Salaam Namaste - a quietly confident curryhouse in King's Cross - May 2011

Where: Salaam Namaste, Kings Cross
With Who: a whole heap of reprobates
How much: £30 a head for curry, rices and breads, (a lot of) lager and service
Come here if: you've run out of options in King's Cross and can't face the walk into town

So we needed a curry house. For ten people. Nothing too clever or too different but somewhere that would satisfy my foodie pretensions. And, at the request of Lebanese Al, over for a very short visit from Beirut, somewhere that served Chicken Tikka Masala... oh yeah, and we needed it in King's Cross.

Sometimes a total lack of options helps sharpen the focus. Once we'd ruled out the fantastic Eritrean restaurant Addis (for its lack of Tikka Masala) and veto'ed the shit in a tray merchants along Pentonville Road we were left with one choice, Salaam Namaste. I say only one choice, it had been checked out slightly. Telegraph critic Matthew Norman has rated it his favourite Indian restaurant in London and it's the only one in the area covered by Charles Campion's excellent local restaurant guide. Preparation prevents piss poor performance. Or so my teachers told me. And thankfully it's true in this case, preparation led us to a pot of gold.

It certainly doesn't look like much. Large open windows, bright generic decor and furnishings combine with the sub continental muzak to make the place timeless and placeless, and not in good ways. The food on the other hand is as lively, fresh and refined as you could want for. Poppadoms and zingy pickles took the edge off our hunger as we scanned the diverse menu. They don't seem to have any regional specialism, bouncing from West to East coast taking in

My lamb barra kebabs, an Afghan speciality, were small but perfectly formed. Cooked to a deep pink and charred on the outside by the heat of the tandoor, the spice kick came after a sweet and unusual taste of kachri or dried cucumber powder, a regional ingredient and not one i've tasted before. A 'tarragon' squid dish also stood out, partly because the predominant herb was a clean and (for sub continental cuisine) unusual shot of dill. The squid was soft and sweet, like al dente pasta of the sea.

The mains were similarly intriguing. They too zipped around the region, like a hyper-active Michael Palin, taking in treats from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and every nook of India. Conventional curries lurked for the unadventurous. A dry beef curry came spicy with citrus sour kick and a wonderfully subtle Welsh lamb biriyani arrived authentically and theatrically with the bone protruding through a thin dough 'lid'. Other standouts included a refreshing and light Goan green curry with tangy tamarind and a clever vegetable side of mixed peppers and onions dry fried with a coconut crusting. The targeted Tikka Masala was pronounced perfection on a plate by Lebanese Al, but the sauce was too astringent for me. The chicken was well enough cooked but I didn't feel the love here.

It wasn't particularly busy but we didn't arrive till 9.30. At lunch, and earlier in the evening, I've a feeling it'll be packed with lawyers from the many nearby courts though it's cheap enough and authentic enough to garner an audience among the sub continental students around Russell Square.

Salaam indeed...

Busabi Eathai

Where: Busaba Eathai, Bloomsbury

How much: Three main courses and a side to share came to £44. Most mains hover around the £10 mark.

I've always been a little amazed by Busaba Eathai. Ten years after do no wrong restaurateur Alan Yau first opened the first branch on Soho's Wardour Street, the crowds still line up outside the reservation free communal tabled Thai eateries. We arrived at 7pm on a Friday night and waited 20 minutes outside before being given a menu. There were a few people who had sorted the system and nipped in to 'meet friends', there were also a couple who seemed to be treated as VIPs and managed to queue jump somehow. It's not a system I'm a big fan of personally, though the fact there was a queue throughout means that it must work for some people. We ordered finally 45 minutes after arriving. It would normally have been way too long for me to wait.

We went for three mains and a side to share. The Green Curry beef was ok but the large amounts of a vaguely tasteless vegetable along with the beef felt more like filler than anything else. A grilled ribeye was thin, though well cooked and tender, and went well with the sour tamarind sauce it was served with. We both felt let down by the alleged 'crabmeat' rice, which other than a couple of rather incongruous mushy tomatoes and a lonely looking spring onion was nothing more than a bowl of plain rice. I'd have been badly let down if I'd ordered that as a main course on its own. The Thai calamari was excellent however. Perfectly cooked and seasoned. 
Despite the shared tables it didn't feel too intrusive or loud. That being said, we were on a table with a large group and did feel like we were intruding on their party. Other comment would be that on the large communal tables the central sauces felt far too far away so that you were intrusively leaning over people to get to them.

The menu seemed a little smaller than I remember. There didn't seem to be much by the way of starters, though I get that they may not be culturally appropriate. Having checked with their website I see that there aren't any desserts and while fresh fruit couldn't appropriately be served year round, there are a number of Thai desserts that would have rounded it off nicely. It was a good meal, but not worth the 45 minute wait.

Brief review of Bea's Of Bloomsbury - May 2010

Where: Bea's of Bloomsbury, Theobald's Road, Bloomsbury (oddly enough...)
With: The Masticator
How much: He wouldn't tell me. What a gent. Cupcakes are £2.50 each, we had three to share with coffees.

Unassuming little cafe frontage on busy Theobald's Road, opens up into a beautifully chic little cafe. It was worth the 10 minute walk through the park from King's Cross. It doesn't have the nicest of views, though as we sat outside on the first sunny day of the month I couldn't help but be grateful it wasn't on nearby pedestrianised Lamb's Conduit Street. Cupcakes of this quality would ensure a permanently packed front stoop.
A light passionfruit and vanilla cupcake came with a fresh drizzle of fresh fruit across the top and was light and creamy with the two flavours matching well. A raspberry and chocolate cake was a real hit. Luscious, smooth and velvety, the dark, almost liquid centred chocolate sponge accompanied the raspberry buttercream perfectly. Our final cake was a chocolate piece studded with blueberries. Sadly the blueberry either wasn't present, or didn't come through in the flavour of the cake, but it was still a treat.


Definitely worth fighting through the fashionistas on a sunny afternoon for artisan cakes and wonderfully friendly service. They also do mail order, events and party catering too. A lovely local gem that deserves some support.