aaaaand another rather peculiar culinary mix for the day. Mexican then Indian. And no reason why not... (except I'm SUPPOSED to be steering away from stodge and not spending money etc etc) SHUT UP conscience, I'm eating here.
Another day another intrepid exploration around London carrying shizen loads of bags and talking a lot at people. Hence forthwith and therefore one obviously works up an appetite... and we stumbled upon Benito's Hat at the hour one associates with lunch and the infringing feeling that I'm about to get VERY angry which usually means - Eat ASAP before you kick a puppy in the face. So I did (eat, not boot an innocent canine) Or rather, a little bit later I did. When we arrived it was actually - Sorry am on Goodge Street in London by the by - 11:45, an hour not that appropriate at all for lunch in actual fact, so we ordered some drinks and got on with some work and the staff were very nice about us doing this in what is essentially a fast food establishment. An hour later, without showing any of my internal turmoil fuelled by hunger, we went to get the grub in only to find the queue was now going out the front door and down the street. A good sign I reckon. It's your standard fast food mexican operation, manouevre yourself down the procession line piling on the different ingredients.
I went with: Salad Bowl - cilantro rice, black beans, lettuce, grilled chicken, salsa, fresh chillies, cheese & sour cream. Then they chucked on a handful of tortilla chips for good measure.Et Voila!
Now, I was starving, so it tasted good at the time, but you know those meals you have where you all say how nice it was and feel pleased with yourself and then somone mentions it about an hour or so later and you find yourself suddenly withholding an unattractive involuntary gagging face? it was one of them. The black beans were weirdly aniseedy, the cheese tasted of nothing, if i was pushing it, potentially hint of polystyrene, and the grilled chicken tasted like it had been sat around a bit. But it was all FINE. but no one wants fine. ahhhh hindsight.
Also, when asked if I was eating in and i declared confirmation of my whereabouts within, a plastic bowl was summoned with an air of unnecessary pride as it turned out to be a dog bowl. Which made me feel a bit like a dog, and it was all pretty cold.
Buuuut thennnn let's not forget it's cheap, it's fast food and what was i expecting? (*CHIPOTLE*) Chipotle is a lot tastier. Ain't going to hold back. But then Benito's Hat do have a more chilled out dining area that makes you feel you can try and loiter a bit which you can't in Chipotle, also BH do a happy hour on cocktails between 5 and 7 which is a nice touch and turns BH into more of an evening option whereas chipotle remains a fast food chain. Swings and R.
I did like the inclusion of things on the menu I could go Whaaaaa....? to, like Horchata. which I only know from the Vampire Weekend song "I remember drinking Horchata... you look psychedelic with your nice balaclava...?" (Leave it - I suffer from a serious case of the Mondegreens - Google it) So i looked it up and turns out to be a beverage comprising of: Ground almonds, vanilla extract, white rice extract (?!) and ice and cinammon bark. All very intriguing and entirely NOT the sort of thing to throw down your neck in an experimental fashion in the middle of a work day. But if anyone else has/does brave, do share.
Think i should introduce a vague ratings system at this point. So, for it's position in the cheap and cheerful fast food stakes, (a rating is only relevent in relation to the places niche) I would give Benito's a 6 out of 10. I enjoyed the atmosphere and how popular it seemed to be, I probably should have gone whole hog with pulled pork (dad pun alert) but I was stupidly still trying to err on the healthy side.
(Insert fast paced walking/talking/carrying montage around London, a lot of getting on the wrong tubes, and re tracing steps alongside comedy soundtrack)
Et voila, ce soir, I went out for dinner with my friend Camilla as a treat for sorting out her CV, except I didn't. So was just because we like going out for dinner. Whipped out the old Taste Card options on the iPhone, Khan's of Walton it is (New Zealand Avenue, Walton on Thames). Khan's hasn't been in residence for a hugely long time and this was potentially my 4th visit. I am a massive raving curry snob. In my opinion (and you cocky traveller types can hush - I'm talking exclusively English Curry House Experience aaaiiiighhhhttt..???) I have tasted the best, and i'm hard pushed to agree with anywhere else being worth the effort at all. The best is the Fetcham Tandoori. In a place called Fetcham. Which I doubt anyone has heard of, but it is the only reason to visit this place. Anyway, am sure plenty of excursions to that particular curry house will get documented here at some point so back to Khan's. After trying the dismal array of curry houses round these parts - full of standard samey curry dishes, bad quality meat and everything swimming in grease, Khan's is a blessing. It positions itself as a 'healthy' curry house. Love to buy into this, but realisitically, it's still a curry, not a salad. but it has FLAVOUR. all the dishes taste different and you can really taste the various ingredients (CLAUSE - not AS much as in Fetcham!)
The Pilau rice is particularly good, has been cooked in stock and has been flavoured with various cardamon pods, cinnamon, cloves etc. Is great. Tonight we kept it simple, 4 poppadums (3 pa-pa & chat 1 pa-PO!) then a chicken rogan, chicken tikka and 2 x pilau. Simple but effective. And you'll never beliiiiieeeeeve how much the bill came to - only £14 BLOODY POUNDS!!! I end up spending more somehow when I go to buy myself a can of tomato soup. Tikka was tasty, rogan was...rocking.. Pilau was..pleasant. Sorry, felt a call to action for some alliteration there.
and being women, totally won over by arrival of FOUR chocolates on the bill plate. Is it called a bill plate? I've just assigned it that grand title. Or could be the Dosh Dish. The Payment Platter. The Receipt Receptacle. I digress quite spectacularly. There was a nervous moment when the waiter earnestly told us about how we would go about ordering a home delivery online and he seemed particularly nervous about our grasp on this concept (both blonde, but ordering delivery - we can manage) and for a worrying moment we thought he may not break eye contact EVER and maybe we'd slipped into a separate time dimension, but the moment passed and we all parted on smiling terms.
Excellent service, fresh, tasty 'healthy' food (to add some weight to this claim actually - they have options of low calorie wine, do not use Ghee - replaced with olive oil, and use no additives or flavourings) average, but very clean surroundings, not too Modern (traditional curry house decor only please) so Khan's gets a 7.5 out of 10.
p.s. Loos fine and clean, but loo seat was UP in the only women's toilet? Why is this? This happens at work sometimes too, is it the calling card of the Hoverer, who wants to increase their aim zone? Answers on a postcard. or a piece of loo paper. Unused. thanks
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