a smile.

From that point the experience became a little more uneven. One of the rice dishes was exquisitely cooked and very fresh and tasty, they other had clearly been hanging around for some time. From the second the lid came off, I missed that fresh, steaming aroma that really well-cooked rice exudes, and the visuals weren't much better - flabby, flat grains sitting flatly in the dish, willing me to end it all for them. Strangely it didn't taste bad, but it was not the best rice I've had by a very long way.

The poppadoms, too were a mixed bag - one half sad, soggy discs of cardboard, the other, clearly from a different batch, crisp, light and utterly fabulous.

The mains are where one can usually tell what a place is made of, and these actually tasted very nice. The flavour was good, rounded and just of the right spiciness. The texture, however, let them down. Very, very oily (I'm still trying to remove the residue from the sink) and, no matter what the dish was, looking and feeling exactly the same as its brothers and sisters. It was just one big mass of (very flavoursome) orange goo.

There was one thing that was superb. The onion bhajis were possibly the best I have tasted in a very long time. Large, crispy and full of flavour, they were easily the most enjoyable bit about the meal.

Oddly, we enjoyed this rather more than it sounds like . There is something about very oily food that is gooey, naughty and ever-so-slightly nauseating but a guilty pleasure all the same.

My big worry about this place is consistency. There were such variations in quality within single dishes of our control meal that I'm not sure I could vouch for anything on this menu ever being the same again - it could be worse - or it could be better. I just can't tell.

By all means try it - and if you do, let us know how you get on. In the meanwhile, I'm still sitting on Cafe Massala for takeaway and Kerala Zone for eat-in, but that could change very soon. There are many many, many more Indian restaurants to try - and so little time.

Aren't we all looking forward to Bombay Bicycle...

I couldn't make the website work, but here it is anyway:

http://www.desi-spice.co.uk/

020 8858 3777