Gunpowder

Gunpowder

http://www.gunpowderlondon.com

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review of London Indian restaurant Gunpowder by Andy Hayler in ...

Review analysis
staff   food   drinks   value  

The simple dining room has wood floors, bare tables and little in the way of light – the room was quite gloomy even at lunch on a summer day.

Remy Ferbras Cotes du Rhone was £27 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £5, Berthier Sancerre was £47 compared to its retail price of roughly £20, and the pleasant Saintsbury Pinot Noir was £55 for a wine that costs around £33 in a shop.

This was terrific, one of the best versions of this dish I have tasted, the meat good quality and the blend of spices beautifully judged (15/20).

Our waitress was personable enough, but the first phrase she uttered when I walked in was the “we only seat the party when the whole party is seated” policy, something I have only seen in restaurants with a fairly psychopathic attitude to their customers, such as Momofuko Ko.

Given that the dining room was completely empty at this point, and give that there is nowhere to wait, she at least had the grace to relent rather than make me stand in the corner facing the wall like a character in “The Blair Witch Project”.

Home | Gunpowder Mill | Pub and Restaurant | Rotisserie

Review analysis
food   drinks  

A warm welcome to The Gunpowder Mill – serving restaurant-standard food in a relaxed pub atmosphere.

Join us all day for lunch, dinner, drinks and coffee – whatever takes your fancy.

You’ll find lots more on our menu to tempt you too, with classic dishes done to a tee plus lighter choices and vegetarian options.

With a beer garden and outdoor play area, our pub is ideal for families and larger groups.

In fact, whether it’s a swift pint, light lunch, family meal, or special occasion, The Gunpowder Mill fits the bill.

Gunpowder | The City | Restaurant Reviews | Hot Dinners

This City restaurant is serving new Indian tapas just around the corner from Spitalfields Market.

It's run by Harneet Baweja, an Indian entrepreneur who wanted to bring something different to the scene.

Gunpowder: Plenty of reasons to speedily return | London Evening ...

Review analysis
food   staff  

Harneet Baweja, who has opened the Indian restaurant Gunpowder — the name signifying a spice mixture but also recalling the area’s use as the Old Artillery Ground — is from Kolkata.

Bengali culinary traditions — in my view the most revelatory in the Indian jigsaw — are incorporated into a menu devised by Mumbai-born head chef Nirmal Save, who in London has cooked at Tamarind and Zaika.

Potatoes first roasted in a spice mix before being smashed are dressed with black chickpeas, onion, tomatoes, tamarind, fried lotus root and a criss-cross of yoghurt.

Sigree grilled broccoli is bathed in a stirring mustard seed sauce — mustard paste being particular to Bengali cooking.

See more of the Best Restaurants in Bank and the City and Best Indian Restaurants in London

Gunpowder, London E1: 'There isn't a theme, unless it's “What's from ...

Review analysis
ambience   drinks   food   staff  

Take the rasam ke bomb, apparently an evolution of pani puri, the crisp shells (puri) of perfectly round spheres stuffed with fluffy spiced potato, while the rasam (or pani, “water”) comes in shot glasses bellowing tamarind, mustard and wonderful, sinus-clearing vibrancy.

Spices here taste newly minted, singing of a life as whole cloves, entire cardamom pods, barky sticks of cinnamon mere moments before detonating the tastebuds in, say, aloo chat, where smoky potatoes humming with garam masala are fried, smashed and drenched with thick, creamy yoghurt, tangy tamarind, fried onions and earthy black chickpeas.

Lamb chops are up there with the best, eclipsing the famous likes of Tayyabs or Needoo: these seem to have been marinated in their fiercely spiced yoghurt coat, Kashmiri-style, for days, never mind hours, until the pink, juicy meat is almost cakey.

Stools are low and not designed for a seductive evening, tables are virtually on top of each other (at one point, I’m unsure if the wine I’m drinking is mine or my unknown neighbour’s), but the place’s friendliness is infectious and nobody much minds.

And, yes, you can tick off bare brick walls, blackboards, lightbulbs; but there’s witty upcycling here, too: old curry house stainless-steel relish bowls turned into surprisingly chic lampshades, chair backs repurposed as a bar.

Gunpowder | Restaurants in Spitalfields, London

Review analysis
food   menu  

Indian food in London has long since moved on from the days of lager and poppadums in restaurants defined by velvet-lined chairs, a fish tank and a single After Eight for dessert.

This tiny family-run restaurant, with a kitchen headed by Nirmal Save, once a chef at Mayfair’s Tamarind, aims to defy the strangehold of ‘bucket curries’ (as the owner calls them) on the neighbourhood and bring quality small-plates eating to Indian food.

Gunpowder ditches stomach-bursting breads and creamy sauces in favour of strong flavours and a menu of about 20 dishes from across India.

Our crab main was unmemorable and there was a hint of blandness to a duck dish – but the chargilled tandoori chicken and Kashmiri lamb chops were both excellent.

The owner-manager Harneet Baweja is a force, adding a story to each dish: the delicious Maa’s Kashmiri lamp chops are his mother-in-law’s recipe; the molten spice chocolate cake with masala chai custard (don’t skip it!)

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