“This is suffocating” I said to the waiter “please can we eat outside?”
“seriously I’d rather sit and eat on the pavement. I can’t stand it” escaping outside.
“The fan’s blown a fuse!“shouted the owner Raj.
“That’s my cousin” said Raj.
As locals walked by, they tapped his hand, clapped his shoulder, yelled hi from across the road. Everybody knew him. Hot Stuff has been there 25 years, with his mum behind the stove at the beginning.
“We were going ten years before Time Out did a review. Then it exploded. Everyone came. The F word are coming down soon.”
“Is that pilao?” I asked Raj.
“Yes”
“But it’s not acid yellow, red and green?”
“This is the real pilao rice” stated Raj.
“Yo!” a moody voice called, completely unfazed by the fact that a strange woman was answering “I want chicken”
“Who is it?”
“It’s Senz. I’ll be there in five minutes for my chicken”
“In Kenya, where I come from, people just drive up in their cars, grab their dinner and eat it in their car”
“What are your hours here?” I ask
“Six days a week. Dinner is two sittings, seven and nine. It’s hard work you know. Only Sunday off. That’s why the wife left. No time for her” he confesses.
“What’s the most important quality you need to run a restaurant?” I probe
“To be here. To turn up!” laughs Raj “No, mostly you just need to like people”
Hot Stuff, 19 Wilcox Road, Vauxhall, London, SW8 (020 7720 1480)
'…sweat rivulets vanished into one's cleavage' and '…my bottom was skidding around on the plastic seat'- those words can only come from the one and only MssssssssYeastExtract!
Excellent as per usual. Must go soon.
NB That Reijina sounds all right and all 🙂
This sounds like a place where you can actually loose weight whilst eating.
Will have to go soon before it cools down again !
Sounds like you and Rejji had a top night out !
Great review, I really want to visit this place since Les mentioned it to me. Perhaps weather permitting though, I don't want sweat rivulets vanishing into my cleavage.
Much more than a review, you've totally painted the experience for me…
Sounds like a top place. But am also glad to see that I'm not the only one who has issues with going red in the face when restaurants/pubs turn into saunas in the summer. Tis mildly annoying as hair gradually becomes stuck to head with sweat but dining companions seem oblivious.
It was a great night, and lovely to meet you properly, looking forward to the next one! And am so glad you got us that outdoor table, we would definitely have passed out in that sauna of a restaurant, great food or not! I loved the way you were hell bent on getting Raj onto twitter, hahaha brilliant! XX
Thank you everybody. Do check out this wonderful place; freshly cooked food, friendly service, reasonable prices.
definitely will have to try it out. i keep hearing about this place. pilao that isn't yellow!!! sounds authentic!!
really bored and frustrated with yellow coloured oily pilao and biryani, bright pink tandoori chicken the indian restaurants serve here.