Hana Korean restaurant – Battersea

Hana Korean restaurant on Battersea Rise was a truly serendipitous find for us last night – we’d been to the first beer festival at Clapham Grand (disappointing, nowhere near the standard of Wandsworth Common Beer Festival events at Le Gothique – many beers had run out, bar staff were clueless about beer, we were served several incorrect beers and left early) and then – being a Friday night – many restaurants in Battersea were heaving.

Hana Korean had some free tables (the main reason why we chose it) and it seemed appealingly different as none of us are especially familiar with Korean food.

 

Assorted kimchee – cabbage, radish + cucumber

 

Hite lager + shots – bek se ju in foreground, soju behind

 

To warm us up on this cold, wet evening, H and K both had a shot of soju, a clear distilled spirit that tastes like sweet vodka (nice enough, not very exciting) and I had a bek se ju, rice-based alcoholic drink with 10 herbs and ginseng (unusual, medicine-like, glad I’ve tried it but probably wouldn’t drink it again).

And we all had a hite, a Korean lager brewed from barley, malt and rice (nicely malty taste) along with modum kimchee or assorted pickles @ £7.00: cabbage, radish and cucumber (crunchy in a very hot chilli sauce). K can’t bear cucumber but he loved this.

 

Ohjing oh bok eum – stir fried squid in a spicy chilli sauce (4-chilli rating…hot!)

 

Mandu – vegetable dumplings with soy sauce

 

Vegetable mandu (dumplings)

 

We shared two starters between the three of us: ohjing oh bok eum, stir fried squid and vegetables in a spicy chilli sauce @ £6.90 (one of the hottest menu items with a four-chilli rating/warning) – the squid was tender and the sauce fiery, and mandu, vegetable dumplings @ £5.90 that were quite simply the best dumplings any of us had ever had (soft, squidgy veg in the middle, inside a crispy toasted parcel).

 

Prawn bibimbap – served unstirred, with an egg yolk, in hot stoneware

 

Prawn bibimbap – with Korean chilli paste mixed in

 

For main course, I had a prawn bibimbap @ £10.90 – tiny prawns, vegetables, rice and an egg yolk served in a hot stone bowl with Korean chilli paste (the stone bowl is so hot that all the ingredients cook through, as you mix them together).

 

Marinated pork bibimbap – fresh ingredients served in hot stoneware

 

H had a pork bibimbap @ £10.50 and K – we agreed – totally lucked out with his dish of barbeque beef bulgogi @ £12.20 (as recommended by our waiter), “thinly sliced beef marinated in a delicious blend of fruits, soy sauce, sesame oil, black pepper, onion and garlic, served with lettuce and soybean paste” which he ate in lettuce leaf sandwiches as you can see…

 

Barbeque beef bulgogi – a Chef’s special (and it certainly is!)

 

Sizzling barbeque beef bulgogi – thinly sliced beef marinated in a blend of fruits, soy sauce, sesame oil, etc

 

Although we were full, we shared two desserts between the three of us:

 

Green tea ice-cream @ £4.60

 

Mango + chilli ice-cream mochi @ £4.00, with a steamed rice cake coating

 

The verdict: A serendipitous find, Hana Korean restaurant seems to be a well kept secret. Great quality food, fabulously spicy, and good value too. I’ll be trying one of the meaty barbeque dishes (a bulgogi) next time.

 

Restaurant interior

 

Hana Korean on Battersea Rise

 

Restaurant info:
~ Lardbutty rating: 4 / 5
~ Type: Korean
~ Address: 60 Battersea Rise, London
~ Postcode: SW11 1EG
~ Nearest station: Clapham Junction
~ Photos on flickr: images of Hana Korean food
~ Hana on facebook: Hana Korean page
~ Location: Hana Korean map

 

 

 

Woondal – Indian deliveries

For dinner this evening, we both wanted authentic Indian (as opposed to my homemade) and felt like trying somewhere new.

We had a browse of Just Eat and settled on Woondal (a Hungry House ‘Top Takeaway 2013’).

As ever, ordering and paying online through Just Eat was straight-forward. The estimated delivery time was one hour, but pleasingly it arrived after about 45 minutes.

For starters we shared:
~ Sheek Kebab – minced lamb flavoured with nutmeg, mint, brown onion + ginger, cooked in the tandoor @ £3.75
~ Paneer Tikka – six cubes of paneer marinated in a tangy sauce, with salad + mint sauce @ £3.25 *divine*
~ Onion Bhajis – sliced onions mixed with chickpeas, lentils, flour + spices, deep fried to a crispy texture @ £3.25 (four chunks)

Woondal starters (l-r): chunky onion bhajis, paneer tikka cubes, sheek kebab

All of the starters were really tasty. The chunky bhajis were full of flavour (nice and soft in the middle in contrast with their crispy shell) and the minced lamb sheek kebab was also really tender, spicy and tasty but the highlight was the paneer tikka (marinated cheese with barbecue flavours) – gorgeous.

For main course I had Bengali fish fry @ £8.45 – a whole fillet of tilapia (lightly battered in a spicy flour coating) served with seasoned sliced onions, peppers and tomatoes (a dry dish, no sauce) which was very good but not dissimilar to something I regularly cook (and is easy to cook) at home.

Plentiful onions, peppers and tomatoes in the fish fry – a dry dish

Woondal signature dishes: Bengali fish fry (left) + lamb shatkora (right) on coconut rice

K had ordered lamb shatkora @ £7.45 – described as “lamb cooked with the finest Indian vegetable, shatkora, which releases a wonderful fragrant aroma”.

The nicest way of describing this is that it was like chewing a lemon hand-wipe. Shatkora is a citrus (from Bangladesh I think) and while it was supposed to “release a fragrant aroma” and give a citrus flavour to the lamb, it completely overpowered it (I suspect a slippage with the shatkora quantities…). K couldn’t eat any of it, neither the sauce nor the lamb. It wasn’t pleasant and it got left.

Including a side of coconut rice @ £2.95 and two breads – a chapati @ £1.20 and plain nan @ £2.25 – the total for this food delivery came to £33.00. We’ll definitely order from Woondal again but we’ll avoid shatkora.

Left over lamb shatkora

To avoid wasting the lamb shatkora the following day I looked up ‘how to negate the flavour of lemons‘ and found this helpful advice on ehow.com. I added butter, plenty of tomato sauce and rosemary to combat the overpowering citrus flavour, which did work to a certain extent.

Restaurant info:
~ Lardbutty rating: 3.5 / 5
~ Type: Indian, Bangladeshi
~ Address: Delivered from 5 Ascot Parade, Clapham Park Road, London, SW4 7EY
~ Deliver to: SW4, SW2, SW8, SW9, SW11, SW12, SW16, SW17, SW18 & SE17, SE21, SE24, SE27, SE5, SE15, SE22
~ Open: Sunday – Thursday: 5.30pm – 11.00pm, Friday & Saturday: 5.30pm -11.30pm
~ Tel: 020 7627 2099 / 020 7720 0169
~ e: info@woondal.co.uk (or catering requests to: catering@woondal.co.uk)
~ Nearest station: n/a
~ Website + menus: Woondal website
~ Photos on flickr: images of Woondal food

RELATED LINKS

More Indian deliveries (South West London):

~ Noiya – Indian restaurant + deliveries, Battersea
~ The Gurkha’s Diner – Nepalese restaurant + deliveries, Balham

Veg as you go – Tachbrook Street Market

I can’t rave enough about the falafel sandwiches from the happy chappies at Veg As You Go, Tachbrook Street Market.

Tachbrook Street Market runs Monday to Saturday 8am to 6pm

There’s usually a bit of a queue as it’s a popular stall but it moves quickly. And it’s not unusual to be given a hot, fresh piece of falafel to nibble on while you wait for your sandwich to be made.

Popular Veg As You Go stall

First, decide whether you’d like chilli sauce as well as houmous on your wrap (it’d be foolish not to – it gives a gorgeous, subtle kick; their chilli sauce isn’t too hot by any means).

Fresh ingredients go into each sandwich

Then, all the veg, salad and pickles will be piled on to the wrap, along with more sauce (sesame seed/ tahini) and plenty of falafel. The rolled up, filled wrap is heated through and squashed/packed in, on the sandwich grill (blending all the flavours together).

Sandwiches are *packed*
– full of cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, pickles, sauces + yum falafel:

It may only be a sandwich but it’s a well-crafted sandwich with substance. Simply the best.

Huge + very filling Veg As You Go sandwich

FOOD INFO:

~ Lardbutty rating: 3.5 / 5
~ Type: Middle eastern
~ Address: 42 Tachbrook St, Pimlico, London
~ Postcode: SW1V 2JS
~ Nearest station: Victoria, Pimlico
~ Website + menus: n/a
~ Veg As You Go facebook page: Veg as You Go on fb
~ Tachbrook Street Market facebook page: Tachbrook Street Market on fb
~ Photos on flickr: images of Veg As You Go food
~ Location: Tachbrook Street Market map

RELATED LINKS

Nearby dining:

~ Pimlico Fresh
~ Seafresh
~ Taquitos Mexican Grill