Restaurant Review - Red Onion Essex & Indian Food in the UK

I was recently contacted by a new Indian restaurant in Saffron Walden (Essex / Cambridgeshire border), Red Onion, to try out their menu. This post is two things really, a review of the restaurant and some ponderings about Indian food in the UK.

First, the Red Onion. It is a curry house based just around the corner from Saffron Walden Common, which opened last year.

For starters we had onion bhaji and Aloo Chaat. The onion bhaji was pretty textbook, they were crispy and quite big and not too oily- and served with that random salad that no one ever eats. My aloo chaat, was just a plain potato curry - what I had hoped for is spicy potatoes with crispy sev (chickpea noodles) or fried chapati with yoghurt and tamarind, that is what chaat normally consists of - it's about textures. This was unfortunately a potato curry with cucumber in it, bizarrely. It was good to see it on the menu but unfortunately it wasn't an aloo chaat.

For mains I ordered a lamb achari - the lamb was nice and tender and the sauce was tomato based with good heat and a lemony kick. Mr had a vegetable bhuna - a nice tomatoey sauce with good heat, but the vegetables seemed to be from those frozen 'vegetable mixes' you get in big bags. We also ordered muttar paneer, usually cooked with onions and a little tomato with plenty of chilli, and peas of course, our dish was coconut based, which I like with paneer, but unfortunately it was cloyingly sweet. I wouldn't have minded a little chilli powder!

We decided to try out some different breads - garlic naan, roti and chapati. The naan was really nice, fluffy inside and crispy on the bottom. The chapati was good, nice and soft and mopped up the curry well. The roti, I think it differs from the chapati as it is cooked on a tandoor, was nice too, possibly a bit too crispy.

To finish we decided not to go for the oddly presented kulfis (in coconut shells, plastic pineapple shells etc) that you always find in curry houses, but for a cup of masala chai each. Like the aloo chaat it was nice to see it on the menu, the tea was good although, I think, made from a spiced tea bag rather than brewed with a masala mix, meaning it wasn't as strong as it should be.

Overall it was a nice meal, and if you're after a 'British Curry' then that is what it will offer you. We really liked the breads and the sauces in each of our curries were good. The starters could use some work and the paneer was a little bizarre.

I think food in general has improved tenfold UK over the past 10 years, British food is better than ever, but I feel understanding about what Indian food, and probably that of other countries, is seriously lagging behind. A curry house will tell you that you are eating authentic Indian food when you're tucking into a chicken korma, dipping plain poppadoms into mango chutney, and that strange thin yoghurt sauce. When you're eating orange pilau rice and fighting your way through an oil soaked onion bhaji.

For me a curry house curry is a bit of a guilty pleasure, a bit like MacDonald's or a fish finger sandwich. It's mostly not authentic (a lot of Indian restaurants dishes are actually based on Bangladeshi cooking with Anglicised additions) but it is comforting in a way.

I think curry houses can give Indian food a bad rep. Indian food is different in each region you visit - and it is not always as unhealthy as it has a reputation for - yes we like our samosas and sugary snacks, and ghee is used - but everyday Indian food is fresh and nourishing. Lentils, fresh vegetables, wholewheat chapatis and pickles. It's not just cubed meat in a sauce served with a naan or rice.

This article in the Guardian about 'how to eat curry' is great - it explains what to look out for (south Indian food, pure vegetarian food) and what to order. Searching out restaurants like this is nearly always a good idea - you'll find plenty of them in Leicester, parts of Birmingham, Southall, Wembley and Ilford. South Indian restaurants will offer you a thali (plate) filled with different dishes, or a crispy dosa stuffed with homemade paneer or spicy potato. Pure vegetarian restaurants, which are often Gujarati (like me!) will serve chilli paneer, the best daal, chaat and sometimes gulab jamun for pudding.

Thanks to the Red Onion, Saffron Walden for inviting us for dinner. You can find out more about them here.

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Lunch at the Pump Street Bakery

A couple of weeks back we were both craving a day off and some sea air, this also coincided with the
purchase of a new (second hand) car so a trip to the coast felt very much the thing to do. We picked Orford/Aldeburgh as we normally do with plans to figure out what all the buttons do in the car on the way there and then grab some lunch at Pump Street Bakery before heading to the beach.

I've been following Pump Street Bakery on Twitter and marvelling over their breads and pastries, and doughnuts (oh the doughnuts) for some time. They are a small family bakery with a focus on real bread, slow food and lots of fantastic sweets. They specialise in sourdough and pastries and also serve Monmouth Coffee made in their La Marzocco coffee machine (called Percy), loose leaf teas and yummy hot chocolate. Impressively they have also just started producing their own bean to bar chocolate.

The cafe area serves lunch, brunch at weekends and you can also stop in anytime for coffee and something sweet. There is a large communal table in the centre of the room, plus a couple of other nooks by the windows to sit by. It's a nice welcoming space which I think would be lovely and cosy in the Winter.

I went for a big mug of 'Real Hot Chocolate' which was delicious, none of that powdery nonsense that you normally get - proper chocolate with foamy milk. Mr went for a flat white, which was made the proper way in a proper flat white sized cup (I'm becoming a bit of coffee geek) and was of course lovely.

The blackboard lists all the food for the day, it had a pleasing number of vegetarian options alongside the meat and fish dishes - with local meats, fish and cheeses noted where applicable. I went for the roast tomato and feta tart - pleasingly square with lots of tomatoey cheesey filling alongside some super fresh salad leaves.

Mr went for the toasted cheese sourdough with onion marmalade - this was cheesey to the extreme, and awesome for it. I am planning on recreating this, with some homemade sourdough.

I always make room for pudding, and you can't go all the way there and not have a doughnut. Mine was filled with rhubarb jam and Mr's with raspberry. Both delicious, light and airy inside and crispy on the outside, and the jams both tasted like the actual fruit. I wanted another three but I had to constrain myself.

I didn't really want to leave, there is so much to try at the bakery and everyone is so friendly and welcoming. There are lots of holiday cottages in the area, and although Suffolk is very close it would be nice to spend more time there to try all the local delights.

You can find the cafe menu here, and follow them on Twitter here. If you're visiting Snape Maltings they also have a little Citroen van called Cedric - where you can also buy their fresh baked goodies.

Orford is a lovely little village, whilst you are there can pop down to Pinneys of Orford after for some fresh fish or something from their smokery.

Pump Street Bakery
pumpstreetbakery.com

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Bill's Restaurant & Store, Cambridge

I find it very hard to think of a good place for breakfast in Cambridge, and upon asking other people it would seem that no one else really knows either. You can pop along to the Black Cat cafe for some french toast, or maybe Giraffe for one of their breakfasts but nowhere really sticks out as being amazing.

Bill's Restaurant and Store opened last week, at the site of the old (and not very good) Slug and Lettuce pub. The first thing that really drew me in was the breakfasts, it has a good selection of traditional 'fry up', french toast, eggs benedict/florentine/royale and some interesting inclusions like bubble & squeak and grill vine tomatoes with basil on toast.

As the name suggests you can also shop here, they sell jams and marmalades, fancy French lemonade, pasta, chocolate, beer, the list is endless. Everything is arranged in shelves around the tables so you can shop whilst you eat.

I ordered the Bill's breakfast which was two fried eggs on sourdough toast with bacon, sausage, mushrooms and grilled tomatoes. Mr had the veggie breakfast which was really well put together, poached eggs on toast spread with houmous and guacamole, tomatoes, mushrooms and sweet chilli. He also tried the bubble and squeak which the real star, crispy on the outside and pillowy soft inside with a good kick of mustard.

The coffee here is also excellent, as are the freshly made smoothies.

We arrived at about 11 and the restaurant was quite busy, it is obviously very popular already, only a few days after opening. The food seems very fresh with attention to detail.

It is a small chain and in a place full of chains I can be wary but Bill's does have personality. I'm looking forward to coming back, mainly to give the puddings a go, which look very naughty!

Bill's Restaurant and Store
Green Street, Cambridge
http://www.bills-website.co.uk/

Update: We've been back a few times since 2011 to Bill's and I'm afraid to report that the quality has gone down a lot. Portions seem to be smaller, food blander and greasier. It's disappointing and I don't think just a blip. If anyone else has given it a try lately do let me know if it has improved.

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The British Larder, Suffolk

The British Larder blog has been one of my favourites for a long time, I love the recipes and the focus on local food, as well as the stunning photography. When I heard they had opened a pub restaurant last year it was on my list of places to go.

It is about an hour and a half from Cambridge, two if you go the scenic route (and your sat nav diverts you through all the horrible bank holiday traffic in Ipswich), so we tied it in with a trip to Orford and Aldeburgh for foodie shopping and a walk on the coastline.

We ate in the bar and had a deli board each, which is a really good way to sample all the different flavours the British Larder has to offer. They are incredibly well thought out and everything is perfectly made, exceptional. And for £12 they are really reasonably priced.

I had the Dingley Dell Pork Tasting Board which featured the most impressive scotch egg I've ever seen and tasted. Shredded slow cooked pork with a perfectly cooked egg and crispy exterior. My platter also had a chicken and pork terrine, puy lentil and ham hock salad, the most beautiful celeriac remoulade (with whole mustard seeds in, something I am going to do next time I make it), a vibrant and sweet pea and ham soup, locally made bread (from the Pump Street Bakery) and a perfect green salad.

The husband had the vegetarian deli board which was also excellent. Aubergine and tomato cavair, pearl barley salad, gorgeous spiced sweetcorn fritters, Suffolk Gold cheddar straws, olives, broad bean and white bean hummus, homemade tomato mayonnaise (I didn't let him call it burger sauce!) more local bread and that lovely green salad again.

The little additions like the mixture of different breads, soft creamy butter and perfectly cooked thinly sliced beetroot were lovely.

Naturally I had to opt for pudding, I always leave room. I picked what was hailed as their 'famous' treacle tart, and it was amazing. It was huge, just the thing for a pudding lover like me. Served with white chocolate ice cream and caramel sauce. The inside of it was lightly spiced, it reminded me of the Indian dessert 'gulab jambu' - which is a pretty impressive thing to achieve in a treacle tart.

We also had coffee and tea which was served with little cocoa dusted meringues.

We will definitely be going back, the Sunday roast looks fantastic, the British Larder hasn't been open long and I think is still getting its name out there, so go and support them, everything is as local as possible and cooked perfectly. I can't wait to go again!


We also visited Orford whilst we were there for bagels and doughnuts from the Pump Street Bakery and scallops from Pinneys of Orford. And then on to Aldeburgh for goodies from Lawsons Deli. A lovely day out! Suffolk has fantastic food.

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Byron Hamburgers, Wardour St, London

I am by no means the first or the last person to review Byron but I am going to anyway!

The smell of meat is the first thing that hits you when you walk into Byron, and instantly makes you hungry. There are lots of burger joints all over the country but mostly they aren't very inventive, tasty or interesting.

I was most looking forward to the sides, which is probably an odd thing to say. We ordered the skin on fries and the much talked about courgette fries. The courgette fries were just brilliant, lightly battered and really fresh tasting.

The other highlight of the meal was my amazingly big pickle, something which seems to be much more popular in the USA but you don't get much here. Unfortunately my burger was a little underseasoned but otherwise it was very tasty once I added some seasoning.

I also ordered the Oreo Milkshake, which was a bit like cookies and cream ice cream but melted, it was a lovely, and quite filling, so much so that I uncharacteristically didn't have any room for pudding.

We booked for Saturday night at Wardour Street, but arrived half an hour earlier which I was glad of because by the time we left about 7.30 there was a huge queue out of the door. I'd recommend booking or going at a quieter time in the weekdays to secure a table.

Byron Hamburgers

Wardour St
London
http://www.byronhamburgers.com/

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