YAY! Yalla Yalla

Visited this great little Lebanese street food place again yesterday. I believe we have a new convert as well!

The Mezze's are the way to go, and there are some stand-outs that just have to be had.

Here's what we had (five dishes are more than enough for two NORMAL eaters).


SOUJOC
Homemade spicy Lebanese sausages with tomato, parsley and lemon juice.


JAWANEH MESHOUE
Charcoal grilled marinated chicken wings with garlic and harissa sauce.


ARAYES
Grilled crispy pitta bread filled with spiced minced lamb, onion and tahini sauce.

SAMBOUSSEK LAHME (N)
Pastry filled with spiced lamb, onion comfit and roasted pine nuts.

HOMMOS SHAWARMA
Chickpea purée topped with marinated thin slices of lamb fillet.

Everything i've had so far off the menu has been on the mark. But two dishes constantly stand out. The Soujoc Sausages have a tangy flavour which is hard to describe but impossible to resist.

Next up are the Chicken Wings. I wouldn't normally go for these having experienced them in the past as you wait 10 minutes for the Chicken Burger and Chips to be made late on a Friday or Saturday night. In desperation, we've all said "oh, just give me 4 chicken wings while i wait"... right? Those deep fried bones never live up tot he hype, but the ones here are something else. The sauce is what makes it, and there is a welcome sweetness to it all.

Don't forget to wash it all down with a house special 'lemonade'. The APPLE, MINT AND GINGER is fantastic.

http://www.yalla-yalla.co.uk/

Banana Tree

Bit off time off, but back in action now. And what a great way to start! Just discovered Banana Tree which has several restaurants all over London.

Best of all, there is a new branch in Soho, Wardour Street in fact.

Definitely going there soon.

Kebab TV

I've been past this kebab place many times before, largely because it is on the same road as the most often visited screening room in Central London. 

But now they have a new hook to get you in... CCTV Kebabs!

Check it out, the meat is on camera in the window. No idea why, but i'll check it out soon to see what the food it like. 

FrightFest Burger

Still taking up the GBK voucher offer, it was time for another burger today. Even the news that such offers were killing off small businesses did little to ruin my appetite.

I opted for a Chicken Satay burger, much to the disappointment of @ECForde who insists that "you don't mix food like that with sweets like nuts (?!?)".

I must say i thoroughly enjoyed this. Very filling peice of chicken with out too much relish to ruin the flavour.

GBK further won brownie points with the selection of sauce for today. Having been disappointed by the BBQ source last time out, the garlic mayo was a fantastic accompaniment to the onion rings and fries. A great side dish at last! Kudos to the person who recommended it.

To cleanse the pallet i had a hankering for an Ice Cream. It was a wait, a bit of a FrightFest film got in the way (Kill List is excellent), but i made the perfect choice. Raspberry Sorbet... tangy, tasty goodness. 

One thing i am glad is not halal is peperami... someone has taken it upon themselves to eat these in copious amounts at EVERY SCREENING during Frightfest. Plus i suspect his mum has packed his lunchbox. Ewww. 

Another day, another burger

Well i found today VERY tough. I wouldn't go as far as saying GBK saved my life... but it did help.

Taking full advantage of the 2 for 1 offer (or more accurately buy one get one for £1), i went for a Pesterella chicken burger. 

Pesto, mozzarella, salad, mayo and relish

Very nice it was too. Lacks a bit of seasoning, although my taste buds are totally out of whack so it's probably my fault. Big portion, and with the voucher it worked out at a fiver. BARGAIN,

Don't bother with the extra sauces though, that little brown tub in the picture (no i'm not talking about @ECforde, whose hands you can see there) cost £1.75.

I thought i had it tough...

Wake up at 9, write a few news stories, watch a movie or two... Ramadan is tough!

Well spare a thought for (multi-millionaire) footballers. Ok so the money is great, but it can't be easy to play and train whilst fasting.

Great article in today's Independent:

Fasting and Football

Here is their list of Premier League Muslims...

Marouane Chamakh, Abou Diaby, Samir Nasri, Bacary Sagna, Armand Traoré Arsenal 

Habib Beye Aston Villa 

Nicolas Anelka (left, in better days), Salomon Kalou Chelsea

Marouane Fellaini Everton

Hatem Ben Arfa, Cheick Tioté Newcastle

Edin Dzeko, Kolo Touré, Yaya Touré Manchester City

Adel Taarabt Queen's Park Rangers

Ahmed Elmohamady Sunderland

Younes Kaboul Tottenham

Youssuf Mulumbu West Bromwich

Ali Al Habsi, Mohamed Diame Wigan

Day 22 - KFC day

Sometimes you just need the fastest of fast food.

Went to KFC on Tottenham Court Road, and ordered a meal with all the trimmings.

Streetwise popcorn meal (a favourite of @moulder5000)

And a Zinger burger with gravy. (courtesy of @nataliepeck)

Yeah i was hungry, what of it? It was really filling, popcorn meal is amazing value at £1.99

Gravy is a hidden gem. Bit expensive, but so good you could drink it. (and i've actually seen someone do that!)

Eid Special at Dishoom

Dishoom have just announced their Eid Feast special running from August 30 - Sept 4.

Here's the menu in full:

Further details here: Dishoom Eid Feast

Plus check out their great feature entitled 'Reflections on Ramadan'

Definitely visiting next week...

Yelling Yalla Yalla

Another one i've been to before (quite recently actually), and am desperate to go to again.

This place has two branches in central London. The first is a small branch hidden in away in the depths of Soho. We've stumbled across it a couple of times but not yet visited it.

The other branch is bigger and on Winsley Street.

The selection of Lebanese cuisine is top-notch, and we can recommend going for a selection of Mezze dishes at any time of the day. The Chicken wings and spicey sausages have proven to be a wise choice, even amongst some of my more apprehensive friends.  

Yalla Yalla website

Very much looking forward to another visit and trying the main dishes and a proper Arabic coffee. 

Burger off

Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) are currently running an offer where you can get a second burger for £1 when buying with a voucher.

Here's a link to the voucher:

http://www.vouchercodes.co.uk/gbkvoucher/

Remember, just the chicken is halal but you can buy any combination of burgers (or, ahem, salad... hee hee hee) as part of the offer.

Here's the GBK statement on their chicken:

"The chicken we use for our burgers is Halal and is cooked in 100% rapeseed oil in a fryer specified for chicken only, however the grilled chicken used for our salads and kebobs are cooked on the same grill as the bacon. The beef, lamb, and venison are not Halal. Sorry but we do not offer Grilled Chicken as an option."

More Momo

I went to this place a few years ago. It was a fantastic dining experience, complete with an exotic North African menu including Scottish pigeon as well as a few of the more regular dishes.

Momo Restaurant

Looking forward to going back here once again. The location is great, just of Regent's Street, and the ambiance was great. Here's hoping it is as good as i remember...

Halal KFC

We all know KFC have been running the halal trial in 'selected communities' for a while now. Still no official word on which stores will remain halal once the trial ends, if any at all, but i have to confess i've been a few times and it has been a very good experience.

I'm not even the biggest lover of chicken, but in terms of pure fast food, there's no denying it hits the spot.

Here is a list of the halal KFC stores. They are spread out, but it's always worth asking when in store. Amazingly the big one near Edgware road on Oxford St is not halal. Arabs don't eat KFC apparently.

HALAL KFC STORES

Streetwise popcorn meal is tremendous value.

Masala Zone

Next month (nearly there!!!) i'll be checking out Masala Zone as well.

Masala Zone

A great looking Indian menu, with a great selection of Thalis and street food.

Get a Dishoom

Great news! One of the fanciest looking eateries in Central London is also Halal!

Dishoom (A Bombay styled Cafe) has a great location and contemporary menu. More details here:

Dishoom Official Website

Have been told by their official twitter feed that all the Lamb and Chicken dishes are Halal. Will be checking out the menu in September.

Day 18

NEARLY THERE!!!

And in more good news, there will be a new TinselTown (Official Website) restaurant opening in Central London.

It's like someone read my blog and obliged!

Here's the latest statement:

"Tinseltown's sixth branch will open on Great Portland Street in the heart of London. The 80 seat venue will be open in November, 2011. We look forward to seeing you there."

Yes, you will be seeing me there.

Halal, is it meat you're looking for?

Thanks to the wonderfully talented Adam Lowes (@adlow76) for that amusing line. I was going to call the blog that, but changed my mind last minute. It;s still too funny a title not to share though, so there it is.

Anyway, so day 6 will be amusing. An all-night triple-bill screening tonight from 9pm-3am... basically during eating hours. I will probably be stuffing my face throughout.

Unfortunately, it won't be with Nandos. Got a bad craving for that at the moment, hopefully get there soon.

Here's the list that we all intend to carry around with us but never do so have to check on crappy mobile internet when starving. The halal nandos list...

HALAL NANDOS in LONDON

tweet me: @cassamlooch

Mon Aug 8th Tinseltown Offer...

Burger (with Fries) and a drink for £5.

You can't really complain, can you?!?

TinselTown Facebook Page

Jealous Life sweets

I'm also loving the look of these...

Jealous Sweets

can't wait to get my hands on 'em.

Day 1-3

Okay, so the first three days of Ramadan were a bit tough. The summer decided to show up and i really couldn't think about a food blog. BUT... RAIN. Yay. I'm happy now.

Planning a few of the places to hit up. I'm thinking Moolis and Momos. mmmmm.

TinselTown are also running a great offer at the moment:

Tinseltown Ramadan offer

Start a food blog on the day you begin fasting for 30 days...

Up there with the worst ideas ever. Still will be able to get the site looking good and not like the shabby shell of an Angelfire reject, which is what it looks like now.

Spread the word, and follow me on twitter: @cassamlooch