People always talk about finding hidden gems, unassuming street food type places. Sadly these are a rarity in Britain, apart from those places that make it their business to ‘look’ that way. But I actually found one, on Fishponds Road in Bristol – nowhere near Clifton.

It ticks the boxes:

• Hidden – Fishponds is not trendy or fashionable and people don’t go out of their way to visit. Fishponds is a place where people live.
• Unassuming – no wanky bollocks here, it is what is says it is and does what it says it does; and it does that superbly.
• Streetfood – it serves the very heart of what you’d expect Jamaican food to be, it actually has ‘a jerk guy’, he’s the dude that makes the kick ass sauces.

Like I said, I was full of beer after watching the rugger and was heading back to play some post match Snooker and drink more beer. Obvs I needed to eat and obvs I was thinking Kebab, we all were. You don’t have to walk far to find a Kebab shop on Fishponds Road, so I thought don’t go into the first one you see, and then I found it, Mamma P’s Jamaican Food.

I love spice, I love sweet heat and prefer rice and beans to flatbread (most of the time) ergo, love Caribbean Food (and Floribbean food actually). In there….alone, not caring about peer pressure, I didn’t need my mates, I felt I was about to find something great.

The chain, Turtle Bay is pretty good actually and I love West Indian food but I just knew that Mamma P’s was gonna be different.

Their menu is varied, from sit down to take away, I was doing a take away and went for a Jerk Chicken with Rice and Beans, loaded with hot sauce. It’s insane, the rice and beans were fluffy and not stodgy, the Jerk was zingy and the chicken shredded, perfect. So much so I started throwing drunken compliments at them and demanded a selfie with Mamma P.

We were lining up and they shouted out for the Jerk Guy to join us, that’s what they said, this is the Jerk Guy – I love the Jerk guy. All the staff here are so friendly, it really is a cracker.

I wish I had more photos, I don’t, so go there and take your own – but you gotta go there – say hi to Jerk Guy for me, the Jerk Legend.

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

PRICE: £

Website: mamma-ps.co.uk

MENUS: Order online, but not great selection for some reason – take a look here

TELEPHONE: +44 (0) 117 239 6718

The post Mamma P’s Jamaican Food | Fishponds Road, Bristol | Restaurant Review appeared first on National Dish.

It’s definitely new, but I hear you, what’s so different about Indian food? How about Indian street food, influenced by vibrant Mumbai itself (that’s the modern, non-colonial and independent name for Bombay). STREET FOOD! YAAS!!!

Bombay & Co is situated in the lower High Street in Cheltenham.  It doesn’t look flashy or trendy, but who care’s, this is Mumbai right? You can almost hear the constant beeping of the rickshaws at you enter to a transformation and a very friendly greeting, the staff are amazing.

The decor is almost like a gallery of colour and street art, you’re under no illusion of what these guys are trying to do and immediately your mind turns toward the food – expectations climbing.

Initially we began picking out dishes that sounded vaguely familiar, it’s hard to stray from your comfort zone when it comes to Indian food. However, the owner put a stop to this and offered to bring out a selection of dishes for us to try and share. I don’t want to sound over the top here, but the colours, the flavours – these dishes knocked our socks off turned my hair even more pink. I wanna be a Bollywood star so bad right now.

These were just tasters!!! Now, I don’t know if this is the norm, but take it from me, if you go here, don’t treat it like a ‘curry house’, try something new.

The food in this place is unlike any Indian food I have ever tasted before – it’s insane.

Here are some the dishes we tried, I am not going to explain them all, go find out….

Pain Poori
Chole Bhatura
Ghee Roast Masala Dosa
Chicken Lollipops
Railway Goat Curry
Vangi Masala
Dal Fry

We didn’t drink Cobra or Kingfisher or anything like that, we just went for a couple of bottles of very usual wine.

The bad bit? The toilets, what’s up with the bloody toilets, they were disgusting. Maybe that’s part of the experience, slum bog millionaire.

The whole bill, £96 including the tip – for six of us!

I feel like I went to Bombay and I can’t wait to go back. Seriously, I need to go back soon. When your table makes stupid ‘mmm’ing’ and ‘aah’ing’ noises all evening, you know you’ve had a good night.

Conclusion is simple, if you haven’t tried Bombay & Co yet, you gotta.

PRICE: £

WEBSITE and RESERVATIONS:  bombaynco.uk

MENUS: bombaynco.uk/our-menus

TELEPHONE: +44 (0) 1242 584 301

Email: dine@bombaynco.co.uk

The post Bombay & Co Restaurant Review | Cheltenham | Indian Street Food appeared first on National Dish.

You need some big old knackers to make this Chilli White Rum, correction, to drink it. I got an invite to a Halloween party and was thinking about what I might take – so a couple weeks out, I thought, it would be cool to take something hot. I had some Birdseye Chillies, Bacardi and for some reason a really cool skull shaped jar – that was all I needed.

Takes no time at all, only a couple of weeks at most, unlike our Plum Gin Recipe that takes 3 months.

As it gets colder, this is handy at any party – Guy Fawkes and bonfire night, fireworks followed by Christmas and then New Year – this is a perfect little take along. Want to warm folk at a party – give em’ a shot of this.

If you’re a bit concerned about too much heat or can’t wait two weeks, either reduce the chilli count to reduce heat or increase the chilli count to speed the process – it’ll infuse, it’s chilli.

The post Chilli White Rum Recipe | Chillies in Bacardi for Parties not just Halloween appeared first on National Dish.

There seems to be Vietnamese restaurants popping up all over the place – and for good reason, the food is the nuts. How do you make Vietnamese Pho (pronounced fur)?

This is one National Dish we don’t mind posting, we did this as part of a banquet, my good chum @fp_in_the_kitchen and I. I’ll focus on the Pho here though and post the other dishes separately.

Get ready for some good food from ‘The Nam‘, Cheltenham…that’s fucking terrible…

The post How do you make Vietnamese Pho? | National Dish of Vietnam appeared first on National Dish.

– we’re not 100% sure where this dish might originate.

I accidentally made it up, but that’s not to say it doesn’t exist. So in actual fact this could be a South East Asian ‘influenced’ English dish – Changlo food! You saw it here first.

Anyway, I fancied sweet and sour chicken, but wanted to add lots of chilli and forgot to buy pineapple, so used some mango I had – hence…

It’s really good – I also knocked up a cheats Mushroom Chow Mein on the side.

The post Sweet and Sour Chilli Mango Chicken | National Dish Recipe from South East Asia…maybe appeared first on National Dish.

What’s it like to eat at New Moon Tapas, Clifton, Bristol?

First off, this restaurant is situated in a stunning part of Bristol. A great city which has attracted a lot of investment over the last 20 years, Bristol is going from strength to strength – it also happens to be the authors’ home town.

Clifton, where the author was actually born, is beautiful.

Five plus story sandstone townhouses set within an urban village vibe with rabbit warrens of narrow streets overlooked by Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s ‘Clifton Suspension Bridge’ spanning the dramatic Avon Gorge and…it’s even got a zoo. So, naturally, with all that going on, Clifton carries an air of elite superiority – a bit like London. That’s OK though, cause it is lush (sic).

You are spoilt for choice for places to eat and grab a drink, every establishment designed to attract just the right clientele – in this instance…my kids, who’d visited the aforementioned zoo.

I didn’t pre-search, I wanted to have a wander round, browse and pick somewhere – like the tourist I was (in my own hood) and I stumbled upon New Moon Tapas.

A few tables outside, like many places in Clifton, the frontage matches the building, I am sure there are many restrictions (no golden arches here). The large front window gives way to a moody, dark, atmospheric bar area with rather few tables. The layout is all over the place, as you’d expect in such old domestic use buildings – some tables in the front, some out back and more downstairs.

We sat in the front, no reservation as this was a late lunch, I’d recommend reservations for the obvious peak times. I’ve used this space for the main picture, it’s nice. Lots going on, very shabby chic with lots of out of place bits and pieces put to good use – I liked the old birdcage with bottles of wine in it.

Front of house were great, very accommodating as we had kids with us AND a serious nut allergy to deal with. On this point I must fully commend them, they took the nut allergy very seriously, thanked me for telling them, and said information went straight to the chef followed by a warning as to what did and didn’t have nuts – nice work guys.

At one point, I did get called mate, which is a bit poor – but, under the circumstances of ultra careful nut allergy petrified parents, we’ll let that slide.

The food is a bit of a coincidence for the theme of my blog. First and foremost it’s a tapas restaurant, with the usual fayre – but, New Moon Tapas also have a guest cuisine on a monthly basis – our turn was Israeli – check out the blackboard pic for the upcoming themes. This month (September 2017) is the arrival of Nepal – of which we have a couple of Nepalese recipes ourselves.

The selection:

• Patatas Bravas – loads of ways to serve this, ours was ‘sauce on the side’ – I prefer it all in one and hot. The sauce was sweet, salty and smokey, which was nice, but lacked any heat – it needed chilli to lift it
• Crispy Corn Cakes – these were fishcake style…uhhh…cakes of corn. They were good, lovely corn yellow inside, fluffy, crunchy topped with an Avocado salsa and sided with a Mango and Lime salad – was good
• Crispy Fried Calamari – this, served with a char-grilled lime and Sriracha (a Thai chilli sauce) mayonnaise was spot on – it went very quick, carnage – my daughter went for me, scary

•  Lamb Cutlets – these had a lavender and honey glaze – they were, OK. That doesn’t mean bad, but they also needed a lift – Parma Violet flavoured meat, maybe
• Trio of Israeli dip – this is from the Food Tour specials board, Baba Ganoush (we had this on the side WALNUTS!!!), Hummus, Za’atar spiced beetroot with goats cheese served with pita. This was stunning, shame that it’s not available all the time, buts the nature of their little food tour – it does demonstrate they take it seriously though.

Overall for the food, was OK but not blow you away. I’d say very pricey though – which drops the ratings a notch. Drink wise, standard wine list and cocktails.

In summary – nice, not amazing, staff would have got a 5 if it wasn’t for calling me mate, you won’t be pissed off – could be fun for dinner.

We paid the bill to keep it real

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

 

PRICE: £ £ £

WEBSITE: newmoontapas.co.uk

TELEPHONE: T: 01172393858 or T: 07521 936362

The post What is it like to eat at New Moon Tapas in Clifton, Bristol? | National Dish Restaurant Review appeared first on National Dish.

A British favourite – homemade lemonade, Mary Berry I am sure has made a fair bit of this.

I had to post this one as I made it with the kids, they wanted to sell it in our village for and raise money for our village panto that supports a local children’s charity – The James Hopkins Trust

It’s very easy, but…it does contain a fair amount of sugar AND you’ll wanna stick gin in it…so not super healthy, fun though.

The post How do you make homemade lemonade? | National Dish of England appeared first on National Dish.

How do you make a healthy burrito when they contain both bread AND rice – it’s a challenge?

Compromise – in this case, the rice – which unfortunately messes up the gluten free option.  Use our simple recipe for the cauliflower rice.

Add to that, this is also a fusion of East and West – China meets Mexico and it’s superb.

The post How do you make a healthy burrito? | Chinese crispy duck cauliflower rice burritos | National Dish appeared first on National Dish.

The original carb heavy dish originated in Mexico, but was cooked for Americans, who had visited a restaurant just across the border. The restaurant was closing and had few ingredients, so they made a nacho, cheese and jalapeño snack and the rest is history.

This version, with cauliflower, adds a few more flavours, is equally as social, tasty as hell and way healthier.

The post Mexican Cauliflower Nacho Mountain | Coliflor Nacho Montaña | What is the national dish of Mexico? appeared first on National Dish.

I’ve sort of done two recipes in one. Alloco, which is known as Kelewele in Ghana (also Dodo in Nigeria and Makemba in the Democratic Republic of Congo) is a common West African street food and side dish. So, how do you make Alloco?

I’ve added roasted nuts to this version, which would make it Ghanaian, but the base is the Ivory Coast recipe – you decide.

The post Côte d’Ivoirian fried plantain with roasted nuts | How do you make Alloco or Kelewele | What is the national dish of The Ivory Coast appeared first on National Dish.