Page 21 – Halal Food Guy

Moral Cafe

-

October 2, 2018

Update October 2018 –

Since originally writing this review a lot of time has passed, this place has taken its newly found popularity that I feel I had a part in and has increased prices and dropped standards. I have changed the score to reflect this.

The first time I had a halal English breakfast outside of my home was at Meds and that experience was rather disappointing and left me wondering why it was rated by so many. Well, if you follow me on Instagram, the comments section for that Meds post recommended a place for me to check out.

Moral Cafe is a Turkish run family establishment in Ilford.

The cafe is spacious, clean, modern and contemporary. As mentioned is is a Turkish family run business with a lot of warmth from the people that work there. Very friendly, good service and a nice breakfast. You are able to swap items if you want. Many other things on the menu

I went for the Full English, there are loads of options to choice from the wide range of items on the menu.

I liked the presentation of the breakfast, served in a plate with corners and neat compartment areas for extras. Looking back, I should of swapped a few things out, but for I did have was great. You get to chose the type of bread you even want and its not the cheap tesco value stuff.

I do think that it could of done with a slight twist and maybe add some ethnic flavours to it, (basically, I like chilli and spice) but it stayed true to being a simple and well cooked English Breakfast. Not much to go into here, everything was made well and was good quality.

Highly recommended.

Caraway

Indian

Halal Food Guy

-

March 6, 2017

0

Caraway Is a indian restaurant in gants hill and not to be confused with a typical curry house. The decor of the restaurant featured a moroccan infused design in the center as well as a pleasant water feature which created a nice atmosphere, as pictured. From looking at the interior and staff I would guess that this is a indian punjabi run restaurant

Service was unattentive throughout the meal, I felt that we were not really looked after and I had to get the attention of the waiters on a few occasions despite the venue not being busy.

The lamb chops were cooked to medium not over done and served on a sizzling hot plate. Lamb chops were juicy and and had good flavour to them. The chat was a bit disappointing and I am finding it hard to recall it.

Main course, the lamb bhuna curry was fresh and pleasant as well as the keema curry. I think i prefered keema curry as there was deeper flavours.

Cost wise i think the dishes represented good value for money and good portion sizes. A simple and nice local indian restaurant that i would go again as the food was good overall.

Starters

Special Alu Papdi Chat...... £5.50

Lamb Chop lajawab........... £6.95

Mains

Keema-e-khas................ £5.95

Bhuna Gosht................. £6.95

2 Plain naan................ £3.00

Drinks

Virgin Colada............... £4.25

Sprite...................... £2.75

TOTAL...................... £35.35

Siirgista Bros

Burgers

Halal Food Guy

-

June 14, 2018

2

Another Halal burger joint, but this one is in central London, located opposite right opposite the station Burgista is more an upmarket fast food eatery. Order at the till, pay and wait for burger goodness. Menu is simplistic, you can order burgers on their own or with a chips and drink combo or with a milkshake.

I ordered a MEXICALI SPICY BURGER. A beef patty, which consisted of baby gem lettuce, heritage tomato, red onion and our burger sauce, topped with sliced jalapeno chillies, smoky chilli cheese and chipotle mayonnaise.

The burger is similar to the shakeshack style with hand formed beef patties, cooked on a hot grill and smacked. Although described as a gourmet burger, I think it is more a burger had that fancy fast food meets gourmet taste.

The Burger was packed full of different layers of ingredients in a warm, soft and sweet bun, that held together really well despite oozing with juices from meat and other ingredients.

Enjoyed the burger and I am sure I will be back to try the other burgers on the menu.

burger + chips + ferrero rocher shake in central London for £11.98. Great value.

Masak (closed)

Malaysian

Halal Food Guy

-

December 30, 2017

0

Masak is a relativity new eatery in my home town of Leyton, East London which serves up a concise menu of Malaysian cuisine. The venue is small, warm and has more of a cafe vibe than a restaurant.

The menu is very simple and focuses on a core section of famous and staple dishes from Malaysian cuisine, of which I am a massive fan of and have been to Malaysia several times in the last 5 years.

I dined here with my parents and brother so 4 of us in total. We visited on a Sunday night at the restaurant was empty, not a soul insight, which was not a good sign, but lucky it was not a bad omen.

As mentioned, the menu is not complex and has a small but well thought choice of dishes to chose from.

Starters

Ordered – Beef Satay and Chicken Satay, 3 skewers with each dish. (Meat marinated in various spices, skewered then grilled. Served with cucumber, shallot, rice cubes & peanut sauce) £3.99

I found the both satay sticks a little underwhelming, the pieces of chicken were lacking flavour and were on the dry side. I prefer the use of thigh than what they used here chicken breast, as its naturally better tasting meat and has more moisture to it. So not the best start.

Mains

Roti canai £4.99, Beef Rendang £7.99, Nasi Goreng £5.99 and Beef Kari £5.99.

This is where things pick up. The mains were all very good. The beef rendang add a great balance of dryness with the perfect amount of moisture to it. The texture was authentic to what i expect slow cooked meat to be like. It was packed full of flavour was is definitely one of the best beef rendang dishes I have tasted in a long time. By this time I guess people walking past saw us and came in and there were 4 other tables of people eating with us now.

The nasi goreng was served with all the traditional accompaniments, prawn crackers, egg on top with a dollop of sambal on the side and again i Found it a very authentic dish.

The roti canai, which is a traditional type of Indian-influenced flatbread found in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, came with a chicken Kari and was very similar in appearance and taste to the beef kari. This again tasted great, a good level of spice and flavours. It was a very enjoyable meal overall, each dish was cooked really well and tasted great.

For dessert myself and brother both went for Banana fritters, which are bananas deep fried in batter and served with ice cream £2.99

There was only one member of service staff, so when the flow of people started the service slightly dropped, nothing major just the table was not cleared for 10mins. But the service is friendly and well had that local hospitality feel to it.

The price came to under £50 for 4 people with drinks. I think Masak represents great value as the dishes are very well prices and great value for money.

A very good and authentic tasting Malaysian restaurant.

Oh, make sure wash your hands at the restroom, it’s one of nicest bathrooms i have seen in a restaurant!

Meds

Halal Food Guy

-

March 6, 2017

1

So a few months ago I had the day off and I decided to go for a late breakfast to the much talked about Meds cafe in Mile end. Which offers an all day halal English breakfast

Made popular due to its proximity to Queen Mary uni, it was packed with a lot of students from the area.

I ordered the standard English breakfast. What did I think?

It was up there with the most unforgettable and poorest things I ate in 2015. I seriously question how this place is so busy. Everything on the plate I had was sub standard.

Maybe it’s because I like making my own English breakfast at home and it’s 10 times better than here. It’s just a English breakfast but jeez how badly can you make it. Beans tasted like they were from some 10p can and the sausages were poor. Just sub standard quality use of condiments, even the bread/toast was cheap.

Wouldn’t go back here in a hurry. But for some reason it’s always busy. One of life’s mystery.

Thainese

Chinese
Thai

Halal Food Guy

-

December 30, 2017

2

Date of visit: Jan 9 2016

So I was in the mood for thai one Saturday night and headed first to the new yum yum in Walthamstow, but they had no tables, so i ended up in Thainese just Down the road. As the name suggests, it’s a fusion of Thai and Chinese food.

The venue is small and has that local restaurant vibe to it. There are loads of items of the menu to choose from which gives you many options to pick from so there is something for everyone.

Starters:
Chicken Satay, Won Tons

The satay skewers were average, a bit dry with a rubbery texture. Since I’ve had satay sticks made from chicken thigh and leg anything else doesn’t taste as good.

The wong tons felt like there were cooked from frozen, but were okay.

Mains
Beef noodle clay hot pot. Sadly this dish may look pretty, but it was very disappointing and tasteless. It was on par with a pot noodle. The watery sauce lacked any flavour and taste. The noodles sat at the bottom of the pot and didn’t go well with the meat.

I had the Singapore beef rendang, this was more like a beef Indian curry and was again very disappointing. It didn’t have any hint of being slow cooked in coconut milk and lacked authentic flavours. This dish did not taste anything like how it should have tasted.

Not much else to say about this place, the quality of the food I ate has not made much of an impression on me to be persuaded to come back in a hurry. I just think that the mish mash of different type of cuisines doesn’t really work im my opinion, one should perfect either thai or Chinese as both types of food require different techniques and styles of cooking and instead of having a large menu to please all, instead focus on a few unique and staple dishes.

Starters

Crispy Wontons.............. £5.50

Grilled Chicken Satay....... £6.95

Mains

Clay pot Beef + noodles..... £5.95

Singapore Beef Rendang...... £6.95

Plain White Rice............ £1.45

Drinks

7-up........................ £1.25

TOTAL...................... £32.50

Sugar Mill

Burgers

Halal Food Guy

-

March 6, 2017

0

Located just behind Wembley Arena and the outlet centre is the desert spot Sugar Mill. The venue has a stylish interior that is similar to the styling and decor of a modern hotel lobby. There are regular tabled seating or nice big sofas.

The menu has a wide range of deserts and food options. I came here as i remember my friend over at @halalgems mentioning that they do slider burgers. So that’s what i went for.

I had a grilled chicken, lamb and beef mini burger. I wasn’t that impressed. It didn’t feel like quality. First the bread used for the bun just didn’t work, it was on the smaller side and the texture was too hard. The chicken was best slider of the lot, it had good flavours but the rest were poor. I didn’t take any enjoyment from eating the beef or lamb. It felt like a canopy than a slider burger lacking any juiciness or identifiable flavours.

Also hand a moroccan lamb burger, which also wasn’t impressive. I had the lamb burger from my local favorite Five Lads a few days before for less than £5 which much better compared to this. Moroccan burger was £10.95

Sliders cost £12.95 with one side, the side I picked was dirty fires which were absolutely brilliant. On par with the masala Chips from saffron kitchen.

Slider burgers are NOT available on event days.

StickyWings

American

Halal Food Guy

-

July 18, 2017

1

My first visit to Stickywings in Brick Lane last night. Some pretty epic wings here. I went for the UK size BBQ wings with chips.

The BBQ wings here were absolutely fantastic, I preferred them to Buffalo chicken.

Had a great chat with the half English half bengali brothers that work there. Really nice guys. The place was very quiet due to the road closures around the area. But the food was simple but really hit the spot. Will try the bagel burger next time.

HMC chicken.

Trishna

Indian

Halal Food Guy

-

January 7, 2018

2

Trishna is one of few halal Indian Michelin stared restaurants in London and has been on my list for a long time. They offer a decent lunch bites menu, where 2 dishes £19 per person, 3 for £24, 4 for £29 and 5 for £34. I ordered a total of 6 dishes which are the following, plus lamb chops from the la carte menu for £18.

Starters
Paneer tikka anardana [fried onion, mint, corn & pomegranate chat] Punjabi vegetable samosa chat [chickpea masala, tamarind, sweet yoghurt]

Mains
Andhra lamb masala [curry leaf, coastal spices] Moplah seafood biryani [seabass, shellfish, coriander, pink peppercorn raita] Sides
Bread basket, basmati rice, Hyderabadi dal and wild mustard potatoes
Desserts
Gajar halwa [heritage carrot pudding, masala chai kulfi, cake] Cardamom kheer [fig, raisin, pistachio, cardamom]

First of all, there was a lot of food and the portions where great, I was very pleased with the amount of food that arrived, I was very well fed and stuffed after lunch. I have to say I was expecting more for a Michelin stared restaurant, apart from the lamb chops nothing stood out or really made an impression. The lamb chops where very thick and very good, cooked well and Burnt on the outside not dry, and very juicy and moist inside infused with a tandoori flavour a very good piece of meat here.
The paneer was underwhelming but the samosa chaat was light, well textured and good start. The lamb curry was bland and uninspiring, the seafood biryani was cooked well but nothing outstanding.

For dessert, I rounded a nice meal off with a well made Kheer with Kufi, served cold just how I like it.

Venue wise, the space is small and similar to a cafe in Shoreditch, I was expecting better from the decor and the service was rather average for a one star Michelin. Booking was required and we were shown to out table at 1.45pm straight away. I just felt the staff where slight unattentive. Each meal was introduced when brought to the table as standard by a restaurant with a Michelin Star.

The total bill was under £70 which is very good considering it is a Michelin starred restaurant. However, after leaving I noticed that they charged me for 2 dishes per person and not 3, so result! All in all, I think the lunch bites menu was great value and food was filling.

Levi Roots Caribbean Smokehouse (closed)

Caribbean

Halal Food Guy

-

September 29, 2020

1

Levi Roots Caribbean Smokehouse (closed)

I went to visit this new restaurant from Mr reggae reggae Levi Roots. The venue has a decent vibe to it, reggae style music in teh background and a cool smokehouse caribbean style vibe, you can even learn some Jamaican when you visit the rest rooms.

The Chicken here is halal and so is the lamb ribs, however the ribs where not available, something that was only mentioned at the time of ordering and not before.

I was with 3 others, so 4 in total, we all ordered the jerk Chicken. Menu is among the photos below, with each main you get to pick 2 sides, and there is a wide range of sides you can chose from.

The odd thing about this place is the way they served ALL the chicken together. I ordered a half chicken – they serve chicken here pre cut, so Leg, thigh and breast. The pieces are small. This meant that an order 3 1/4 chicken meals and a half chicken meal was all served on one tray along with a 2 portions of a side sweet potato fires. We found this confusing as we ordered individual meals and everything was served together, which was confusing and we didn’t know who ordered what.

The chicken itself was rather underwhelming, i found it dry and it lacked the freshness one would expect. There was a lack of flavour and i was expecting a more robust taste due to their unique cooking methods.

If you like your chicken then stick with you nandos for your chicken fix. The chicken here was defiantly not worth the trip, i was really expecting a lot more.

Perhaps me and my friends also made the mistake of limiting our sides to just rice and peas (which was very good, rice was soft and flavoursome) and sweet potato fires.

Drinks, I ordered a coconut and lime refresher but had to send it back as it was awful and got a mango juice instead.

Oh, i forgot the sides, we ordered fish cakes – very good, as was the salt fish but the chicken wings were not anything to write about. Portion sizes here were good.

We had a lot of food left over, this is a reflection of the food taste more than anything – however they run out of packaging and put the left over chicken and rice in a parcel of kitchen foil.

But as always, i encourage you to go and visit yourself and make up your own mind