February 2024 Favourites list

Welcome to this month's Favourites list. 

The pictures for this month are from two favourite Turkish restaurants of mine. 

Turkuaz, in Catford, south east London, is an award winning restaurant, having been named 2023 Best Turkish restaurant in south east London by TURTA (if you knew the level of competition in this part of the capital, you'd understand this is quite an accolade!) and 2023 Best customer satisfaction award at the British Kebab Awards. 

Levante, in Lewisham, south east London is an informal restaurant/cafe which has been serving up great Turkish food for decades. It used to be a bit of a little secret. However, Jay Rayner recently found himself here, and wrote a glowing review, so the cat is well and truly out of the bag. Jay's review is here: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/feb/04/levante-london-a-very-happy-find-restaurant-review

I hope that this month's list provides something for everyone. Please do let me know what you think of this month's selections!

Food articles

This is wonderful. Sushi art by Tama-chan. Scroll through all of them. They're almost too cute to imagine eating them! https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/jan/27/takayo-kiyota-tama-chan-sushi-edible-art-van-gogh-picasso-frida-kahlo

Aubergine in sauce - Patlican soslu, Levante

Fascinating long read by food writer Jonathan Nunn of Vittles and Eater fame: how Nicholas Saunders changed the way Britain eats and deserves far more recognition: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/23/nicholas-saunders-forgotten-genius-changed-british-food

The Michelin star list for the UK for 2024: https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/michelin-index/michelin-guide-results-2024

Grumpy food writing at its best – a rant against QR codes instead of proper menus: https://thewalrus.ca/qr-code-restaurant-menu

Kiymali Peynirli Pide - meat and cheese Turkish pizza, Levante

 

How Britain fell in love with Chinese food: https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/features/how-britain-fell-in-love-with-chinese-food

Where chefs go for a bite to eat in the UK: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/21/where-chefs-go-to-grab-a-bite-great-pizza-sushi-cafes-and-value-for-money-meals-across-the-uk

Kitchen know how and cooking tips

Herbs are aromatic and flavour delivering heroes – here are some storage and cooking tips for using these green treasures: https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/food-drink/food-heroes/8-questions-about-herbs-answered

Most people boil them or fry them – but baked eggs are underrated (perhaps because I don’t like them thoroughly cooked): https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-to-make-baked-eggs-any-way-you-like

In the past I have shared my recipe for Chinese style chicken and sweetcorn soup with egg (aka Egg flower soup), here’s a cooking hack to make the egg flowers even more delicate: https://www.foodrepublic.com/1507984/how-to-make-egg-ribbons-in-soup-cornstarch-slurry/

(My recipe can be found here: https://snigskitchen.blogspot.com/2021/03/chicken-and-sweetcorn-soup-with-egg.html)

I bought a jar of preserved lemons from the Turkish grocery shop, and now I need to know what to do with them! https://www.bonappetit.com/story/what-are-preserved-lemons

Acili ezme (chilli paste dip), hummus and bread - Turkuaz

Recipes

Cold Sesame Noodles or Liang Mian, a Taiwanese cold noodle salad recipe from Clarissa Wei’s new book “Made In Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation (A Cookbook)” as featured at Kavey’s blog, Kavey Eats: https://www.kaveyeats.com/taiwanese-cold-sesame-noodles

Fiona Maclean’s recipe for Truffled potato soup – for Valentines day eating in: https://www.london-unattached.com/truffled-potato-soup/

Ravinder Bhogal shares her recipes made from tinned ingredients including a chickpea chaat masala with nachos, anchovy-flavoured cheesy, peppery pasta and, for dessert, a hassle-free no-churn coffee and chocolate ice-cream: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/24/cooking-with-tinned-food-recipes-ravinder-bhogal-nachos-pasta-ice-cream

Lahmacun - Turkish flatbread with mince, Levante

 

What you might have missed at Snig’s Kitchen

My review of Sushi Revolution in Brixton, south London: https://snigskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/02/sushi-revolution-brixton-restaurant.html

Rick Stein's Greek style rice pilaf. Recipe for 2: https://www.tumblr.com/snigskitchen/741067066741800961/rick-steins-greek-style-rice-pilaf-i-made-ricks

My other writing

How to use case law in civil procedural submission advocacy work (guidance for Bar course students and those learning civil advocacy): https://snigsclassroom.blogspot.com/2024/02/using-case-law-in-civil-advocacy.html

Lamb guvec, salad and rice - Levante

Film

The Kitchen    

Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya’s co-directed film imagines a London of the near future which only has one remaining area of social housing; “The Kitchen”. Everywhere else has been socially cleansed. Kids are recruited into committing scooter robberies for peanuts, risking imprisonment, while those in charge remain safe and distant. Police brutality is rife. Into this hard environment, Izi meets Benji and a unique relationship is built. With a revelation of a cameo by Ian Wright (yes, the football pundit and legendary former football player), this is a film which explores gentrification, poverty, life and death.

Available on Netflix.

Please note: as with every monthly Favourites List, all of these items have been selected by me simply because I love them. I do not receive any money, benefits in kind or other incentive for posting these links or recommendations

Sushi Revolution, Brixton – restaurant review

Brixton’s Sushi Revolution presents itself as a concept restaurant, offering tradition and revolution at the same time. Hence, the restaurant’s emblem, influenced by communist art and propaganda. The menu at Sushi Revolution has two aspects. The “sushi” part reflects Japanese favourites; nigiri (fish with rice), sashimi (just raw fish), and maki (fish and rice rolls). The “revolution” part features Japanese food with a twist. I am reminded of Izakayas in Japan with contemporary edge. Some of the “revolution” represents Nikkei influence on the food (a uniquely delicious cuisine created by the south American people from the Japanese diaspora), some from fusion dishes. 

 

There is an impressive set of items for vegetarians and vegans, who are often neglected by other Japanese restaurants in the UK. Although I should mention the restaurant’s FAQ on their website does state that their small kitchen means they cannot guarantee no cross-contamination for people with food allergies. 

We started with a carafe of Yuzu sake (£10 for 140ml) while we thought about what to eat. The citrussy twist to the rice wine helped us work up an appetite. A lovely, well presented aperitif.  

The fried Japanese aubergine (£7) delivers great texture and flavour. The beetroot den miso delivers the umami of miso paste, sweet and savoury flavours of beetroot, and the traditional flavours of sake, soy sauce and mirin. The topping of crispy onions and toasted sesame seeds gives a crunch to the meaty bite of the aubergine. This glorious vegetable dish is both gluten free and vegan.  

Sake (salmon) sashimi (£9.50) was a portion of 5 long slices of fresh sushi grade salmon. Served up with wasabi, spiralised mooli radish and sushi gari (picked ginger), this was old school traditional sushi. The revolution, should you wish to accept it, is roasted garlic soy sauce. If you don’t, not to worry, regular shoyu Japanese soy sauce had been provided at our table before we even ordered our first dish. A generous portion for the price, which was wolfed down rapidly. 

 

 

Scallop Kataifi (£9) is a fusion of Turkish/Middle eastern and Japanese cuisines. The Kataifi is a Turkish pastry, which is spun into extremely fine thread like strands. It is usually used for super sweet (and super delicious) Baklava, but here it was strictly savoury. The scallop was wrapped in this delicate and fragile pastry and cooked to ensure the interior is just cooked, and the outside delivers a brittle crunch. Black garlic aioli sauce is another fusion element, which almost had me licking the plate! I’ve seen this kind of dish made with black cod, and this was a very satisfying variation. 

Sushi Revolution has an open kitchen, which if you’re sitting at the bar means you have a good vantage point. I always find an open kitchen slightly mesmerising, even better than television! Seeing these dishes made with such care and attention to detail made me respect what I received even more. 

 

Revolution Wakame coleslaw (£6) is a light and refreshing east Asian style slaw. There’s no heavy mayo or salad cream here, and don’t worry about there being egg in the dressing, as it is vegan. The layered presentation of the wakame seaweed, fennel, cabbage, and spring herbs means as you dig in, you get different texture and flavours. The wakame has bite and the right jelly like mouthfeel, and the fennel, cabbage and herb give contrasting crunch and fresh taste. My dining companion was very sceptical when I wanted to order this dish, but admitted it was very tasty and one he would order on a return visit. (Gluten free and vegan.)

 

Tuna tartare (£11.50) with spring onion, avocado, truffle onion soy sauce, and goats cheese is another “revolution” dish. The goats cheese is added sparingly, offering a lightness to complement the rich meatiness of the tuna. The truffle onion soy doesn’t overpower the tuna or avocado. It’s a beautifully balanced and delicious little dish we enjoyed sharing. Served up with crispy, crunchy rice crackers, this felt like Nikkei dishes we’ve had in Peru.  

 

 

The Tuna Revolution (£14.50) was 8 pieces of kaburimaki sushi. Kaburimaki sushi is an inside-out sushi roll topped with slices of fish (or perhaps something else). Tempura prawn was in the middle of this inside out roll. Often by the time it arrives at your table, some of these tempura based rolls are getting a little tired and damp. Not so here, the crunch was still there, making a great texture contrast to the avocado and rice. The spicy mayo and tonkatsu sauces brought together the tuna, avocado, and prawn. Beautifully made and beautifully tasty.

 

 

We switched from Yuzu sake to house sake (£8 for 140ml) with the our lunch after we had enjoyed our aperitif. Chilled sake always complements sushi so perfectly.

 

We had a very enjoyable lunch at Sushi Revolution, and there are many other dishes on the menu I am itching to try. (Salmon picante and Nikkei yellowtail Taradito are on my list!) We received excellent service from staff who are interested and passionate about both the food and customer experience.  It’s a shame that Brixton is a bit difficult for me to get to, but I will definitely be back.

 

 

Snigdha paid for her meal and that of her companion. Snigdha has received no incentive, financial or otherwise for writing this review. This review represents Snigdha's honest opinions of her dining experience.