From popadom to Bombay pizza
– Guest post by Paul Simeon – The Indian meals following Cous Cous Cafe‘s takeouts and dinners at Oxford during his two weeks in England.
Saturday night I went to Mirch Masala. It was an Indian/Pakistani place. I later found out from the servers that the owner was from Pakistan, and the wife was from India. While I was waiting, alone, the server offered to get me some popadom (it has multiple spellings, but this is how their menu says it).
I didn’t know what it was or if it were complimentary, so I just said, “no, that’s alright.” He brought it anyway, and it was quite nice. It was a thin, crisp flatbread, like a cracker, and it had three toppings for it: chutney, chopped onions and coriander, and some green mint sauce. The chutney was quite good.
I didn’t finish all of the popadom by the time the main dish came, Murgh Makhani (Tandoori chicken off the bone cooked in butter, yoghurt, cream, cashew nuts, powder and masala sauces) with a side of paratha (rolled out Indian bread made on tawa, spread with ghee) to eat it with.
Murgh Makhani was the first on the list of house specialties, and I’m inclined to pick from the house special list. I decided to try paratha instead of the more familiar naan. They’re both good. Paratha is just grilled in a skillet rather than baked like naan. It works just as well as the naan at scooping up the main dish, and they are both better than the popadom.
The highlight of the night was the main dish, though. It was simply perfect. It was sweet, spicy, savory all at once, and just the right level of spice (for me) where one doesn’t notice it. It had lots of grilled chicken pieces in it. It was good quality chicken with little charred bits on it.
I barely had enough room to finish it all, except a little bit of popadom. The bill was 9 pounds, and the popadom was indeed complimentary, but perhaps just in my case. Tax is already included in the bill in England, which makes it easier to split the bill with multiple people. The servers noticed I was taking pictures of my food and suggested I should take a picture of the murals on two walls in the place. He said they were specially painted for them. I thought the lights that had shining on them would mess up the picture, but it turned out to be the best picture of the night. The lighting was too low for good pictures with my camera.
My last day in Oxford was spent in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. It was a pretty good museum, with the first dinosaur bones ever identified as a prehistoric reptile. It was also the site of the famous 1860 evolution debate between Huxley and Wilberforce. When it closed at 5, I roamed the tourist-filled streets of Oxford for a place to eat. There wasn’t much by the museum, but I eventually found an area with some more options.
I settled on a place called Fire & Stone. Its theme was international pizza, with their menu divided by continent and filled with bizarre pizzas made from the cuisines of the continent. For example, Africa offers the Marrakech (£8.95 cumin spiced ground lamb, mozzarella, mint yoghurt sauce, green olives, raisins & sliced red onion drizzled with chilli oil) and the Cairo (£7.95 (v) Fire roasted red & yellow peppers, courgettes, aubergines, balsamic roasted red onions, mozzarella and Fire & Stone’s tomato sauce topped with crumbled goat’s cheese & pine nuts). In some cases, it was pretty much insert-your-cuisine fusion food baked onto a pizza. They had a few vegetarian options, but I just got the impression that they didn’t offer as many vegetarian options in England as in the Bay Area, not surprisingly, and there was never a mention of vegan options.
I chose the Bombay (£8.95 Roast tandoori marinated chicken breast, spiced tandoori yoghurt base, broccoli, sliced red onion, mozzarella, spiced mango chutney and cucumber & mint yoghurt) since Indian food is rare on this blog. This was good, but it would be a let-down if you’re expecting good Indian food, especially after eating at Mirch Masala. The chicken was not grilled or very flavorful, and the yoghurt and broccoli didn’t seem to go well with the rest. It was a nice change to have a tandoori base instead of normal pizza sauce. The pizza was 9 inches wide, a decent portion. I ate the whole thing without feeling too stuffed, which is just the right amount, I think. American restaurants tend to give a lot more food, which is good if you want to take home leftovers, but it often causes people to overeat or waste food. 9 pounds (roughly $14) is a little high, but I guess it’s normal (or even reasonable) for eating out in the middle of Oxford. They didn’t cut the pizza. Why not?
The restaurant was pretty big. It was a little early for the dinner crowd, so it was a bit empty. They had many big sliding windows open to air the place out. They also offer pasta, but I saw at least one table leave when the server informed them that the oven just broke, and they wouldn’t have pasta for about 30 minutes.
They had a hand-held credit card reader (as many places in England did) so that she could scan my card right at my table. Then she passed it to me to enter the percentage to add on as tip. I thought it was convenient compared to estimating it by hand, but I could see how some might find that awkward.
Addresses:
Mirch Masala
137-139, Cowley Rd
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX4 1HU
Telephone: 01865 728581
Fire & Stone Pizza Restaurant
Threeways House, 28-38 George Street
Oxford OX1 2BJ
Other bites in England:
– Oxford dinners – part I and II
– Cous Cous Cafe in Oxford
– Pie and mash at the Ship Inn Upavon and Pieminister
– England’s healthy fastfood chain: Pret A Manger
I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply as I’m looking to construct my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. thank you
1Please let me know if you’re looking for a author for your blog. You have some really good posts and I think I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d absolutely love to write some articles for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please shoot me an email if interested. Many thanks!
2I have been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this web site. Thanks, I’ll try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your website?
3It is really a great and helpful piece of information. I am glad that you shared this useful information with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
4Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to more added agreeable from you! However, how can we communicate?
5excellent post, very informative. I wonder why the other specialists of this sector do not notice this. You must continue your writing. I am sure, you’ve a great readers’ base already!
6Hello! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to look it over. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Great blog and excellent design.
7I was recommended this website by my cousin. I am not sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else know such detailed about my problem. You are wonderful! Thanks!
8I discovered your blog web site on google and check just a few of your early posts. Proceed to maintain up the very good operate. I just further up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Looking for ahead to reading extra from you in a while!…
9Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It if truth be told was a entertainment account it. Glance advanced to far added agreeable from you! By the way, how can we keep up a correspondence?
10Howdy! I just want to give a huge thumbs up for the good information you’ve got here on this post. I will probably be coming back to your blog for more soon.
11Great work! This is the type of info that are meant to be shared around the net. Disgrace on the search engines for not positioning this put up upper! Come on over and talk over with my web site . Thank you =)
12This is very interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger. I’ve joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your wonderful post. Also, I’ve shared your web site in my social networks!
13You can certainly see your skills in the work you write. The arena hopes for even more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe. Always go after your heart. “A second wife is hateful to the children of the first a viper is not more hateful.” by Euripides.
14obviously like your web-site but you need to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very bothersome to inform the truth then again I will surely come again again.
15There is clearly a bunch to realize about this. I feel you made some nice points in features also.
16Yesterday, while I was at work, my cousin stole my apple ipad and tested to see if it can survive a 40 foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My iPad is now destroyed and she has 83 views. I know this is entirely off topic but I had to share it with someone!
17Normally I don’t read post on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very compelled me to check out and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, very great article.
18Hi , I do believe this is an excellent blog. I stumbled upon it on Yahoo , i will come back once again. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and help other people.
19I simply could not depart your site before suggesting that I actually loved the standard information a person supply in your guests? Is gonna be again incessantly to inspect new posts
20Aw, this was a very nice post. In idea I want to put in writing like this additionally – taking time and precise effort to make an excellent article… however what can I say… I procrastinate alot and certainly not appear to get one thing done.
21Howdy, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get a lot of spam feedback? If so how do you reduce it, any plugin or anything you can suggest? I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any help is very much appreciated.
22The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.
23Loving the information on this site, you have done outstanding job on the articles.
24Hey, you used to write great, but the last few posts have been kinda boring… I miss your tremendous writings. Past few posts are just a bit out of track! come on!
25Nice post. I study one thing more challenging on totally different blogs everyday. It’s going to at all times be stimulating to read content from other writers and practice a bit something from their store. I’d choose to use some with the content on my weblog whether or not you don’t mind. Natually I’ll give you a hyperlink on your net blog. Thanks for sharing.
26Hi! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.
27I went over this website and I think you have a lot of good info, bookmarked (:.
28A powerful share, I simply given this onto a colleague who was doing a bit analysis on this. And he in reality purchased me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the deal with! However yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I really feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If attainable, as you turn into experience, would you thoughts updating your weblog with extra particulars? It’s highly helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog put up!
29I haven’t checked in here for a while since I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess I will add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
30Hi, Neat post. There is an issue along with your web site in internet explorer, could test this… IE still is the market leader and a good section of other people will omit your great writing due to this problem.
31you’re really a good webmaster. The website loading speed is incredible. It seems that you are doing any unique trick. Moreover, The contents are masterwork. you have done a wonderful job on this topic!
32Good write-up, I’m normal visitor of one’s website, maintain up the nice operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor for a lengthy time.
33Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is an extremely well written article. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.
34Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your website? My website is in the very same niche as yours and my visitors would certainly benefit from a lot of the information you present here. Please let me know if this alright with you. Thanks a lot!
35Thank you for another fantastic post. The place else could anyone get that type of info in such an ideal method of writing? I have a presentation subsequent week, and I’m on the search for such info.
36I am very happy to read this. This is the type of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this greatest doc.
37Regards for all your efforts that you have put in this. very interesting information.
38fantastic post, very informative. I wonder why the other specialists of this sector don’t notice this. You must continue your writing. I am sure, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!
39Some truly prize content on this website , bookmarked.
40I am constantly thought about this, regards for posting.
41You really make it appear so easy along with your presentation however I to find this topic to be actually something that I believe I’d by no means understand. It seems too complicated and very huge for me. I am having a look ahead for your subsequent publish, I’ll attempt to get the hang of it!
42When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Bless you!
43Needed to compose you a very small remark to finally give many thanks over again for these remarkable tricks you’ve featured on this website. This has been certainly wonderfully open-handed of you to make unhampered all numerous people might have offered as an e book to get some bucks for themselves, and in particular considering that you might well have done it in case you considered necessary. These points likewise worked to become easy way to fully grasp that many people have the same dream the same as mine to learn whole lot more with reference to this condition. I am certain there are several more enjoyable sessions ahead for individuals who scan through your website.
44Aw, this was a really nice post. In idea I would like to put in writing like this additionally – taking time and precise effort to make an excellent article… however what can I say… I procrastinate alot and under no circumstances seem to get something done.
45Useful info. Fortunate me I found your site by accident, and I’m stunned why this twist of fate did not came about earlier! I bookmarked it.
46Some really nice stuff on this site, I love it.
47Valuable information. Fortunate me I found your site accidentally, and I am surprised why this twist of fate did not took place earlier! I bookmarked it.
48Would love to perpetually get updated outstanding web blog! .
49Thanks for all your efforts that you have put in this. very interesting info .
50