Shopping Pit-stop @ Cammasan (Pan-Asian), Kingston

{Update Apr 13 - Cammasan has been replaced by Oriental Kitchen. The concept and the menu remains very similar, though i.e. Pan-Asian}

Christmas shopping is torture. Unfortunately, you have to do it and that's why I spent one Saturday wandering aimlessly around the Bentalls Centre and John Lewis in Kingston-upon-Thames. I wasn't making much progress on my shopping so I decided to have a pit-stop for a late lunch.

Like most British high streets, chain eateries dominate in Kingston so it's heartening to see indie places like Cammasan in the town centre. This noodle bar and restaurant is located in the Charter Quay development with a full service Chinese restaurant on the first floor and a more modest noodle bar on the ground floor.

I plumped for the ground floor noodle bar and was handed a couple of menus, one was in English listing a selection of pan-Asian greatest hits from China, Thailand and Malaysia – stuff like sweet & sour pork, tom yum soup and laksa. The other was a bilingual menu with Cantonese one-dish meals and side dishes that wouldn't look out of place in a Hong Kong café.

It was from this second menu that I ordered Cantonese braised beef lao mein (£4.50) and a side of pak choi with garlic (£3.50). The classic dish of braised beef brisket (ngau laam) served on top of boiled noodles was simply luscious. The brisket was coated in rich star anise infused gravy and it simply melted in the mouth. I could've eaten this all day and it was a shame there wasn't more gravy for the noodles to soak up. The pak choi was perfectly stir-fried - a great accompaniment to the noodles.

However, there was one thing that let this dish down and it was the noodles. This dish should be served with fresh noodles (san mein) like the ones you get in proper wonton noodles. Instead Cammasan use 'dried san mein' - I know this is a bit of an oxymoron but these dried fine noodles (example pictured below) are similar in texture to san mein when refreshed.

I don't want to be a total arse about this as I like it here but it's a bit of a shame that such excellent beef brisket was accompanied by slightly inferior noodles. For all that there's nothing actually wrong with the noodles they serve and I understand why they use them. Without being patronising to Cammasan, they probably don't sell enough san mein dishes and it makes more sense to use dried noodles rather than waste unsold fresh noodles.

Together with green tea and service, the damage came to £10 – not bad value at all. Service was efficient although the communal benches aren't very comfy when it gets busy.

Verdict: If you find yourself in this part of deepest darkest Zone 6 then I'd recommend Cammasan. Based on the quality of the beef brisket and the pak choi, the kitchen certainly knows how to knock out classic Cantonese staples.

Other Stuff: In summer, there's an outdoor seating area which is a better option than the arse-numbing communal benches.

Dinner @ Bangalore Express (Indian), London

The weeks leading up to Christmas are a time for catching up with old friends but when you get to my age, it's hard to do two big nights out in a row. So after a Friday night that ended with dinner at Rasa Sayang, the last thing I wanted to do was to have a big Saturday. Mercifully, my mates El Greco, Nuf and The Ref weren't too keen on a big night either. So it was with great relief that after a beer or two, we left the Fire Station for a bite to eat. It was cold and we were lazy so we just crossed the Waterloo Road to try Bangalore Express.

It'd be fair to say that this is a trendy casual Indian gaff and Nuf had it spot on with his comment that it was Wagamama-esque. Modern art festooned the walls although it just about stayed on the right side of not being pretentious. On further reflection, it's also similar in concept to Masala Zone. We were seated at the end of a long communal table although there were also non-communal tables and double-decker booths.

It wasn't easy to order as the menu is frankly all over the shop – I can't even begin to describe how confusing and disjointed it looks – it's probably easier to check it out on their website. To confuse matters further, many of the dishes had lengthy descriptions and don't get me started about the inappropriate use of the word tapas in a non-Spanish context.
 

Once we got over the menu confusion, we ordered some poppadoms (£2.50) which were cracking and the following dishes from their 'tapas' and 'tandoori' sections to start:

• Chicken tikka masala cocktail sausages
• Tandoori lamb chops
• Golden fried tiger prawns with chilli jam
• Onion bhajis

These all cost £4.50 each but were largely disappointing. The sausages were particularly piss poor, I couldn't tell that they were made of chicken and I'm not sure what made them tikka. The Ref remarked they could have come from Iceland but I'm pretty sure not even Kerry Katona would've served these up. The three lamb chops were tough and overcooked to oblivion whilst decent quality prawns were murdered by a thick, soggy, and claggy batter. The pick of the bunch were the onion bhajis but there would've been something seriously wrong if they managed to balls these up.

Ignoring the gimmicky post-modern Indian spin on fish & chips, burgers and calzone, we plumped for more orthodox fare for our mains. Nuf went for a large dosa (made with chilli hot batter) filled with tandoori chicken, grilled peppers and masala mash. The rest of us used the menu grid to create the following 'big plates of curry & rice':

• Chicken – jalfrezi – chickpeas & spinach – pilau rice
• Chicken – dhansak – sweet potato mash – pilau rice
• Chicken – tikka masala – potato & sesame salad – pilau rice

All our mains cost £8.50 and thankfully they were much better than the starters although that wouldn't be too hard. Nuf's order was the pick of the bunch – a well made giant dosa with a tasty generous filling although I thought the accompanying dahl was too salty.

Our big plates had a fresh clean taste although we all agreed that they it lacked zing (including my supposedly hot jalfrezi) with El Greco describing the spicing as 'tourist strength'. Other minor complaints included the chicken breast being a bit dry, not enough curry sauce and over-salty spinach. On the plus side the naan breads (£2.50 each) were really excellent, in particular the garlic naan.

For desserts, Nuf and The Ref ordered the Bangalore express sundae (£4.25) which they thought was too sweet. The total bill was pretty reasonable at £93 for four including 12.5% service – although it should be noted we didn't order many drinks. Service was unobtrusive, sometimes overly so as we had to remind the waiters of our drinks orders and missing cutlery.

Although the food was a mixed bag, it was a top night as the guys all got in touch with their inner foodie. Throughout the meal, they chipped in with insightful comments and whilst some were tongue in cheek, most of them were on the money.

For example, Nuf suggested that I blog about Sri Lankan cuisine as they use noodles in the form of string hoppers. Whilst El Greco despaired at the poor standard of meze served by chains like Tas and how they just don't measure up to proper Greek meze.

However the biggest revelation of the night was The Ref. Considering his favourite eateries number KFC and Kebab King, he really embraced the esprit de blog. All night, he came out with brilliant one-liners whilst doling out imaginary yellow cards to the waiters for any sign of poor service. Not content with giving Giles Coren a run for his money, he even came up with some ideas for future blog features. Unbelievable !

Verdict: Maddeningly inconsistent – it's hard to believe that the same kitchen that knocked out the excellent dosa and the naan were responsible for the poor tapas and the crimes against lamb chops. I wouldn't hurry back here but I might pop in for a dosa if I happened to be out and about in the Waterloo area.

Other Stuff: There's a branch of Bangalore Express on Gracechurch St in the City and I wouldn't surprised if it develops into a mini-chain.

Post-pub Dining @ Rasa Sayang (Malaysian & Singaporean), London

I've never understood why the Straits cuisine of Malaysia and Singapore isn't more popular in the UK. Given the popularity of Chinese, Indian and Thai food, you'd have thought it'd be a winner especially as it has much in common with all three.

Whilst Indian is the traditional choice for post-pub dining, I reckon Straits cuisine would make for a great way to end the evening. To put this theory to the test, I met up with my old mate, the Italian Shetland Pony, his missus and a few other muckers on a pre-Christmas Friday night out.

Now ISP and I have been mates since I first moved down to London from the North in the mid-90's. But it's funny how things turn out as he's recently made the opposite journey – this proud son of Essex now resides in England's finest county, Lancashire.

Anyway, this makes the rare nights out all the more special and after a few beers in Soho – all in the cause of research – we pitched up at Rasa Sayang sometime after 11pm. I've blogged about this place before as part of my soup noodles odyssey but the prawn noodles I had weren't the best choice so I thought I'd give them another post as I do like it here.

Being a bit of a control freak, I took charge and ordered some sides to share - three portions of roti canai, a portion of curry cheung fun (both pictured above) and two portions of spring rolls. The coconutty curry sauce in the first two dishes was really zingy and I wish I ordered more of the cheung fun as these rice noodle rolls were very more-ish.
 

For the mains, I let people order their own - I had beef rendang (pictured above) – spicy yet with the taste of the coconut milk coming through. ISP ordered a giant bowl of curry laksa (photo at top) and I guess he enjoyed it as he soon polished it off. Other mains included nasi lemak, another beef rendang and a couple of dishes that I didn't make a proper note of – one was a stir fried noodle dish of Hokkien origins and the other was a chicken curry served with roti.

At this late hour, detailed analysis of the food was always going to be a big ask – 'it's all good' and 'this is tops' were the level at which most of the comments were pitched. The only decent attempt at proper critique was by ISP's better half on her chicken curry – 'it's got potatoes in it' and 'it's hot but in a nice way'.

A great end to a great night out – Rasa Sayang is ideal for late night dining be you sober or drunk. It was definitely superior to your average late night ruby and was great value at a mere £14/head including service and a round of drinks.

Postscript – you're probably wondering how Italian Shetland Pony got his nickname. The fact is that the ladies on my section at work gave him this nickname as let’s face it, he was no stallion. To this day ISP is adamant that I invented this nickname to curry favour with the ladies. But really what kind of a mate would do that ?

Cooking with Nissin Ramen

Although Japanese in origin, Nissin Ramen or to give it its Cantonese nickname – 'gongzai mein' (lit. cartoon character noodles) has become a Hong Kong staple. Consequently, it's also popular amongst British born Chinese and entire shelves are given over to these packets of instant soup noodles in Chinese supermarkets across the UK.

These were probably the first noodles I ate and whilst these heavily processed treats aren't particularly good for you, they are very addictive. Back in the day, there was one flavour – 'original' which came with sachets of MSG soup base and sesame oil. Nowadays, there are loads of flavours such as chicken, spicy, tokyo shoyu, and my favourite, XO sauce seafood.

So what's the big deal about these 35p pack of noodles ? Well I think they were responsible for me becoming Mr Noodles. Like many a student leaving home, I was given a care package. Unlike most of my peers, it included a big box containing 30 packets of chicken flavour Nissin Ramen. I lived off these humble noodles and before long they gained a cult following amongst my friends.

Giant batches of noodles would be cooked to round off a night down the pub or a poker session. I started to experiment adding various ingredients to the mix although I soon realised that my special of beer noodles was a waste of both beer and noodles. I guess there's a reason why Nissin HQ in Tokyo never came up with Newcastle Brown Ale flavour ramen.

To this day, I keep a supply of Nissin Ramen in the store cupboard. After a long day at work, you can rustle up a meal in 3 minutes after the kettle has boiled. The thing is though a bowl of just soup noodles is a tad boring and not a very balanced meal.

So how do you go about pepping it up ? The easiest way is to throw in some vegetables when cooking the noodles – pak choi, watercress, and baby leaf spinach work particularly well. I also like to poach an egg atop the noodles in the saucepan. Another option is to add leftover siu mei or roast meats to the noodles. Whatever you end up with, garnish with spring onions and voila a quick TV supper after a crap day at the office.

Now the sachet of flavouring is not to everyone's taste. It is mainly MSG and whilst for most people, a little won't hurt from time to time, that's not an option to those who are allergic to the stuff. My tip is to cook the noodles without adding the sachet of soup. Having discarded the cooking water, dress the noodles with soy, sesame oil, chilli oil, ginger, garlic, and spring onion and you have a simple lo mein as a side dish.

New Year's Resolutions

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Happy New Year ! Like most people, I'm crap at keeping my New Year's resolutions but this year will be different as I have my blog to keep me on the straight and narrow. So as my personal resolutions fall by the wayside, the blog will be doing its best to stick to its resolutions which are:

More Noodles

Considering my blog is called 'Eat Noodles Love Noodles', it's pretty poor that so little has been written about noodles over the last couple of months. This is going to change and the blog will refocus on noodles which means I'll be back on the trail of London's best noodles. I'll also be taking the blog in a new direction by posting about different types of noodles and how to cook them.

Global Noodles

I'll be tracking down noodles from different parts of the world. Up to now, I've only looked at noodles in East Asian cooking. Of course, there's pasta but I want to cast my noodle net outside of the traditional strongholds of the Far East and Italy. I've started my research but I have no idea where this will lead !

Cooking ? You have got to be shi.....

I'm a bit nervous about this as I can't believe that I'll be giving tips on how to cook on the internet. Whatever next, Roy Keane writing about anger management ? I'm not quite sure how this will pan out but I won't be using recipes – think of it as punk cooking – well something like that anyway. Truth is I'll be making it up as I go along.

Eating Locally

I live south of the river on the boundary of Zones 3 and 4, not that you'll know from my blog. The fact is I've been concentrating on Zone 1 eating and whilst I'll continue to write about central London, I'm going to start spreading my wings to all parts of this great city.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia / HBO

My Code

Like Omar from The Wire, I have a code except mine is to do with blogging rather than stealing from drug dealers. I know there's a food bloggers' code of ethics out there but that’s too restrictive for my liking. I mean who has time and money to go to a restaurant more than once before writing about it. So here is my code:

Try to be fair – reviewing restaurants is highly subjective and so many factors can affect your experience. I like to think I do this anyway but I will explain in detail why I dislike a place and whether there were any particular circumstances that might have influenced my opinion. This also means ......

Full disclosure – by this I don't just mean letting you know if I get a freebie (see below). It also means informing my readers whether I'm a regular at a certain restaurant or whether I've had bad experiences at a place in the past. And whilst we're on the subject of full disclosure, you should know that I'm not always consistent.......

Consistency – I'm a sucker for a certain type of eatery – you know the ones – places like Hung's, Song Que, Ramen Seto, and Chilli Cool where the kitchen takes precedence over interior design. Rightly or wrongly, I know I will give these places an easier ride than posh glitzy restaurants and shiny boxfresh chains. I know this isn't consistent with trying to be fair but at least you now know where I'm coming from.

Freebies – I've yet to be offered any freebies from any food-related PR peeps. Anyway, if I do get one then I'll fully disclose the fact and will try my best to review it as if I'm a paying customer. By the way, if Marcus Wareing’s PR is reading this, please can you let the great man know that dinner at Petrus remains one of finest meals I've ever had. Although it was nearly 10 years ago, it feels just like yesterday. Frankly, it's a travesty that he hasn't got his 3rd Michelin star yet. Well you never know who's reading......