Food Stalls: Chula Fused Foods

Here's a piece originally written for www.londonist.com as part of a series which shines a light on some of London's best artisan food producers and businesses which attend markets around the city. 


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Business: Chula Fused Foods

Based: HQ at Park Royal
What: Street food stall serving Indian inspired burrito-style wraps

Chula Fused Foods is the brainchild of Vinod Patel, a man well placed to deliver his take on the burrito. He spotted the full potential of street food in those heady pre-Meatwagon days when London’s offering still consisted primarily of pallid sausages and playing Russian Roulette with e coli. And for that matter, the heady pre-Wahaca days when our Mexican know-how didn’t go much further than Old El Paso. Yep, you’ve guessed it: Vinny had travelled to the States.

Back in town and following a foodie path, Vinny started work in the first UK outpost of American super-chainChipotle. Moving through four ranks from ‘crew member’ to ‘service manager’ in record time, he was in training to become a store manger when he decided once and for all that the corporate food world wasn’t for him and took the leap of starting his own business.

Restaurant Review: Lovage

I've always thought that Indian restaurants shouldn't try too hard to be fancy, and for my money Lovage near Tower Bridge gets the balance of sophistication and simplicity just right.This is my review for South London Press.

A stone’s throw from the foodie bustle of Borough Market and mere minutes’ walk from touristy Tower Bridge, Lovage feels like it’s in a different world.

This vast Indian restaurant occupies a corner spot on a residential Bermondsey street and makes the space its own. A tout dressed in traditional Indian costume stands outside, acting to attract attention from passers-by as much as to greet customers. Giving a first impression which recalls the bartering and competition of Brick Lane, albeit in a competition-less area, it’s ironic that our waiter later finds the time to tell us how the restaurant isn’t like the majority of establishments on the famous East London curry street, but rather a higher end dining establishment offering a series of unique and specially prepared dishes alongside the classic options.

Indian Intoxication at Carom

I didn't say no to the offer to partake in a bit of mixology and whisky drinking at new Indian-themed bar Carom. Here's the piece I wrote for Scout London about it.

The build-up to Christmas last year saw new Indian dining concept Carom swing open its doors in the spot above Cuban bar Floridita at 100 Wardour Street. It’s the latest newbie from restaurant behemoth D&D London, and their first foray into Indian dining.

The bar here is key, and it takes just a glance around the carefully orchestrated decor of lanterns and curtains to see the effort that’s been put in to transforming the potentially cavernous space into a cosy sub-continental retreat.

Restaurant Review: Potli

Here's a post originally written for www.londonist.com, as part of their Dining Beyond Zone 1 series of restaurant reviews. Follow Londonist on Twitter to keep up with their daily posts on all things London.

Who’d have known that a westbound District line service could take you so far east? It’s a superb Vietnamese restaurant, a couple of Chinese eateries and a Thai ‘lounge bar’ which dominate the stretch of vibrant King Street close to Ravenscourt Park tube.

Potli is the latest Asian on the block, replacing a shabby tandoori grill with an Indian that’s about as far from a curry house as you can get.

A cosy square of restaurant space is adorned with Indian knickknacks, tribal masks and nostalgic paintings. Vibrant reds and rich browns add a feeling of authenticity and back up the warmth of the staff’s welcome as they show us to the table and take the time to explain the restaurant’s concept of bringing regional Indian food, which has been passed down through generations, into London.

Cooking Indian Fish & Chips with Vivek Singh

As part of the build-up to London Restaurant Festival, which I'll be working at over the next couple of weeks, I was recently invited to try my hand at an Indian take on fish & chips at Cinnamon Kitchen with chef Vivek Singh.

The dish will be served as part of a special London Restaurant Festival menu this coming weekend at sister restaurant Cinnamon Club. Don’t worry. It will be chef Vivek Singh cooking yours, not me.

If you think you’re up to it, check out the recipe below to try it for yourself. And do look out for me looking gormless with a potato in my hand. Oh yes.

The World's Hottest Cocktail. Done.

A spot of bravado here, in the form of me consuming what is reputedly the world's hottest cocktail. That's in terms of chilli, not degrees. I fearlessly (sort of) devour the fiery Illiana cocktail at Zenna bar in Soho.

Named after a mythological Indian golden dragon, the rum-based cocktail comes topped up with a bespoke chilli sauce and requires the signing of a waiver form before consumption. It's also thoughtfully paired with a 'fire extinguisher' filled with Gin Fizz to help tame the inevitable burn.

Thanks to fabulous food blogger and general wino about town Lucy Shaw for filming and providing commentary. And, of course, for persuading me to drink it in the first place. Follow Lucy @lucylondon and read her gastronomic tales at http://finewineandthecity.blogspot.com/.

Restaurant Review: Ganapati

Here's a restaurant review originally written for my South London Press column. Ganapati is one of my all-time favourite Indian restaurants in London.


Ganapati sits off the beaten track in a gentrified enclave of Peckham that you’d never guess was mere minutes from Peckham Rye station and the high street. The restaurant focuses on South Indian food and references the street food culture of the area as an influence. The thing with Ganapati, though, is that aside from perhaps naan bread, paratha and a dhal, you’re unlikely to be able to pick out a single dish you recognise from the menu as their offerings deliberately stray from the norm.

The kitchen is headed up by chef Claire Fisher, who is notably not Indian. Her passion for the cuisine started when she travelled the area in 1992, and she’s revisited numerous times since, bringing seldom seen products such as kudampuli (smoked tamarind) back with her. In Ganapati’s menu, she brings together traditional dishes which have somehow not made it onto the repertoire of Britain’s Indian restaurants, and isn’t afraid to add some of her own twists either.

Restaurant Review: Namaaste Kitchen

Here's a restaurant review originally written for www.londonist.com. Follow Londonist on Twitter to keep up with their daily posts on all things London.



Namaaste Kitchen was launched onto Camden’s Parkway by the team behind Bloomsbury’s Salaam Namaste in the weeks before Christmas, though we’ll confess to it being the New Year before it properly hit the Londonist radar.

It may have been a soft launch, but a recent visit made one hell of an impression. Owner Sabir Karim presides over the sleek black venue accented by stylish light fittings and artwork, but dominated by the open kitchen. A Tandoor oven is accompanied by Sigri (cooking over coal) and Tawa (cooking on an iron plate) grills, and it’s these methods that churn out everything from tikka, chops and curries to naans, rotis and kebabs.