The Sturdy Soapbox

RIP Basmati restaurant

I'mentioned it here in the past. I've been using the restuarant on and off for twenty years. It's the only place I know of in miles that does a methi gosht (cos it's a Bengali restaurant).

I can forgive the fact their website had a scrolling banner wishing us Merry Christmas til a week or so ago.

About 2 months ago, I ordered myself a Saturday night treat of a methi gosht and a paneer dish in a rich creamy tomato sauce.  they are about 4 miles away, but do deliver down to us in the Birchills and the couple I'd had previous were excellent.

That night, an hour or more passed and still no curry, then the phone rang and the guy said I'm outside. Down I went in the lift and no one in sight. Back up I came in the world's slowest lift and called him back. Where are you, I enquired.  He gave me an address that wasn't mine. I googled it and he was the other side of Bloxwich.

By the time he got to me, the food was cold.

A few weeks later, I ordered up a methi gosht and a Bombay potato. The meat in the curry was tough as old boots. the potato dish tasted strongly of vinegar and was inedible.

I mentioned this to OBC and he said that with him, restaurants are only as good as their last meal. 

Last night was the first time in a while  I've craved a Saturday night curry treat. I called Basmati at 5pm. Firstly, the guy seemed not to be paying attention. He kept putting the phone down and I could hear him jabbering to someone as I sat there wondering what was going on. Then I'd have to repeat myself (this happened three or four times). 

Then he didn't know what matar paneer was (despite it being on the menu as muter paneer).

I even explained, paneer and peas. Then when it came for me to pay, he kept getting the number wrong despite my clearly orating it. He said he was having a problem and would call me straight back.

Ten minutes went by, no call. I rang him back and he said he'd been busy taking take away orders on the phone. Whilst mine ordered half an hour ago is ignored.  I told him to forget what I'd ordered and I'd get curry elsewhere (there must be fifty in the locality who deliver).

The boss rang me back. He also offered up the busy taking orders excuse certainly unaware that for every order they took, pushed mine ordered at the minute they opened was pushed down the line.

After putting them in their place, I opted for the more local Shahi Grill who delivered up a very nice lamb bhuna (apart from the pieces of raw onion in the sauce) and a matar or muter paneer, which had an excellent flavour, good portion but unfortunately more raw onion.

I've no idea what is going on at the Basmati, a place I've raved about for so many years and recommended others to go try.

Am arranging a boys night out with Audie and Junior Cockwomble in a week or two's time. Guess where we won't be going?

 

The Balti argument

Madhur Jaffrey has caused a bit of a Twitterstorm by saying bad things about Balti curry, along the lines of it's not authentic.

It was very difficult last night to enter into a discussion at a hundred and forty characters a time, so I'm going to have a bash now.

Firstly, I am a big fan of Madhur Jaffrey, without her books in the 80s (and oddly one by Marks and Spencer), I would not be the experienced curry cook I am today. Jaffrey's books gave instruction as well as recipe and I hold to this day that curry is more about technique than recipe.

I've eaten a lot of curry over the years and in the late 70s was a frequent visitor to the Royal AlFaisal Balti house in Sparkbrook Birmingham.

Balti does have a certain stlye and flavour in addition to the wok like dish it is traditionally served in (the balti or bucket).

I've always agreed that there are only two places in England at least to get proper balti which are Sparkbrook Birmingham and Brick Lane in London, which is where those from the geographical region it comes from settled.

I am also of the belief it is a Pakistani dish rather than Indian. I say this because when I came back from Bristol with n'er a pot to piss in, I shared a terraced house in Darlaston with an exiled Pakistani journalist named John.

He told me that back home, the balti houses were places frequented mostly by students, because they were cheap. They would go in the balti house early evening, leave their order, go off drinking and rather like many a Brit has for years, pile in later for a good Ruby.

Because it became so talked about, Indian restaurants jumped on the bandwagon and little silvery balti dishes became commonplace often filled with rather bland curry featuring a wedge of raw tomato for a hint of authenticity.

I would never order a balti in an Indian restaurant for the same reason I wouldn't order pizza.

I remember busy nights in the Royal AlFaisal (known locally as Adil's) which went from being busy with hungry people to being busier with social workers having team building meetings, a 4 pack of Fosters looped through their belt as they were going on to a party at Catriona's

Over the years, the white paper on the tables was replaced by tablecloths and the rustic scruffiness of the average Brum Balti began to move socially upwards in the world. As the social workers moved in, we serious fans moved out, our digestion ruined by their shallow banter.

Doubtless the food's still good. Darlo and I went over one Saturday night some years back and there was a fifty yard queue down the street. We went elsewhere.

So speaking personally, I don't accept the argument that Balti is a British curry for British palates as is chicken tikka masala.

Back in the days I was talking about, you'd see as many Asians eating in those places as white Brits.

I rather liked the analogy Brownhills Bob used about the Jaffrey furore.

If John Lennon were about today, he probably wouldn't approve of house music.

So yes, I can forgive Madhur, especially if she was referring to those little shiny balties rather than the ones that come in a big blackened pan that looks like it's served time panning for gold.

As for the naans that are almost the size of the table, utterly oinkable.

 

Been to the new food blog yet ?

OK, so this is a shameless splug for my new food blog Soxer's Pantry which so far today has received only five lousy page views !

I guess it's early days yet, I only started it yesterday and to date there's only two posts, but I thought I'd crow about it on here, cos I know this gets a few more page views per day.

 
Rather like the soapbox, this is done more for amusement than personal gain.  Sure, it would be lovely to be recognised and have manufacturers sending truckloads of goodies round for review but this is more about stuff I like than stuff someone else wants me to like.

I'm not settled on the design yet.  Steve Mays said "you can mess around with the CSS".  C what I replied ?

I spent a while on creating a header graphic in Paint Shop Pro last night featuring my own photos of a cappuccino, a curry and a piece of roast beef, three things I like a lot.

Anyone who is used to Typepad's rather complicated custom theme designer, is welcome to chip in with advice on how to improve the layout.  At some point I wouldn't object to a bit of selective advertising in the side bar.

As you will see, I've introduced a fun grading system based on happy pigs.  One for OK and five for excellent and there's a grumpy pig in reserve for anything I choose to review that is absolute pants.

As for the things I review, they will be mostly things you get here in the UK, I hope this doesn't peeve the Amercian posse who support the soapbox.  There will be the odd "special", such as the Rocket Fuel coffee beans I received from the US.

Because it's new, I'm just going to see how it develops.  I'm open to ideas too so please feel free to say what you like or don't like about it. Here's the link