Dear London Town

I was invited to try Mooli’s today by the Qype team and on my way I tweeted that I was excited to go. My replies came back with lots of favorable (and jealous!) responses. So, I was definitely looking forward to giving it a shot.

I had no expectations, but I think I was still somewhat surprised that it was a ‘fast food’-type place by the look of it. But after meeting the guys and being offered a nice, thick mango lassi, I relaxed at a table and enjoyed watching Qype members challenge Sam to win a week’s worth of Moolis!

Then, the chutney came out: mint/apple, tamarind, roasted cumin raita, tomato (my absolute favorite), and spicy green chilli. Served alongside toasted poppadoms, I was in munching heaven. Each chutney was tasty and vibrant. I wanted to take them all home with me! After being told that they are made fresh daily that I would have to consume them the same day, my thoughts of a week of munching were dashed.

Getting thirsty again, I asked for a lemonade with mint (they also offer one with Indian rock salt?!) before heading into the kitchen to learn about R2D2 and Moolita. These two machines are responsible for helping churn out hundreds of roti daily. After seeing a demonstration, learning about the ingredients and history, we were able to taste one directly off the grill. Yum.

We also were treated to the recipe and demonstration of the mint and apple chutney. I will be making this at home for sure!
Ingredients:
1 bunch of mint – chopped
1 bunch of cilantro – chopped
1 green apple – chopped
1 green chilli – whole
10g fresh ginger or ginger puree
1 lemon – juiced
salt and water for taste/consistency

Directions:
Add the lemon juice to the blender first to prevent discoloration of the bright green. Then, slowly add the ingredients to the blender by the fistful. Add cold water to aid the rotation if it becomes to thick.
Serve with poppadoms, roti or your prefered dipping food.

Finally, we were able to taste a Mooli for ourselves. I chose a beef mooli, which is kerala beef with crunchy coconut, raita and salsa. It was delish. I considered trying the goat with punjabi potatoes, but I admit that I was not feeling adventurous. I did hear rave reviews that it was really tasty, though.

I will definitely return to Mooli’s. It has a convenient location in Soho, the prices (less than a fiver!!) work for my budget, the ingredients are super fresh and the staff is charming and hospitable. What more could you ask for?

Check out my review of Mooli’s – I am katmabufay – on Qype

Another Qype event brought me to Salt Bar, a whisky bar on Edgware Road. I’m slowly trying to learn to like whisky. Usually I have to have mine mixed with gingerale. Yet, a pairing of whiskies with traditional Scottish foods sounded intriguing. Talisker Whisky from the Isle of Skye was our host and we sampled three of their whiskies along with salmon blinis, haggis and tatties, and a chocolate mousse. Yes, folks, I tried my first haggis, which was first addressed by a Robert Burns poem:

Address to a Haggis.

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin’-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang’s my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a’ their weel-swall’d kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
‘Bethankit’ hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect sconner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither’d rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit:
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He’ll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow’rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!

What a great little gem! I had no idea this pub was lurking just a street over from my bus route. This is why Qype events are so great–they call attention to places that should be on your radar.

From the time I stepped in for a pint and ordered some chips (with some yummy garlic aioli) to the time I met Henry, the world’s cutest chef, I was smitten.

The atmosphere is intoxicating (yeah yeah, har har) and the food on the plates that passed me looked delish. And while I cant speak for the things I saw (including some rarely seen cuts of meat, hello HEART?!!), I can say the Scotch eggs are worth a nibble. I’d also pull up a chair to the bar and order one of the charcuterie platters, filled with delicate slices of meats and amazing fresh breads.

Yum-o!!

Check out my review of The Coach and Horses – I am katmabufay – on Qype

I am trying something new. I have added a feature that allows my reviews for Qype to be uploaded here. It posts automatically, so I will have to come in and do any posting of photos or videos to it after it is already live.

London – Eating & Drinking – Restaurants – Eating & Drinking – Restaurants – Turkish

Great prices for a ton of food. Boy and I chose to share the Meze platter. We had so much food for us that it was silly. I dont know how to pronounce most of what we had, but as far as the standard eats – the tastes were right on! Lots of good veg and tender meat bites served with a basket of pita for the many dips and delicious sauces — yum. The only bummer for me was that the dolmas/dolmades did not live up to my taste standards. But one dish out of ten is not too bad.

Check out my review of Gallipoli Again Restaurant – I am katmabufay – on Qype

Here’s the second video diary of Lauren’s visit to London. Daily dog count was somewhere near 20 when we left Greenwich Park, but I forgot to write it down and we didn’t record the final number on video.
(approx 9min)

Dear Class,

Today is my last day in London. I had eggs on toast with baked beans for breakfast. We dont normally eat baked beans at home for breakfast, but I think it’s good.

After breakfast, we went to Covent Garden and to a creperie and I had a crepe with Nutella. I went shopping and I got a magic trick and my mom got two scarves for us to share. I also got to mix my own tea for my teacher Mrs. DiLeo. It has cinnamon in it. Cinnamon smells sooooo good. I sat in an area between the market and another building and watched a street performer. He made five boys dance and three people be judges and the guys that had to dance were probably embarrassed by what they had to do. It was funny because one of the guys had to do a somersault.

From Covent Garden we grabbed a taxi to the Houses of Parliament because we were going to have a tour of the inside. My favorite parts were seeing the throne that Queen Victoria sat in where she rubbed the velvet off the armrests because she was nervous when she had to speak in front of people. My other favorite thing was seeing where the Queen sits when she visits the House of Lords.

When we finished the tour we went across the street to Westminster Abbey for Evensong. The choir is made up of boys and men. There were some boys my age in the choir. As we were leaving, we looked at the steps where the King or Queen walks up when they are being crowned King or Queen. We also asked one of the Reverends how many people are buried inside Westminster Abbey and he said approximately 3000!

After the Abbey, we went to a pub where I saw a special bell for the members of the Houses of Parliament (a division bell to signal the members when to return to Parliament — km). Then, we got on the tube and went to Chinatown. It had lots of hanging paper lanterns and bright colors like red, yellow, orange and pink.

For dinner, we went to Inamo. It had magic tables. There was an overhead projector over the table that made all these different colors and designs on the table. You could choose which one you wanted by using your finger as a mouse on a round place on the table (like a touchpad — km) and you could also play games like Battleship or picture puzzles, order food and drinks, and even call a taxi. I accidentally called one! I liked going to the chef cam where I could watch what was going on in the kitchen. I ate steak, rice and edamame. Yummy!

We left Inamo and went to Snog for frozen yogurt. I had chocolate yogurt. We walked back to Chinatown and went to a food shop to see all the different foods. Above the check-out desk were some candy toy guns and I got one for Evan and one for me.

We came home and packed because we go home to Kansas City in the morning. I wish we had the London Eye and the [architecture and interiors of the] Houses of Parliament and a Queen in Kansas City. I want to come back to London again some day to see the Thames River, do all sorts of fun things and try all kinds of different foods. I had a wonderful time.

See you all soon!

(More videos coming next week when I have time to finish editing them. As you can see, we have been VERY busy during our visit. Keep checking and I will try to post them within a week. The clips are hilarious. It’s hard to know what to choose! — km)

Lauren tried her first raw oyster tonight, as she mentioned in her post. I’m attaching the hilarious results of her culinary adventure. (approx 1min)

Here’s a quick look at the actual Nom Nom Nom ‘09 event sponsored by QypeUK and the Cookery School last Sunday.

Shopping took place at the Marlyebone Farmer’s Market.

We were given bags from the school and a 40gbp limit to produce a 3-course meal for 4 people.

After we returned with out goods, we were given stations and we set all our goodies out.

Photo credit: Chris Osborn/QypeUK

Then it was time to cook:

Photo credit: Chris Osborn/QypeUK

Finally, we plated it up for the judges to review. Starter: Prawn Summer Rolls with peanut sauce

Photo credit: Chris Osborn/QypeUK

Main: Thai Green Curry with chicken, tri-color peppers and courgettes served with Jasmine Rice

Photo credit: Chris Osborn/QypeUK

Dessert: Honey, lime and mint dressed berries over vanilla ice cream

Photo credit: Chris Osborn/QypeUK

The judges’ review of our meal was:

• Tom: The dishes were very good, with some great tastes overall. This team made a great effort and produced some great flavourings!
• Rosalind: Lovely idea, however the food needed to be a little tastier (think salt).
• Dan: A lovely selection and combination, but it needed more care in the finish and cooking.
• Alegra: Summer rolls were my favourite, they looked very sexy. Seeing the prawn through the wrapper made me think of silk knickers.
• Jenny: I liked the South East Asian focus, the summer rolls were very refreshing.
• Nick: Started looked great and very appetising. It was a lovely summer dish that followed through on taste, and I especially loved the watermelon for its colour and freshness.

We didn’t win, but we did take home lots of goodies!

Congratulations on a job well done to all the finalists!

For more pictures, see my full set, Tom’s set and the official QypeUK Nom Nom Nom 09 set. You should also check out the excellent documentary on the Qype blog.
Voting is still open for viewer’s choice… we’d love your vote, but we’d have a lot of ground to make up to knock out the front runners.

Qype and Cookery School are sponsoring a cooking challenge for bloggers. Each team has 2 bloggers preparing a starter, main and dessert. One item must not need to be cooked and the focus is on foods that are local, sustainable and seasonable.

I had really hoped to enter this competition earlier on, but I decided to take on a consultancy role to support one of the teams rather than participate. (My schedule has been crazy, so there was no way to know if I’d be available.) But after a conversation last Tuesday, I found that Tom and Chris’s team were going to be a man down due to a conflict. I volunteered to pinch hit and well…I’m ready to play ball.

I received the recipes that the boys had chosen just a few hours ago and, while I like the menu, I am skeptical of the choices based on the season, however I am game to try it.

The menu includes:
Pork Spring Rolls with Sweet Chilli Sauce
Thai Green Chicken + Potato Curry
Fruit Salad

I’m off to go have a think about making the menu a bit more summery and and the dessert a bit more special.

Tomorrow, I’ll update the blog with the final showing of what we and the others did. There is also an opportunity for people to vote on a winner – like a people’s choice award. Please support Tom, Chris (in spirit) and me! If you vote for us, I’ll cook for you.

Perfect weather and poolside eating. Lunch (not yet on the table) was made by E, who made a smoked mozzarella and carciofi (artichoke heart) pasta. We had fresh bread (delivered daily to their home!) and veggies from the giardino behind their home.