Mamak stalls in Malaysia are where everything comes together - after work, after football, where the night ends or carries on. When I look at Morley's in London, I see that same energy and sense of community, which makes this feel bigger than just a collaboration.
The most important thing for me is to highlight every part of our history, whether it's beautiful or ugly, bad or good. Haitian cuisine has developed through colonization, slavery, and centuries of poverty, and Salomon wants to acknowledge that history while telling nation's story through food.
Med Salleh, which has has one Malaysian restaurant in Bayswater and two Vietnamese ones in Westbourne Grove and Earl's Court, has just added a fourth branch in Kentish Town. The newest site is Malaysian-focused, like the original, serving a menu of street food inspired by Med's upbringing in Malaysia, including dishes from his hometown of Kampar as well as flavours from Ipoh and Penang.
Sticky rice, aka sweet glutinous rice, is best steamed so its plump, chewy grains are ready to sponge up all the flavor. I created it almost by accident when I was obsessed with tomato paste and the umami it can contribute. The result is reminiscent of paella, but with the classic sticky-chewy texture of sweet glutinous rice. You'll end up with a bit of crispy browned rice at the bottom of the pan - scrape it up, fold it into the final mix
India is a country with countless regional specialties, each with its own history, culture, and unique use of spices. I wanted our guests to experience that variety and feel as though they were traveling across India one meal at a time.
Two key elements at the heart of Portuguese eating culture are couvert and pastry. A couvert, comprising bread, butter, pickled or garlic carrots, cheese and fish pate (often sardine), comes as standard at every Portuguese restaurant and family dinner table alike, as it does at our restaurant Luso, where our fish paste is an ode to this way of dining.
Chef Tiana has an amazing personality and she is doing something very similar to what I'm doing at Maydan. I preserve my culture through food and try to explain the Middle East to people through feeding them, and she does the same thing. One of her parents is Black and one is Filipino and she represents Southern food culture with Filipino food,
Kolamba showcases Sri Lankan home cooking as it's eaten across the island. Bold spices, deeply layered curries, fragrant rice and freshly made roti, all designed to be shared. Hoppers (also known as appa/appam) are a Sri Lankan staple: thin and lacy at the edges, soft and slightly spongy in the middle, and just as good at breakfast as they are at dinner.
Here's a healthy dinner idea that's so hearty and satisfying, it will please everyone around the table: this Moroccan Chickpea Stew! It's ultra flavorful: the sweet potatoes get tender and creamy, the chickpeas soak up all those gorgeous spices, and everything comes together in one pot. I love serving this stew with quinoa for a tasty plant based dinner that's also gluten free. If you like, a dollop of Greek yogurt: and most definitely a squeeze of lemon to brighten the flavors!
Fresh Italian fare has landed at West Oakland's Prescott Market. Fatto a Mano Alimentari, which is still in soft opening mode, offers an assortment of pastas made daily spaghetti, bucatini, gnocchi, paccheri and the like with varied sauces, including beef bolognese, pomodoro and four cheese. If you're looking for something on the lighter side, try the grilled eggplants dressed with cucumbers, black olives, Feta cheese, hummus and a side of focaccia, or the Tuscan bean soup.
The Grand Tasting is the best value. For $69 per person, guests may select three sample-sized entrees, and their choice of white or red wine (my server allowed me to swap out my drink for a nonalcoholic hibiscus lemonade). While servings are smaller than those offered a la carte, each portion is still quite hefty. The New Orleans gumbo yakamein ($39) suited the cold Chicago day I visited.
The capital of my home country, and the location of my new restaurant, Marcus Addis Restaurant & Sky Bar, is both the center of Ethiopia and a core component of our nation's culture. Restaurants and artistic institutions go hand and hand in Addis. Here, galleries, museums, and markets come together to create a steady, electric rhythm that comes alive in the city's restaurants and kitchens.
Khan started Darjeeling Express as a pop-up at Soho pub The Sun & 13 Cantons in 2014 before taking on a permanent site in Kingly Court. She decided not to reopen there post-lockdown and chose instead to move the restaurant to a bigger site in Covent Garden, where she stayed until the summer of 2022. Following another pop-up stint, this time in west London, Khan moved Darjeeling Express back to Kingly Court at the beginning of 2023.
Tse was not raised cooking Japanese food and, in preparation for opening The Azuki Room, travelled to Tokyo to train at the Japan Culinary Institute. He told me a bit about this process, but where his resilience has really been tested is in London. The Azuki Room was due to open in 2025 but suffered a series of unfortunate events: the site was occupied by squatters, the premises were damaged, stock and equipment were stolen, and the specialist sake Tse bought in Japan was consumed.
Entering Korai Kitchen in Jersey City for its weekly Dawat dinner series feels like entering owner and chef Nur-E Gulshan Rahman and daughter Nur-E Farhana Rahman's home. "Dawat" is the Bengali word for "invitation," and people are invited to partake in the family's only dine-in service, a three-hour BYOB meal full of homestyle, halal, Bangladeshi food by way of Dhaka for $95. "This is my mom's interpretation of Bangladeshi food," Nur-E Farhana explains during the meal.
My better half was quite used to me waking up on a Sunday morning and saying, "I think we'll go to Cork today, or London." Indeed, on one occasion it was France, as the BBC weather forecast informed me that it was "calm down around the Lizard", and so would be a perfectly calm sailing from Rosslare to Cherbourg. Ringing Irish Ferries to make a booking, the somewhat startled chap had said "Do you realise, missus, it's now 11am and the boat sails at 4pm?"
They all have quality reviews and steady followings. But when a San Francisco 49ers player shouts out his favorite on a podcast, you take note. That's exactly what Niners safety Ji'Ayir Brown did in the fall of 2024. On a podcast with former team reporter Lindsey Pallares, she asked Brown what his favorite restaurant was in the Bay Area. Without a moment's hesitation, Brown said it was HiroNori Craft Ramen.