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Hummus Brothers

Hummus Brothers
88 Wardour Street
W1F 0TJ
http://www.hbros.co.uk

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, December 14th

The Victim: Kiwi musician Flip Grater

The Damage: Very little.  

The Background: I like gimmicks. An all hummus restaurant? Sign me up. Why I haven't been here sooner, I don't know. (Same for Mother Mash. Must get there in 2009!)

I'm taking New Zealand singer-songwriter Flip Grater on a foodie tour of London. In the freezing, pouring rain. We're both soaked through, so there have been many stops. First, Borough Market. Then, Ottolenghi and Paul A. Young. Then Fernandez & Wells. Followed by Yauatcha and Flat White and finally, Hummus Brothers. Hummus Brothers was Flip's idea, and it's a good one. Because Flip is a vegetarian, and a non-dairy vegetarian to boot.

The Entrance: I'm immediate intrigued by the number of folks hanging out with laptops. Hummus Brothers offers free Wi-Fi. As someone who eats a lot of hummus and spends a lot of time online, well I think I've just stumbled across nirvana.

The Service: Our server is gorgeous. Really. His eyes are a startling shade of blue, and I like how he leans down to our level. He makes some suggestions without prompting. We order the mushroom hummus, along with some carrot sticks and falafal balls. He throws in an extra falafal ball for free. Truth be told, I wasn't a big fan of the falafal. But I liked the hummus. It had a really smooth texture with a very distinct sesame flavour. Mushrooms aren't my favorite things, but as Flip was the guest, mushrooms it was. And they were nice.

The Verdict: Cheap. Friendly. Fun. I'd go back here.

More about Flip: You can read her write-up of our day together on her site here. And here's a photo I took of Flip while we were at Fernandez & Wells.

And P.S., my dear readers. I missed you. Did you miss me?

Moshen

Moshen
152 Warwick Road
W14 8PS

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Victims: Howler, Limster

The Damage: Unknown! Howler paid!

The Background: In my spare time, I hang out on Chowhound, a community for what I would call foodie-travelers. The London board is a small board, so if you're not already on it, well, you should go check it out.

Howler and Limster are Chowhound veterans. They've been around forever and ever. Part of me doesn't want to ask how old they are but they must be young because they look it.

I'm met Limster before. You might know him from my Korean restaurant crawl. Howler, though is new to me.

He's picked the venue. And the wine. And I am late! I am never late. Blame the tube. And the walk from the tube. To Moshen, an Iranian restaurant across from a Homebase.

The Entrance: I am cold. And Moshen is warm. Howler and Limster have already started on the Chinon. And lucky for me, they've already ordered us starters. To be honest, I'm not really sure what I'm eating. There's some aubergine. And something yogurt-y. And something salsa-like. And lots of bread. It's all pretty excellent.

The Mains: Howler orders us a mixed grill. It's lovely upon arrival. The lamb is amazing...I've never seen lamb pounded so thin. And so much saffron! I mention that I like aubergine and lentils and my wish is delivered. Exactly. It's great too.

I've told you that I was late. Well, I am punished for it. It seems Howler is having hot water troubles too. He leaves an hour after my arrival, to go wait for the boiler repairman. He leaves Limster and me alone with our Iranian hosts with 2.5 bottles of Chinon. Excellent.

The Loos: Clean. And the stairs too! No round corners. Whoever is cleaning this place knows what they are doing.

The Verdict: I liked it here. And I got to take home the leftovers!

Return to Green Valley

I picked up some baklava from Green Valley on my way over to Feather's Christmas party in early December. Now I don't want to call myself a cheap guest or anything, but £15 got me a WHOLE LOT of baklava. Almost too much. Next time, I'll just tell them £10 quid worth. It's a much better gift than a bottle of wine.

Middle Eastern: Shish

313 – 319 Old Street
EC1V 9LE
Tel: 020 7749 0999

Date of Last Visit: 11 December 2007

The Victims: Jon, Matt, John

The Damage: £40 total

The Background: Matt and John are leaving me...flying back to the U.S. next week. So I decided to take them out to lunch and invited Jon along for the trip.

I don't know why I haven't written about Shish before. God knows I've been there enough times. I like Shish because I am cheap. A big group can eat there for £10 a head. I also like Shish because I like hummous and pita.

The Food: Above, I wrote that A. I like Shish and B. I like hummous and pita. You would think that would mean that I would enjoy the intersection of the two (or three, as the case may be)...the ven diagram, I suppose. But you know...I'm not sure. I am not a huge fan of the hummous at Shish. I like the pita, but I bet it comes from a plastic bag. The hummous needs salt. (But remember my nationality as you read that.)

But I do like the meal deal at Shish. That's why I keep coming back. for £8.95, you get two mezes (hummous & pita for me, plus some red peppers with feta cheese) and a main dish. Plus a drink! My main was a chicken skewer with rice and a little bit of salad. It was good. But just good. I think the chicken was just the slightest bit underdone. Hmmm.

The Loos: I do not ever want to use these again. I could not wait to get out of there. Uggh. Purell!!

The Verdict: I betcha I'll be back to Shish by March. I know. Don't hate me.

Where Lunch Ends 12 Hours Later, Part III

It's still early, so we decide to head over to the Salibsury Hotel in Haringey for a few drinks. The Salisbury Hotel is pretty neat...it's Victorian...ornate. Nooks & crannies. It was too dark to get a picture of all the wrought iron on the outside, but I found this picture on Flickr that hopefully no one will mind me using...

The Salisbury Hotel
1 Grand Parade, Green Lanes
N4 1JX
020 8800 9617

We're wandering around the Salisbury, looking for somewhere to sit when we run into my friend Alex, the world-traveler and the only person I know whose CD collection is larger than mine. He and Fripp are sharing a cozy little nook (note, they're not a couple or anything) and we join them for a beer. Well, one beer turns into four and before we know it, Fripp has disappeared and Alex is falling asleep at the table.

We leave.

But the night is not over yet! No! We hop on a bus--how we love the bus!--towards Holloway for what else but a kebab at nowhere else but...

Crystal Restaurant (also known as Crystal Kebab and Crystal Charcoal)
522 Holloway Road
N7 6JP
020 7281 2846

The lamb rotating on the spit doesn't have that overly processed look to it...it looks like real meat! And guess what? THEY ARE OPEN 22 HOURS A DAY.

My Chicken Doner is one of the absolute best I've ever had. Actually, it is THE BEST. It's not in a pita, but rather is wrapped in something almost tortilla-like. If they're Turkish, can you call it chapati? I ask for no tomatoes and no onions and the staff cheekily hand me my doner and announce that it has extra onions and extra tomatoes. And you know what? The staff are kinda cute. (But I will not deny the possibility of beer goggles at this point in the evening.)

So part of me is wondering if I am imagining the deliciousness of this kebab, but I did a little research and founds all sorts of positive reviews. BBC boards. London-Eating. And a site all about kebabs. And this from Restaurant Spy. I am not alone in dreaming about my next visit to Crystal.

We enjoy our kebabs and I tell all my stories of refusing to share hotel rooms with single girl friends anymore. (I've taken one for the team two times too many.) We wander to the bus stop--the 43 runs all night!--and digest our kebab and our best day ever.

Me: "Wow, I wonder what time it is. It must be around midnight or so."

Ben: "Yeah, probably around midnight."

Me, Looking at Mobile Phone: "Holy crap! It's 3 a.m.! We met at 3 p.m.!"

The End.

Holy Baklava! Green Valley

Green Valley
36-37 Upper Berkeley Street
Marylebone
W1H 5QE
Tel: 020 7402 7385

The Coral – In the Morning

Oh I know what I'm bringing to Feathers' Christmas Party now! If you've never been to Green Valley, I highly recommend a visit the next time you're around Marble Arch/Oxford Street/Edgware Road. It's not a big grocery store, but it sure is packed with lots of interesting treats. The windows are stuffed full of Baklava--in case you haven't noticed. In the back, there's a great looking butcher counter and then the prepared foods look lovely. I almost bought a kilo of artichoke bottoms. But I didn't. I just looked.

They're Everywhere: Maroush IV

68 Edgware Road
London W2 2EG
020 7224 9339

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, March 19

The Victims: Brian, Sarah, Bernard, Rafa, Anna, Dan, Simone, Damien, Suneeta, Aroma, Tony, Barry, Chris Evelien

The Damage: Really reasonable. A feast, for something like 14 quid each (no alcohol).

Brian and I had planned on brunch for about 8 people. If we were lucky. As usual, I was on time, and everyone else was not. Brian arrived about 15 minutes later, followed by Aroma and Tony. We grabbed a spot at Maroush IV. Please note that there are quite a few Maroush's around Edgware Road. Make sure you've got the right one. We were in the one on the corner.

Well, at 2:30 p.m., we were 6, and by 3 p.m, we were 10 and then at 3:30, we were 13. The poor waitstaff remained pleasant throughout, even though we were pains. They get points for that.

We put Chris in charge of ordering, and he did a fine job as always. Lots of hummous and babaganoush and that special deep fried cheese that's oh so good, but so, so, so bad. Ah yes, the labda, which I've written about before. I love Labna. (Is it cheese or is it yogurt?) Chris also ordered us up some meat ball things and some sort of shish kebab like meat. My least favorite part was the meat that looked like parma ham. I normally like everything, but it really was too strong tasting.

Lots of people enjoyed freshly squeeze fruit juice throughout their meal. Sarah was suspicious about how freshly squeezed it would be, but was highly complimentary of her juice when it arrived.

At the end of our meal, they brought us out all these delicious Lebanese pastries. Like baklava, only tinier and more delicious. When we left the restaurant, there were still a few sitting there and I really just wanted to scoop them all into my pocket, they were so, so good. I'm still thinking about them, two weeks later. Lovely.

The Verdict: You can't go wrong with any of the Maroushes.

Iranian: Patogh

8 Crawford Place
London W1H 5NE
Tel: 020 7262 4015

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, April 17

The Victims: Karen, Alex

The Damage: 15 GBP each

Alex used to live around Edgeware Road, and made it his own personal mission to try each and every restaurant in the hood. Patogh emerged as one of his favorites (if not his absolute favorite). Knowing Alex, and now having eaten there myself, I can see why.

Patogh is SMALL. The tables downstairs can maybe fit 12 - 15 comfortably. I did not see upstairs, but Alex says there are maybe three tables. The main server takes peoples names on a piece of paper, but there's nowhere to wait, so no guarantees if you miss your name!

The crowd is very interesting. When we first arrived, it was two large families (separate). One with three small children. They were perhaps Iranian, but I have no idea. Once they all cleared out, we found ourselves sitting next to some Americans and some Japanese, and across from people of middle eastern descent. How everyone found out about Patogh, I do not know.

We started with some cheese (feta-ish), some mixed greens (including mint leaves), some hummous, and a huge piece of special Iranian bread. I asked Alex why the menu said that you can't take the bread as take-away, and he explained that I'd understand why when I saw the bread. It was VERY large. That being said, I do not think that size makes it unsellable! And I'm sure many people would want it.

We also got some tea, which was quite nice because I am getting a sore throat--which is quite bad. And then Alex ordered us all the minced lamb, which was absolutely delicious.  Personally, I don't believe in everyone ordering the same thing at a restaurant because then you don't get to experience the restaurant's true strengths and weaknesses, but I let that one slide this time. The lamb came with a side of rice, which I could have lived without given the copious amounts of bread available. But well, you live, you learn.

The Verdict: I love the food at Patogh. And the atmosphere is very congenial and cozy. I felt a bit rushed to finish because people kept coming in looking for tables. But I also felt like I was in on some special secret because of the size of the place and the quality and quantity and price of the food. We ate like kings! For 15 GBP each. I wouldn't go here with a lot of people. Just one or two.