The ibuprofen hasn’t kicked in and my ear is aching like when you descend on a plane with a cold and you think your head might explode. It’s been three days now where everything sounds like it’s underwater and the pain varies between a dull ache and something rather more excruciating. Unfortunately three days where I’ve led four tours. But at least it’s not contagious so the show could go on! Back to the doctor tomorrow…
I had three delicious Indian meals this week, a FIlipino curry, and lots of cake and chocolate, with some salad in between. Here are the highlights:
WEEK 18 ending Sunday 29th July 2018 - LONDON
- Husband and wife team RGELDN have brought Joti’s best friend’s husband’s amazing recipes to London from Toronto for the summer. They’re popping up as The Secret Samosa Club Thursday to Saturday lunchtimes opposite Christ Church by Spitalfields market. The samosas come with or without salad and they’re gorgeous. Crispy and full of flavour. I only tried the vegan one but I heard great things about the butter chicken and jerk chicken versions. I was invited.
- Pilau has two fast casual restaurants in London. It always looked interesting but I never got around to popping in. I was invited along to the launch of their “Pilau lates” where, as well as the regular build-your-own options, you can eat in and have a thali and a beer for £10. The paneer curry was excellent. Every meal bought feeds a child in India too, which is pretty awesome.
- Another invite – this time to Talli Joe which I shamefully hadn’t been to since it opened two years ago, even though I enjoyed it then! Between four of us we ordered almost all the veggie options on the menu and a few others too. My favourite was one of the most simple: the “dehydrated dosa” with tomato coconut chutney. I also really liked the vegan version of the seabass curry. It’s pretty great value and has really interesting options with an incredible variety of breads. They do a bottomless brunch on the weekend, too. Some of the dishes were on the salty side for me, though that might have been because I’d only eaten sweet things for most of the day. :-)
- Between tours I grabbed another curry from the vegan market on Rupert Street. This was a peanut coconut curry with rice (Kare Kare) from Oh My Gulay! A Filipino 100% plant-based menu. Totally delicious.
- I ate many delicious sweet things this week but I just shared a double chocolate cookie from Dominique Ansel that I picked up at the end of the tour and it was gooey and melty and fabulously chocolatey. It’s one of my favourite things they sell.
Oooh, painkillers have kicked in whilst writing this. Hurrah.
Hopefully writing to you from a pain-free space next week. Have a good one!
