Posts Tagged ‘Covent Garden’

BOILING POINT: Interview with Anirudh Arora, Moti Mahal

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

London Restaurant Festival talks to Anirudh Arora, head chef of Moti Mahal about eating in London.

LRF: What was the last London restaurant you went to?
AA: I went to Dean Street Townhouse a few days ago – I love the new-old-fashioned British cooking. I was also very excited to dine within the beautiful, cream-coloured Georgian building that lights up Dean Street.

LRF: Which London restaurant is your favourite and why?
AA: I have been a fan of Nobu and its truly amazing fusion dishes for years now. What I love most is the delicate balance of colours, textures and flavours. The service, the food and the place are exceptional and the sushi is always good, fresh and faultlessly presented.

LRF: What or who has been the biggest influence on the way you cook and why?
AA: My mother was the biggest influence on me when I was a little boy as I used to help her in the kitchen, and my father’s lavish army parties embellished my love for food. I started cooking very young and I always watched and helped my mother and grandmother.

LRF: What is your signature dish?
AA: There are a few dishes on the menu that are my particular favourites: Murghi Nazakat, a trio of chicken tikka; Laal Maans, a venison stew with cloves and garlic; and Polichathu, pearl spot wrapped in a banana leaf with crab meat and curry leaf.

LRF: What’s it like to work in your kitchen?
AA: Everything is very meticulous. I place a great emphasis on sourcing the finest local and global organic produce, therefore, menus change regularly based on seasonality and freshness - so my staff have to be flexible and open to new ideas.

LRF: What do you most like to cook in your spare time?
AA: Chinese – I do like a good stir fry occasionally as this is easy and great fun to make. I can experiment with different flavours and put the ingredients together. Then all you need is a really hot wok - simple, quick and delicious!

LRF: Which restaurants do you rate in your neighbourhood?
AA: I really like Terroirs and Wahaca, both situated in Covent Garden.

LRF: Who is your ideal dinner companion (dead or alive)?
AA: My lovely wife – and she is very much alive!

LRF: Which restaurants would you recommend to a tourist with one day to spend in London and why?
AA: Without being biased – I would definitely recommend Moti Mahal as it is among the best Indian restaurants outside of India. With a traditional menu that reflects the history of Indian cuisine, the restaurant also offers exciting innovative dishes that are sure to delight visitors who appreciate quality Indian flavours.

LRF: Which London farmers’ market, food shop or suppliers would you recommend?
AA: Borough Market is my all time favourite. It’s London’s most renowned food market; a source of exceptional British and international produce. But it’s not just the quality of the food on offer that makes it special – it’s also about the people and the place – I  love the unique atmosphere.

www.motimahal-uk.com

BOILING POINT lifts the lid on London’s restaurant scene with regular interviews with London chefs, restaurant managers and restaurateurs.

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Street Level: Circus has come to town

Friday, July 30th, 2010

(by Mike Fletcher)

It’s easy to walk straight past Circus on Endell Street, Covent Garden, if you’re not paying attention. There’s no big top entrance, or street entertainers juggling or hula hooping outside. In fact, there’s nothing to betray the entertainment that awaits within, only a polite doorman who ensures you have the correct destination and bids you a pleasant evening as you enter a short corridor with a cloakroom at the far end, guarding the main doors to the restaurant and cocktail bar.

Since opening in January 2010, I’ve walked through those main doors on two other occasions. My guest for this particular evening had never seen what lies beyond the cloakroom. Her interest was immediately peaked by the Californian-sounding model attendant who took our coats and led us through to the main dining area with its catwalk showpiece table that doubles up as a performance stage.

Aware that the circus-style performances wouldn’t begin until after 8pm, I encouraged a visit to the bar before we settled down to eat. Circus’ bar cocktail list is designed by Henry Besant and the Worldwide Cocktail Club – the team responsible for the bars at Bungalow 8 and Notting Hill’s The Lonsdale. It’s a short but encyclopedic menu of cocktails from which my companion chose a Kumquat  & Almond Caipirinha. Unable to decide, I asked the barman to surprise me with a bourbon-based creation. I already knew my drink would taste amazing however it was created so the requested surprise must have been its brink pink coloration when poured into a martini glass.

For dinner, I had the special of marinated steak in a tiger prawn and chorizo dressing whilst she opted for the cajun sea bass (I would have opted for the highly recommended 24 hour slow roasted beef short ribs if the special hadn’t changed my mind). For starters we shared baby squid and chicken and prawn satay skewers. The Circus menu is Pan-American (just like almost all the staff) and, just as on both my previous visits, the baby squid and steaks are divine perfection.

The first indication that a performer is about to take to the stage is the open kitchen’s shutters going down along with the lights. If you’ve timed your food order correctly this will coincide with the end of each course. If not, then it’s a straight choice between melt-in-the-mouth steak in the dark or an aerialist, performing on a hoop above the catwalk table.

On each of my previous visits the performances have been different so you never know what to expect. On my first mid-week visit, we stayed all night and witnessed the acts grow ever-more burlesque as the evening draws on. This time however was a Friday night and the DJ was playing more to the bar crowd than the diners who wished to talk. So after a hula-hoop girl, a fire-dancer and the aerialist, we settled the bill, saved our vocal chords and made our escape.

Thankfully, with Circus now catering for weekday and weekend brunch menus and quieter mid-week sittings, there are better times to plan a visit to ensure you get the full performance and dining experience in Covent Garden’s unique cabaret restaurant. The popularity of this particular Circus has ensured that it’s not about to leave town any time soon.


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London Restaurant Festival Press Launch

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Simon Davis, Fay Maschler and 25 top London chefs celebrate the press launch of London Restaurant Festival

We had a very busy morning indeed today as Fay and I hosted our big press launch for the London Restaurant Festival 2009. We started with a press breakfast at One  Aldwych – for which many thanks to the team there.

Everyone who agreed to turn up did so which is always encouraging and there were journalists from Bloomberg, BBC, The Telegraph, The Times, the London Evening Standard, London Lite and several others. All were eager to find out more about the festival and get stories in their various publications. Awareness is crucial so this is pleasing.

Chefs in Covent Garden

From here Fay and I led the journalists up to Covent Garden, where the London Restaurant Festival Hub will be located (see below). We had arranged for a photo call with 25 of London’s top chefs. It’s always slightly nerve wracking when you organise these sort of occasions but it was wonderful to see that all 25 chefs turned out, resplendent in their whites, to be photographed with Fay and I in front of our huge festival dinner plate.

I would like to thank Chloe Couchman from our partners at Visit London who helped orchestrate the shoot and press day and also all the chefs who turned out. The success of the first London Restaurant Festival is reliant on several factors, not least the enthusiasm and support of the very chefs who have helped establish London as one of the world’s great restaurant cities.

All-Star Cast

Among the 25 who turned out today were Mark Hix, Angela Hartnett, Thomasina Miers, Henry Harris, Pierre Koffmann, Richard Corrigan, Claude Bosi, Anthony Demetre, Tim Hughes and many others and Fay and I are extremely grateful. All of them will be running festival menus.

On the subject of which we have now got almost 500 restaurants signed up.

After the shoot we repaired to Sophie’s Steakouse on Wellington St where an assembled crowd of some 100 press and chefs gathered to hear more details about the festival. Thanks very much to Sophie’s Steakhouse for hosting us.

I gave an address before Fay set out her clear aims for the festival and her motivations for helping to create it.

Visit London Support for the Festival

Sally Chatterjee, the interim CEO of Visit London, then spoke about the support given by Mayor of London Boris Johnson and also the wholehearted backing that Visit London are giving to the festival both in year one and going forward.

It was all generally deemed to be a great success by both press and chefs alike and Fay and I both hope that the resulting press coverage we receive will help boost the awareness of the festival.

At the time of writing I gather the story has already made some of the papers and hit the airwaves.

The Hub at Covent Garden

I am writing this blog from the rather magnificent chrome 1950s airstream caravan that we have plonked in Covent Garden and is serving as our information centre and press office. Do come down and have a look if you are in the area and you can find out more about the festival. It’s being hauled off tomorrow though and will be back on October 1st and will stay in place for two weeks over the festival period.

My thanks to Covent Garden London - one of our key partners – for helping us to organise all of this.

Pierre Koffmann at Selfridges

One last thing, I made an exciting announcement at the press conference this morning and that is the news that Pierre Koffmann’s restaurant on the roof of Selfridges has already had so many reservations that we are going to extend it for one week.

Tickets are also now on sale for The Big Roast, Gourmet Odyssey and the Simon Schama Lecture so please do book your tickets as they are selling fast.

Tickets for the other events will start going on sale very soon so keep checking in.

Festival Menus

Also, do have a look at the restaurants running  festival menus and start thinking about making your reservation soon, as several chefs I spoke to this morning said they were already getting reservations.

Thanks once again for all of those who are getting behind the London Restaurant Festival and doing their utmost to guarantee that the first year is a triumph. I’ll be back with more news soon and if you have any questions, comments or ideas for events then please do post them and I shall endeavour to get back to you.

Don’t forget, the London Restaurant Festival is your festival too. Thanks very much.

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