Some definitely is, but others are quite specific to London restaurants.
Polenta for example is easy but not this version. Same with pearl barley risotto. Every indian restaurant serves Naan breads - but how many bacon naan?
Pizza is common but I have not seen spiced lamb, sumac yoghurt and cabbage on a menu, infant lamb seems quite rare in the states so are there many sloppy joes with spiced mutton.
I have enjoyed lots of shawama but never cauliflower. And the same for pate but never served as a fruit.
So its easy to say yes we have pizza or burger or indian restaurants but are they pushing similar boundaries…?
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
42
Not pizza, as such, but I’ve seen a version in middle eastern places a couple of times - flatbread, topped with cooked lamb mince (or maybe it’s sharwama), and quickly crisped in the oven before getting a drizzle of yoghurt. FWIW, Nigella Lawson had a “recipe” in one of her books (Forever Summer?) where she sprinkles the flatbread with za’atar - it only needs 30 seconds or so in a hot oven to crisp up.
The only South Asian restaurant I know that does a bacon naan is Dishoom. Some of the higher end ones do wild boar curries.
The Hindu owner of Thattukada was trying to persuade the Muslim one to serve Pork Fry for a bit, but it didn’t work out - he, being unreligious in every other aspect, decided to put his foot down on that one lol
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
52
Hunters’ BBQ is one of the several curry cafes in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Before what I presume was a change in ownership, they always had three or four “exotic” curries on the menu. Unfortunately, it is a shadow of its former self and is really now just a kebab place, not even offering the “rice and three” curries which are the mainstay of the other cafes.
1 Like
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
53
For those “dahn sarf”, Cafe Spice Namaste usually has some interesting meats on the menu. The chef owner is a Parsee so has no contraints over using piggy. He also makes great play over using rare breed meat, such as the Lop pig. Presumably that finds its way into the pork vindaloo - or the pulled pork in Goan masala (which sounds like a killer dish to me).
Directly related to the thread, they make much of their lamb dhansak (sp?). Now that’s a dish that you’ll find in many south asian restaurants but this version is worthy of the “amazing” category. Mrs Todiwala, who runs front of house, described to me as the Parsee equivalent of a British Sunday roast lunch - just a big, family get-together sort of dish.
Looks like I need it on my list to visit. Spent a lot of time in Dallas and ate at lots of recommended places - some nice food but never exceptional.
My info on Houston was from a pal who lives there - but I think he is some sort of retirement village called The Woodlands - which affect his perspective.
Also heard Houston is epic. There is a great section about it on Netflix Ugly Delicious if anyone can suffer David Chang’s douchery long enough to watch it.
Still haven’t made it to CSN! really need to go. Apparently it’s like the trendy thing at high end Indians now. TPH of Chelsea and Gymkhana have been offering it too. I am still to find a decent Pork Vindaloo so need to take you up on that rec!!
Respectfully suggest that you should stay unconvinced.
1 Like
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
60
I apologise unreservedly for making this suggestion - but there’s also the readily available turkey bacon. I have a family member who doesnt eat red meat (and classes pig as red meat) and swears by this for a Sunday bacon butty.
they are quite delicious