Moti Mahal in London: Excellent Indian Food!

This occasional blog continues! We are just back from London, where we and a large group of others visited the famous friends in London for an auspicious family event. Surprisingly, it didn't rain till our last night there! While London, despite its residents claims, will never be known for its excess of quality food, there is some stuff out there if you try (really try). Our best meal while we were there was at Moti Mahal (45 Great Queen Street, Covent Garden, London WC2B 5AA, T: +44 (0)20 7240 9329 ), which is right by Covent Gardens.

The restaurant is clearly an upscale affair, with prices to match (it is London, after all). The seats are great, and it is easy to carry on a conversation. About the only thing I didn't love was the menu, which is designed as sort of a Mogul travelouge but is sort of confusing. Fortunately, we were with some Indian friends, who took over the ordering process (and I would say did an excellent job). Unfortunately, even though I have a copy of the menu, I am trying to reconstruct what we ate as much as possible.

First the good. The dal, relishes (included with the meal), bread and raita are quite good. The grilled lamb (49 pounds per kilo!!) is excellent. I was not a huge fan of the chooza (butter chicken) but it is clearly the right choice for the under 18 set. Chauchori, which is a mix of potatoes and baby eggplant, is not to be missed. Nor is the Bhala Papadi Chaat, which is a mix of pastry bits, chick peas, yogurt and mint chutney. If you are a fish fan, the Meen Polichathu, which is baked seabass and crabmeat served in a banana rapper.

Now the not so good. Its a short list, but the biryani, at 19 pounds, was small, not very good, and, clearly, quite pricey.

If you are going to London and want a decent meal do not miss Moti Mahal. I don't think I've had Indian food this good in New York. If you do know a place, let me know.

La Fromagerie, or Fancy Cheese in England (from France)

Many years ago, in New York, I had my first Vacherin. At that time, the powers that be didn’t seem to be so nannylike, and, while , not a cakewalk, it was a lot easier to score a Vacherin than crack. Unfortunately, this appears to have changed over the past few years, and, because it is only available seasonally, I have not been able to get it. This changed on my first day in London. I went to La Fromagerie (2-4 Moxon Street London W1U 4EW & 30 Highbury Park London N5 2AA) with my friend from London.

La Fromagerie is like no cheese store I have seen in New York. It consists of a normal fancy food store, selling bread, oil, charcouterie, etc. in the bulk of store space. The cheese shop is located in a climate controlled glass box. Only six customers are permitted in the cheese area at a time, which helps avoid overcrowding and controls temperature. The staff is quite helpful although they seem to have their own agenda. When we asked for a Vacherin, we were asked when we were going to eat it. The staff member then “thumbed” at least 6 pieces of cheese before determining the one that was of suitable ripeness. Neither I nor my friend had ever experienced anyone in New York asking us when we would be eating our cheese to select for proper ripeness. Between us, we have shopped at every major cheese monger in the city. The salesman was also helpful with suggestions when we asked for a sheep milk cheese. I asked if there were any English cheeses we should try and he suggested aged Gouda from Holland. Well, two out of three ain’t bad. The Gouda was fine, and quite pretty compared to similar ones I have eaten in the States. However, I was a bit miffed as I did specifically try to get a British cheese and ended up with this. As I am now on the train to France, I can safely say that I will not be eating any British cheese in Britain. Such is life.


For those of you in New York who fall under the raw milk police, you can buy pasteurized Vacherin. This is made on the same mountain as the French Vacherin but is produced by the Swiss. I know that the FDA says it tastes the same, but having just had the real thing, I don’t believe it either.

PS: although you probably won't be going to this place soon, their website is actually rather good. Take a peek

Fish and Chips For Chumps

I should start off this post by pointing out that it likely wasn't the restaurant's fault. As we were walking in, 92 (they told us) member's of some marching band from the suburbs of Columbus Ohio walked out. Many of them were wearing aubergine satin jackets. Many of them looked like what Europeans envision American's looked like. They clearly had occupied every seat. Although I have sympathy on the restaurants staff for having to endure this, their failure to recover doomed our meal.

The place we ate is the Sea Shell of Lisson Grove (020 7220 9000). It is a favorite of our London friends and on walking in I could see why. The place is well lit and spacious. Things went downhill from there. The place was understaffed (perhaps they lost someone in the combat of the 92 Midwesterners?), and the waitress had problems keeping our order straight. When the food eventually came, it was nothing to right home about. We ordered Fried Calamari, which came as straight, greasy, chewy strips. Our London friend ordered a favorite of hers; avocado with baby shrimp (called prawns in the UK) and covered with Russian dressing. I found this to be surprisingly good despite my reservations about the whole concept and would get it again if I returned to the place. Our male London friend suggested the King Prawns (which are normal sized shrimp) in garlic paste, which was OK, although not as good as our friend thinks. We think the Ohio people at all of their bread, and when we asked for a plate (extra in this place) we received Kaiser rolls.

The Sea Shell sells multiple kinds of fish and chips, including cod, haddock, plaice and skate. It also sells a variety of broiled fish as well. Unfortunately, it does not sell any non-fish items as an entree. They have chicken on the take out menu, but we got the feeling the Ohio Band ate it all before we came. This meant that we had to get a chicken Cesar salad, greens on the side, to feed to boy #2. If you have a similar child, you may end up in a similar predicament. The fish and chips were without a doubt the highlight of the experience, although not the best I have had by any means. The fish were not fried in oil that was hot enough, and grease seeped in. The cod was also dry. The chips were good, although I suggest you ask for them "well done."

Dessert consisted of ice cream, an apple cake, which was good, and spotted dick, which has nothing to do with what I tend to see in the course of my professional life. Spotted dick is a steamed pudding with raisins. Despite its name, its actually sort of tasty.



The real problem with the place was, more than the limited selection and grease, was that the service was horrific. Food came in a haphazard fashion, and despite pleas from the parents, it was difficult to get even cold food served to them in a reasonable amount of time. I am not sure how long after we ordered it took us to get our fish, but it was pretty darn long. This despite the fact that its the type of place one would not goto without children.