Tooting - I'm Not Worthy

Tooting is wasted on me. If I weren't such an armchair foodie then I'd probably do more of my food shopping in this part of town. There's so much vitality here and its infinitely more interesting than the sanitised homogeneity of the average British high street.

For example, when was the last time you saw such large watermelons at the your local Sainsbury's ? And where else, does every other shop seem to be selling Pakistani honey mangoes ? I was also well chuffed when I picked up a 5kg bag of basmati rice for £7.99 – half the price of what I'd usually pay.

After finishing my shopping, I decided to stop off for a quick bite before going home. Dosa 'N' Chutny seemed to be attracting loads of South Asian customers so I followed the crowds to this South Indian and Sri Lankan joint. I only intended to pop in for a dosa but seeing how cheap everything was, I went a bit mad and ordered two starters and a main. Oh come on, the samosas only cost £1 and they were homemade.

My second starter was the weekend special of tandoori quail (£2.95) and this was a superstar of a dish. Charred on the outside, juicy and succulent inside, and infused with spices throughout, this quail had been marinated properly and cooked to perfection. I'd forgotten that dishes from the tandoor could taste this good. I don't know why they gave me cutlery, as this was definitely a job for hands. Quite possibly, one of the best dishes I've eaten in my time as a blogger.

For my main, I decided against a dosa and instead went for kothu, a Tamil dish that isn't all that common in London. I went for the chicken kothu partotha (£4.25), which consists of chopped parotha (aka paratha) with chicken, egg, vegetables and spices cooked on a tawa, a kind of griddle.

When asked about the spice level, I mistook the question as a challenge to my masculinity so I demanded hot. With hindsight, this was a mistake as it was slightly too spicy for my liking. It was tasty though and I liked the contrasting textures but it did get samey after a while. This was probably due to the generous portion size and I couldn't finish it off. Next time, I think I'll go for the tandoori quail, followed by a dosa.

Well I'm going to make a mid-year resolution and that's to rely less on the supermarket. That means I'll be returning to Tooting to do more of my food shopping and it'd be remiss of me not to pop into Dosa 'N' Chutny although the vegetarian restaurant next door looks pretty good too......

Dinner @ Papaya (Sri Lankan), London

I moved down to London in the summer of 1994 – please don't work out my age – and on the stereo were the sounds of Blur and Oasis. Together with Suede and Pulp, they were the big boys of Britpop, the soundtrack of my early years in the capital. But as with all trends, Britpop was also full of 'me-too' mediocrities like Menswear and Northern Uproar who were unbelievably shite.

The era also spawned some bands that fell between these two extremes. Bands like Shed Seven and The Bluetones, who knocked out some killer tunes but whose albums could be patchy. In my opinion, songs like Chasing Rainbows and Slight Return would make anyone's Britpop compilation tape (tape – that's how old I am).

I know what you're thinking, just what the hell has this got to do with Sri Lankan food ? Well, part way through my meal at Papaya, I decided that this Ealing restaurant was a bit like Shed Seven. Having suggested The Bluetones, Mr Pak Choi then decided they were bit too good to be represented by Papaya in my 'ranking by Britpop' system. Apologies if you're bemused but please bear with me !

As Papaya is my mate Nuf's local, the family Nuf consisting of Mrs Nuf, Fay, and Yasmin joined us. Also in attendance were Mr Pak Choi, El Greco, and Mysterious Miss A (I promised everyone a mention in the style of radio DJ's of old). 

First impressions were positive as the warm interior made us feel at home from the off. Although it was quite empty when we rolled up at 7.30, the dining room soon filled with groups of mates, couples, and family outings, which gave it a convivial atmosphere.

Being a group of eight meant we could give the mainly Sri Lankan and South Indian menu a good going over. Although there were a few High Street curry house dishes for numpties the unadventurous, I gently encouraged my fellow diners to go Sri Lankan or at least South Indian and with one or two exceptions, they complied. 

The starters were cheap with none costing more than £3.50 but when the poppadoms were the highlight, you know you've got a problem. I can't be certain but many of the starters had a "made somewhere else" feel about them with only the uridu vadai (dhal rings) looking anything like own-made.

Most disappointing were the fish cutlets that looked like scotch eggs and the beef rolls and mutton rolls that reminded me of potato croquettes. In particular, the mutton rolls were a bit tough and like the beef rolls needed a bit of the chutney from the uridu vadai to perk it up.

I wasn't a fan of the doughnut-like uridu vadai, and whilst the accompanying chutney was tasty, they were bland and stodgy – not at all dhal-y. I didn't try the samosas or the crab claws although the latter looked like the Chinese restaurant two doors down could've served it. Not the most promising of starts.

Onto the mains, these were keenly priced between £6.95 and £9.95. I went for a Sri Lankan king prawn curry (headline photo) which the waiter advised me to have medium. This was a shame as I could've done with it being spicier. That said, it was delicious and it went really well with the string hoppers (see my previous post for the lowdown on these Sri Lankan noodles). Like much of the food here, the curry and noodle combo seemed to have some South East Asian influences, in particular the use of tamarind and coconut milk.

The ladies of the family Nuf went for the devilled dishes, which were stir-fries with spices, onions, tomatoes, and capsicums. The best of these was the king prawn (pictured below, centre) as it really absorbed the flavour of the spices. I didn't try the chicken but the lamb chops were past their best by the time I got my grubby mitts on one.

I had full-on main course envy when I tried the kothu. Just why the hell didn't I order this ? A choice of rotti, string hoppers, or pittu chopped up and mixed on a griddle with egg, onions, chilli, with either seafood, meat or veg. 

My favourite was the seafood kothu w/string hoppers (pictured above), which Mysterious Miss A sadly couldn't finish. Despite being ordered mild, I loved the richness of this dish and the string hoppers really soaked up the seafood flavour. I will definitely order this dish if I ever return here albeit with the spice level turned up. I also liked mutton kothu w/string hopper - it had a real kick as Nuf wisely ordered it hot. Less successful was PC's beef kothu w/pittu as I wasn't over-enamoured with the couscous-esque pittu. 

Having let the side down with his safe choice of meat samosa starter, El Greco plumped for chicken masala dosai. I didn't get to try it as he soon polished it off which meant that it was either really tasty or he was really nervous having seen me have a crack at everybody else's main.

We also ordered loads of sides including okra curry, coconut sambol, chapathi, paratha, poori, egg rotti, lemon rice, and string hoppers (I think I may have missed out a few). Sadly some of these sides stopped the mains from going for gold. In particular, the family Nuf thought the chapathi was thick and doughy whilst PC likened the texture of the poori to the outside of a microwaved petrol station pasty. Well at least they didn't balls up the string hoppers as there is no way back from noodle failure.

The bill was roughly £250 between eight including service. This was excellent value when you consider: 1) we were there for over three hours during which time we were amply topped up with Sri Lankan Lion lager, wine, lassis, and whisky (Nuf's latest fad) and 2) we over ordered as the masala dosai and kothu were complete meals and we didn't need that many side dishes. 

Service was good although the waiters did initially try to take the piss by getting us to order even more side dishes. Overall, it was a great night out and we all left keen to sample more Sri Lankan food. 

Verdict: Shed Seven were a great live act with some killer singles and to draw parallels, Papaya is a good night out with some excellent dishes. Yet like the York band, there are problems with consistency, in particular the disappointing starters and sides. In short, this is a decent neighbourhood restaurant but not somewhere you'd go out of your way to visit. 

Other Stuff: Although Papaya is in Ealing with a branch in Rayners Lane, most of London's Sri Lankan eateries can be found in Tooting and Wembley. 

World Of Noodles 2: String Hoppers

Over a distinctly mediocre curry before Christmas, my friend Nuf mused that the next time we were out, we should try his local Sri Lankan restaurant. I was a bit sceptical until he revealed that noodles in the form of string hoppers or to use their Tamil name, idiyappam are a staple of Sri Lankan cuisine.

We finally got round to trying noodles Sri Lankan style, a couple of weeks ago but the subsequent write-up was in danger of becoming the world's longest blog post. That's why I've decided to cover some background information in this post. 

As you can see from the top photo, string hoppers are noodle cakes, which can either be made out of rice flour or wheat flour. The noodle dough is pressed through a special sieve to form the cakes, which are then steamed. There are loads of recipes on the internet like this one from the blog, Sri Lanka Cooking.

String hoppers are popular throughout Sri Lanka and South India where they are served with curry as an alternative to rice or bread. They are also used in a variant of the renowned Sri Lankan street snack, kothu (usually made with roti). Pictured above is seafood kothu where string hoppers are chopped up and mixed on a griddle with egg, onions, chilli, and seafood.

So would the combo of string hoppers topped with a Sri Lankan curry be to my liking ? And would the kothu be as tasty as it looked ? All will be revealed in the next post. In the meantime, I'd love to hear from any readers who can provide more insight into string hoppers and their role in Sri Lankan and South Indian cuisine.