Thanks for your fab report!
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Interesting report. It reminds me how easy it seems to be to find diverse cuisines in the capital, compared with much of the rest of the country. The photos also remind me, somewhat depressingly, of how old I am - easily of the age to be the grandfather of virtually everyone depicted.
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Even at The Grapes? You must be old.
I was born in 1955. Harters said he was old. What does âyou must be oldâ mean?
It was my feeble attempt to make a joke which didnât translate well. Verbally it would be âYou must be old,â meaning if you could be the grandfather of the patrons at the Grapes, who looked older than me (1959 here), then wow.
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No worries. I understood the joke. And, yes, there were a few old gits in the pub
John
(aged 73 and 10 months)
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This is one thing I quite appreciate about the UK, the homey atmosphere of pubs where older people can feel at home (and children are often welcome also). In Ontario, where I grew up, we have things called âpubsâ, but they are just bars dressed up (and not very well, at that). Even when I was younger, I appreciated the quiet comfort. In grad school, I used to go down to a reasonable approximation to a pub in the flatlands of Berkeley, away from the university.
I totally got your jokeâŚI thought to myself, âgeez, Harters must be a sprightly 100-year-old!â
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The British pub scene has changed significantly in the last couple of decades. The smoking ban in the mid Noughties had a significant effect on customer numbers. As have increased prices more recently. Many pubs have branched out to start serving food (or expanding their food operation). But itâs been a dire few years for pubs that didnt have the space or, indeed, location to adapt their offer. People are drinking less and thereâs more drinking at home (to save money). Itâs meant that something like 25% of pubs have closed since 2000 and the latest figures Iâve found suggest thereâs about 18 pubs closing each week.
On the plus side, those pubs which have been able to concentrate on their food side are doing OK. And here I mean the pubs which have pretty much become casual restaurants in buildings that used to be pubs. We go for lunch quite often to a place nearby which is now part of a small national chain of such places where, within some overall group direction, each chef is able to set her/his own menu. This is the current menu at the Bulls Head:
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All right. Getting around to answering. Hackney has a load of bakeries, some better than others. I know Dusty Knuckle very well and their foccacia was my go-to. Their croissants and Danishes have great lamination so I got those when I wanted to splurge. Their bread? Itâs bread. I did bakery and fermentation classes at the DK class (trailer at the back) - always good. It could be that David L had more 40foot beers than you did, though! 
It is a vibe, though.
If you skipped the flower market, I donât think thatâs a bad thing. As much as I love it, the tourist buzz has made it an impossible Sunday trek. Youâre lucky to be able to move an inch or see the flowers unless youâre very very tall, Going very late in the market day at Christmas is my secret treat. I gather all the bits and pieces left behind and decorate for the holidays. Good old days.
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On my list now! Yeah the service charge. My guy was happy to tell them no 12.5 for you but I sucked it up. Not right. Really not.
Ok not a fan of Nigerian (or any African) cuisine so Iâll politely skip that bit. Duke of Richmond, you let me down with that lunch, Iâll say for sure that your choices might have been the wrong ones, but Iâll stay solid on my Sunday roast reco. Having said that, there are many fantastic roasts all over the UK. Iâm interested to know how you felt staying where you did. Were you glad you did it? Many more places I could have pointed you to but you did well, Enjoyed all the posts.
Well, Iâve already said that I donât get the hype on most of the Dishoom menu. But give me that black dhal and the chai any day. I get the bhel puri to balance it out but itâs not needed. And the decor is on point. I love their book - itâs a great read for the stories and the photos before we even talk about the recipes. I havenât had the black dhal anywhere else but I canât imagine it being better. If youâve had the Dishoom version and live in Toronto, persuade me otherwise, please.
I did make it to the flower market! I just went really early. I am not a plant person (I have strong seasonal allergies) but it was a pleasant visual experience, I took photos for my partner, and it wasnât at all crowded. I can see it being a destination for locals into gardening or needing to decorate for a special occasion.
I was quite happy to have stayed where I did, because the Airbnb was great (a bedroom with private bath, lovely hosts, and a good price for London), and I felt I got to see a lot of new-to-me parts of the city in more varied ways (more buses, DLR, Overground). I did get to some familiar ground in the centre but I didnât feel like I missed it or had a long trek to reach it.
My local Mumbai street food place does a black lentil dahl which they call âmaa ki dahlâ. I wonder if itâs the same thing.
Much as Iâd like to try Dishoom for dinner, their âno reservationâ policy makes it impractical. Iâd have an hourâs schlep into the city without any guarantee of being able to get a table (or at least get a table without a considerable wait).
Makhani dhal Iâve seen on menus. What makes Dishoomâs shine is its intense smoky flavour. Combination of smooth, fibrous, savoury, sweet, spicy, creamy - all the contrasts. The side of bhel adds the missing crunchy and tangy.
Yes. Variously called Kali (black) Dal, Maa ki Dal (which can be interpreted as âmaashâ which is another name for urad / matpe beans, or âmotherâsâ for Maa â but really itâs the former), Dal Makhani, and Dal Bukhara (for the Bukhara Grill at the ITC Maurya in Delhi, which makes a legendary version that was so popular they canned it).
(btw thereâs no aspiration / âhâ anywhere in the word Dal, though itâs frequently misspelled as such)
My visiting friends have reserved â wonder if itâs by location, or if they have just a few per place.
I think it takes reservations during the day, but not evening.
FWIW, South Asian restaurants, magazines, websites, etc, here spell it variously as dal/daal/dahl/dhal. Possibly different interpretations of pronunciation translated into Roman script.
Iâve seen it spelled with an âhâ in almost every location 
The only one that has a possible explanation is daHl, to extend the âaâ sound instead of writing âaaâ â but not to aspirate.
(soft / dental âdâ and âdhâ are different letters in Devanagari, the second an aspiration of the first â dal uses the first not the second)
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