delivery

Kuma – the delivery

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address: 305 Kennington Road, London, SE11 4QE

Tel no: 020 7587 5222

https://kumakennington.wixsite.com/kuma

We were lost for a new kind of takeaway having exhausted the more usual ones recently – Indian, Chinese, Japanese and definitely all the Italian ones. So we rang a friend who lives in Kennington – so thanks Richard for the recommendation of something new – Korean. We know there is one in Brixton but the menu is limited and we visited not that long ago. We have never eaten at this new one, but they do have a long menu and are clearly very popular, especially on a Saturday night.

There are “appetisers like tempura, gyoza, Kokkoke (mashed potato with chopped vegetables fried and served with a tangy sauce – now wish I had ordered that one), different Kimchis and many, many more. More substantial offerings come in the form of Bibimbap with different accompaniments (beef, chicken, tofu etc), Noodles – soba, udon etc – with delicious descriptions, stir-fried rice, Donburi and then you get to the Korean Barbecue, curry, Teriyaki …… and now I am bored. The problem is the overwhelming choice and the number of changes made to the order. In the end, as usual, we ordered too much.

Our meal consisted of Gim (Crispy dried seaweed squares coated in sesame oil & salt), Kimchi Jeon (Kimchi pancake served with soy dip), Nasu Dengaku (aubergine topped with sweet and savoury miso), Gul Twigim (Deep fried oysters served with Japanese brown sauce) , Yang Yum Chicken, (Medium size Korean crispy fried chicken in sticky gochichang sauce), Prawn Bokkumbap (spicy stir fried rice with king prawns) … too much of course for two people. If it hadn’t been for the helpful friend’s suggestions we would have ordered more.

Despite having to travel all the way to Brixton, the food arrived hot enough to eat, although, as we ate in waves, we ended up putting the rice in the microwave. It was all really interesting – even the fried oysters which were covered in well-seasoned crumbs and batter (and I am not that much of a fan of fried oysters).

We loved the kimchi pancake and will certainly try a version at home – the added crunch made you feel like you might be a vegan some time. Although for kimchi it was pretty mild. The aubergine (sorry no photograph) is what I would eat every day – sweet and sticky and a bit slimy, but in a good way, and not too much so that you would need to chew.

The rice kept giving little surprises like the odd tasty spice and sometimes a hot burst of chili. Prawns can get a little overcooked in this sort of dish, but you have to go with the flow. If they were under-cooked when they left the restaurant they would be steamed by the time they reach us – so will remember that next time.

The Korean fried chicken was covered – as they said – in sticky sauce and fingers are required and a lot of kitchen paper and races to wash your hands.

Then we were left with the Gim – it is the sort of packet seaweed that we buy from the Chinese shop in Electric Avenue, or from Tesco for that matter. It was good to have that salty boost in between courses and went really well with the drink we ordered.

Last on the list was alcohol and they have a large variety (beer, sake, soju, Korean wine etc). You need ID to buy it, but I expect the sight of greying hair appeased the delivery guy. The one we ordered was 300ml of Nigori Creme De Sake (descibed as aromas of melon, marshmallow and fresh white cream with a smooth wholesome texture and noted of vanilla ice cream). It was really a sort of Sake flavoured Baileys – there is still some in the fridge.

We did order too much, so had rice and chicken left over for another day. The bill came to £57.20 including a service charge but the sake was £14.50 of that bill. We will order again – in fact we may have another go at ordering this coming week which is being devoted to Korean food. You have to have something to aim for in Lockdown 3.0.

Franzina Trattoria – Delivery

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Address: 395 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8LQ

Deliveroo: https://deliveroo.co.uk/menu/london/brixton/franzina-trattoria-brixton

Website: https://franzinatrattoria.com/

Given the current Covid restriction of Tier 2, we are still having takeaways and were really pleased that Franzina Trattoria in Coldharbour Lane had click and collect, and delivery options. Despite it being relatively close, we still ordered through Deliveroo (Uber Eats also available). See our earlier eat-in review here.

This is a Sicilian restaurant and the menu consists of Piattini (small plates – you can actually buy the sicilian plates on the website), salads, fresh made tagliatelle with sauces and doci – puds. The Delivery menu is a little different to the eat-in version, but had plenty of options. For starters we chose Crocche – fried vegetable balls and caponata Siciliana. The menu promised two crocche each of three types – “potato, lemon, mint and basil. Aubergine, caciocavallo cheese and mint. Zucchini, pecorino cheese and basil”. The Caponata Siciliana is described as sweet and sour aubergine salad with tomatoes, nocellara olives, capers, celery and onions.

We ended up with eight crocche but there were only two sorts and, to be honest, it wasn’t clear to us which ones. One was just a chip and the other was pretty anonymous. So, these were a little disappointing. But this was definitely a starter in two halves, as the Caponata was fabulous. We could have eaten this by the bucket full and will definitely order again. It really does need some bread and luckily we had some, but next time we will also order some proper Italian bread with this meal.

This was followed by two types of pasta – Conchiglie con Salsiccia (described as conchiglie with with wild fennel sausage in a peppery tomoato sauce with pecorino cheese). Google describes the pasta as seashells. We also ordered Orecchiette al Pesto Trapanese (with fresh datterino tomatoes, basil, mint, pistachios, almonds, chili and lemon zest, topped with salty ricotta cheese). This pasta is sort of like little ears.

The Orecchiette were crunchy and spicy and a warm chili and nutty delight. The Conchiglie was also wonderful with a peppery warmth. The pictures shows them as quite distinct and they arrived not too steamed, so not al dente which pleased me as I’m not keen on any pasta crunch. However, we did have a lot leftover and microwaved it the next day. It was still wonderful to taste, but unfortunately over-cooked and we actually had a hard job distinguishing them. So our advice for the best experience is to wolf it all down in one sitting.

Finally – again eyes bigger than stomach moment – we ordered one portion of Baba al Masala con Panna. It was sweet and sticky, and we were glad that we only ordered one. We could have done with more “panna” and a little bit more marsala. But there was no crumb left at the end of the meal.

What did we think – we liked much of it, but not all (mainly the vegetable balls). That may be our fault. The best traveled dishes were the cold ones, but the pasta certainly managed the distance from their kitchen to our door without moving too far beyound the ‘al dente’ stage.

We are now beginning to understand the science of delivered food. Chips are soggy, no matter how brief the trip from the restaurant, unless of course they are the thin, very crispy type. Many dishes that were taken out of the oven just in time, arrive just a little overdone. We will definitely order from Franzina again with a very large serving of Caponata. Cost of the meal for two (with enough pasta leftovers for a meal the following day, but no alcohol) was £42, including Deliveroo fees and a tip for the rider.

UPDATE: We are now reliably informed that microwaving pasta is not the best way of reheating it – on top of the stove and lightly fry or put it in the oven.

Domino’s Pizza – the Quarantine weeks

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Website: https://www.dominos.co.uk/deals/storedeals

Address: 328 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8QH

Phone: 020 7737 0000

Domino’s didn’t do so well in our previous pizza challenge (see here) but subsequent comments suggested that it had been under-rated. Anyway, we were craving some on a Friday night and decided to give it another go. It had to be a delivery, as we are just emerging from quarantine and still taking things really carefully.

The menu is reduced but actually it makes it much easier to choose and there seem to be all the favourites. We chose a large (13.5) Veggie Supreme and a large (13.5 again!) American Hot. And here they are.

Even when we finished they didn’t look very different, as we only managed about a third of each. Delivery does bring out the “eyes much bigger than stomachs” in me. On the bright side we have lunch and breakfast for the next two days.

My Veggie was delicious and somehow despite the cheese I felt virtuous even while I was dipping the crust in the garlic sauce. The American hot was well received as well, with good pepperoni and enough chilli to make it interesting. Apologies for the poor quality picture though.

It was good and inexpensive as the deal is £10.99 for any large pizza so £21.98 for the two pizzas and whatever you decide to tip the delivery guy. There are lots more deals too and we definitely think a large is enough for two no matter how hungry you are.

The Chip Shop – takeaway

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Address: 378 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8LF  (on the corner with Atlantic Road)

tel: 07894 353561

email: info@chipshopbxtn.co.uk

website: http://www.chipshopbxtn.com/

So it’s Friday and it’s Fish and Chips. We have previously reviewed Fish and Chip takeaways (see here) and also visited Chip Shop itself a while ago (last review here). The menu for takeaways is much reduced currently, but we chose a medium portion of fish and chips and a larger portion of peri-peri chicken (opting for medium hot) with chips, just to spice it up a bit. Delivery was organised direct with the restaurant, which is good, but at the price of being a little slow. You just need to take it into account when you order.

A medium portion is half a chicken and also includes some healthy roast tomatoes. The chicken was succulent, but not really as spicy as we had expected. So lovely that we saved the smaller piece to have cold in a salad the following day.

There was also two pieces of fish in really nice and crispy batter, which we easily polished off.

We should have learnt our lesson by now that chips, unless really, really crispy when they leave the restaurant, will be just soggy by the time they reached us. These were not as bad as some, but they steam in the packaging and while these were tasty, they came out as a little limp. 

The whole meal was around £20.00, not including the tip. But this was a bargain, given the amount of food and the leftovers providing a second meal with a proper Ceasar. We will be back again, but our list of potential takeaway and deliveries gets longer, so perhaps not for a little while.