• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Published Articles
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

Indian Veg-21 years of culinary excellence

June 24, 2009 10 Comments Filed Under: Uncategorized







My ‘mains’.

A Northern mess. It does actually ressemble a plate of sick.







Guardian British Prime Ministers poster. At the bottom ‘What do they have in common? They all eat vegetables’.
It’s impossible to be bored at ‘Indian Veg’. For a measly £3.95, it’s a ‘as much as you can eat’ buffet restaurant. Actually regulars are a bit miffed at the price rise. It used to be £2.99, going down from the previous £3.50, a special deal for their ‘Jubilee’ (or was it the Queen’s Jubilee? can’t remember) which lasted about five years.

My personal record is three plates. I used to go out with a guy, a Frenchman, who would eat up to five plates. In fact it was this particular relationship that started me on ‘Indian Veg’ outings. He was very poor, a squatter who lived in a swimming pool, and a ‘freegan’, meaning he ate vegan unless it was free. I’ve seen him eating chicken out of bins. So for him, taking me to ‘Indian Veg’ was a mega blowout ‘Get your coat, I’m treating you‘ date. He was also an animal rights activist and drummer. Because of him I joined the anti-capitalist samba group ‘Rhythms of Resistance’.
After every anti-war protest you can be sure to find ‘Indian Veg’ absolutely packed with earnest hippy types in colourful ethnic sweaters, placards resting next to their chairs; hard-core ‘class war’ punks, their black balaclavas politely removed, damply nestling on the table; and samba drummers tapping out tunes with their knives and forks discussing

“We cocked up that intro, it should go like this…dat,dat,dat… dat,dat”

“No, it should have been dat,dat….dat, dat, dat, dat” and so on. Sambistas can spend whole evenings chatting like this. It’s very boring for everyone else.

These disparate elements of the activist movement will be jostling for space along the the buffet bar, holding their hot plates, filling them with cheap and cheerful curry.
Plate filling is an art at ‘Indian Veg’. My friend the Mancunian MsCanalExplorer piles it all high on the same plate, will often mix it together, urgh and likes to make her poppadoms soggy. Sometimes I really don’t get people from the North. Why do they insist on making crispy things soggy? Like chips with curry sauce? Horrible.
I like to make a pretendy ‘starter’ with the salads, sauces and poppadums first, then have a ‘main course’ with the curries. I like my plates clean looking.
The food: well it’s not gourmet that’s for sure.
Starters: A selection of brightly coloured fried cheesy wotsit mixtures but with no cheese; some Bombay mix; some curried rice crispies.
Salads: a bright orange red and white cabbage mix (surprisingly nice); a white version of the same thing; raw onions.
Sauces: a kind of mango chutney liquid; a green yoghurty mint sauce. However they give you a teensy spoon to serve it with. It takes about half an hour of consecutive and diligent spooning to get a decent amount on your plate. If you take one of the bigger spoons you will get told off.
Rice: pilau rice, plain rice, whole rice.
Curries: a weird cabbage, broad beans, carrots and anything else they can sling in, mixture. It’s a vile mess. I never have that.
A peas and potatoes concoction. Not bad.
Sometimes they have mash. Indian mash. Have horrible feeling it is the day old version of the peas and potatoes concoction. Quite nice though.
Dahl: very runny. I mean, could they have less lentils in it?
This time they had an odd tinned spaghetti style bright red entrée. Didn’t have courage to try it.
Breads: fried puri. Nice when hot. Which is rare. Broken-up poppadums. (I assumed they were buying them broken, on the cheap, but MsCanalExplorer assured me that she had personally seen them take whole ones and break them. Why?) Some onion bhajis and another kind of bhaji. Always cold.
But you don’t really go here for the food. Well MsCanalExplorer does but then she’s a vegan. She goes so often she has her own table. It’s not exactly The Ivy but it’s nice to be acknowledged.
The reason you go is for the extensive array of notices exhorting you to become a vegetarian. These plastic signs with green lettering fill every bit of wall space. They change them quite frequently too. (Wonder what happens to the old ones?)
Many of the notices imply that if you eat at ‘Indian veg’ regularly you will morph into an Indian beauty queen. There is a wall of dog-eared photos proudly displaying that ‘Indian Veg’ was the location of the Miss World contestant ‘staff’ meal. I must admit, I did think, what cheapskates the Miss World organisers are! Probably thought the naive beauty queens flown in from every corner of the planet wouldn’t know any better…would think that this was the height of fashionable London dining!
The final irony is that the owners are Muslim, from Bangladesh, and eat meat.
Highly recommended.
Indian Veg Bhelpoori House, 92-93 Chapel Market London N1 9EX
Nearest tube: Angel

Recent posts

Discovering fairytale Saxony in Germany

January 25, 2023

Fake meat taste test for Veganuary

January 8, 2023

A round-up of my favourite travel destinations of 2022

January 1, 2023

Previous Post: « Je-African grill
Next Post: Rachel Khoo’s Mashup dinner at The Loft »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. fingersandtoes

    June 24, 2009 at 11:23 am

    I love that place just for the stuff all over the walls. Although for food, the Bhel Poori House on Marchmont Street in Bloomsbury is much better. Their Bhel Poori is legendary. I now live right next to Drummond Street but refuse to buy it from any of the Indian veg places there.

    Reply
  2. youngandfoodish

    June 24, 2009 at 11:26 am

    You went out with a squatter who lived in a swimming pool? Did he wear a snorkel to bed?

    Reply
  3. Josordoni

    June 24, 2009 at 11:27 am

    if it's vegan, what do they put in the cappuccino they are exhorting you to buy?

    (presumably for the same price as your entire veggie meal…)

    Reply
  4. MsMarmitelover

    June 24, 2009 at 11:33 am

    Y&F: hehe what are you implying? That he liked diving?

    J: Not vegan actually, vegetarian, but suitable for vegans.

    Reply
  5. gastrogeek

    June 24, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    i absolutely love places like this- not for the food but to read the fascinating things they put on the walls. how astonishing that so many miss world winners ate there!! And also that line about the British PMs. love it.

    Reply
  6. Josordoni

    June 24, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    thanks, I'll allow them the cappuccino then… LOL

    Reply
  7. MissWhiplash

    June 24, 2009 at 3:36 pm

    I LOVE that place 🙂

    Reply
  8. asharpknife

    June 25, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    Now I'm craving poppadoms.

    Reply
  9. Krista

    July 4, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    Firstly, Mr Marmite Lover, may I say that you lead a very interesting life.

    Secondly, how I have not been to this place that is seriously right up the road from me? Must visit. Thank you.

    Reply
  10. theundergroundrestaurant

    July 4, 2009 at 6:57 pm

    haha Krista well it's not exactly your usual hangout, no Michelin stars here…and since when did I go through a sex change? 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

Subscribe to my mailing list

msmarmitelover

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuv Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuvio,the Christmas 🍅, which lasts up to a year fresh. It’s given boxed as gifts around Christmas being the only local fresh tomato available. It dresses all the Christmas pizzas and pastas. It’s grown on volcanic Vesuvius soil and sparsely watered. As a result it has thick skins, and a sweet intense flavour. #tomatoes #italy #naples
Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick laye Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick layer of dust over my kitchen. This will be my dining room/photography studio. Done on a whim.#unplanneddemolition
Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a n Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a nest of apricot tulle (found at portobello market). Isn’t she lovely? #granfluencer
Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is defin Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is definitely a week for soups. My friend @jimfrommanc is staying & needs his hot lunch.
Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Ven Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Venice the fresh food market sells bouquets of colourful chillies. I’ve still got mine, drying in an enamel jug. #travelandfood
The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read all about it: https://msmarmitelover.com/2022/12/christmas-in-naples.html  Got a couple of bunches hanging in my kitchen. #naples #campania #tomatoes🍅 #travelphotography
Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Italian outfit I bought in Naples on a William Morris playmat which looks great and is practical for tummy time. So many things are different about parenting now. Parents use apps to track feeding, pooing, weeing etc. You don’t bathe them anymore for the first few weeks because you want to leave the vernix ( the white waxy stuff they are covered in at birth) on their skin as long as possible. Nappies now have a line on them that turns blue if they’ve done a pee. White noise apps to help them sleep. New technology guides new parents. As well as ancient probably prehistoric customs being rediscovered. #granfluencer #grandaughter I’ve tagged in @siennamarla and @jamescalmus as the authors of this baby.
I made two dishes from one pack of white beans las I made two dishes from one pack of white beans last night. Soak, then cook with 2 stock cubes, water & a fan of bay leaves. When soft & cooked, scoop some into a soup bowl with plenty of stock, add white wine, fresh basil and or a scoop of pesto and a squeeze of lemon for soupe au pistou. Garnish with Parmesan. Today I cooked the pot until the liquid had almost disappeared and added a block of feta. I baked this in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, added @pomoragoodfood new olive oil, salt and pepper for a gigantes plaki (but with smaller beans). Eat more beans!
What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yo What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yolks after making a pavlova? Zabaglione, that classic Italian trattoria dessert made from egg yolks, sugar & tons of masala sweet wine. Whisk it up over a bain-marie or be a bit cheaty & add a teaspoon of cornflour. Strong wrists needed. #italianfood #christmasdesserts #leftovers #cooksmart
The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from c The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from carnivore, to recent vegetarian, to long-time vegetarian to never eaten meat (my daughter)) tasted 18. It was quite a bushtucker trial. Carnivores & vegetarians liked very different things. Full report in next weeks @hamandhigh #veganuary #vegan #vegetarian #tastetest #fakemeat #plantbasedmeat
Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuar Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuary column for @hamandhigh So many companies doing this now. As a longtime vegetarian I don’t want anything that tastes too much like meat. But new vegetarians and vegans may want something that tastes close as damnit to meat in order to stave off cravings? Which category are you in? Have you any favourites or dislikes? Is this just another example of ultra-processed food? Let me know in the comments #vegan #vegetarian #meatfree #veganuary
Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragr Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragrant citrus & one of the founding citrus (along with pomelo and mandarin) that created all the other citrus fruits you know about. Usually candied, it is also used in this unusual neopolitan recipe in which you soak the zest in the pasta water overnight before cooking. Post up on the blog later today. Board a Xmas present from @siennamarla #pasta #naples #cedro #citrus
My london garden ce matin My london garden ce matin
My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- bergamot marmalade in the middle. In the @hamandhigh this week. It’s bloody delicious. #chocolatecake #feelaustria #untoldstories #vienna #sachertorte
These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ in Neapolitan dialect. They are a Christmas apple, in season now. I bought this little model basket of apples in San Gregorio di Armenia street in Naples where every year neopolitans buy something to add to their ‘presepe’ or nativity scene. Often scenes from markets to add to the expensive, anything from 500 euros to 5000 euros nativity crèches. Around Christmas this street is packed (watch out for pickpockets) with locals and tourist picking out their addition to the scene. Melanurca apples are picked in September then laid on the ground to ripen, turning them every day by hand, to ensure all sides transform from a yellow green into a Wicked Witch red. They are very healthy, particularly for your hair, according to scientists at the university of Naples. #naples #neopolitanchristmas #melanurca  #food #travel #sangregorioarmeno #presepenapoletano #nativityscenes
The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, a local tomato that is sold around Christmas in Naples. It is grown with very little irrigation and lasts fresh up to a year. Hence it is used for tomato based Christmas dishes. This tomato has a thick skin and is really intense in flavour. It hangs outside grocers, on balconies, in kitchens, having been braided by ladies into bunches of 1.5 kilos. Each costs 15 euros. I went to visit the farmers and the ladies skilfully tying the tomatoes into clusters, using the vines to fasten them, like cherries. Boxed, these are given as gifts. Reel on the way! #naples #christmas #tomatoes #travel #food
Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as black and white and stick to that palette. For Sicily & Naples I’m doing red, white & black. I’ve bought @coti_vision red glasses chain, a red beret & a black one, a pair of red @snagtights & a black pair, a red hair clasp, a red & white pair of shoes (25 euros, leather from Naples), a red & white dress, a black & white striped dress, and so on. Do you roll? Do you flatten & spread? Do you fold? How do you pack? A few days before I leave I leave my suitcase open in my bedroom and every time I think of something I need to take I sling it in there. ( like adaptors) Last thing is wash bag ( I have a hanging one which is useful) and coat (red for this trip). Basically I colour code my life. When I did the Camino everything was blue & yellow, the colours of the Camino. When I went to Ireland I took all my green clothes ( I don’t have many). If I go on a boat trip I pack blue and white. #packing #colourcoding #travel #mysuitcase
Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicili Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicilian fish dish, baked on onions, studded with garlic cloves wrapped in mint leaves, then more onions, capers, olives, oregano & rosemary. Use a thick central slice of swordfish (where can I get that in london?). I’m tasting grillo & Nero d’avola wines @tenutorapitala about an hour inland from Palermo. The owner is the last count Bernard de La gatinais. He has 3 daughters. He’s French (Brittany) and Sicilian. He spoke about how difficult it has been for wine growers since lockdown- so many restaurants closed. Now they are grappling with high energy & fuel costs. ##winesofsicilia #siciliaDOC #wine #travel #sicily
I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I lo I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I love boats and water. #biennalearte2022
London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield wit London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield with mikawa citrus (cross between mandarin & pomelo) and home pickled green peppercorns on a plate I bought in minori Italy. #londonfood #citrus #sundaylunch
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2023 msmarmitelover