Charuwan

When I first moved into the N19 area I had a meal at local thai restaurant Charuwan (no website) and I forget what I had but I was decidedly underwhelmed. A Sunday night craving for Thai coupled with my usual feeling of idleness come the weekend meant that I was unable to venture further than 3 doors down the road in search of dinner. As luck would have it Charuwan offer a takeaway service with a 10% discount to boot if you collect the order yourself.

I was so impressed by the quality of the food that it's become our go to takeout over the last month or so. My favourite dish is the fresh spring rolls, tightly packed rice papers, filled with vermicelli rice noodles, carrot, mint, lettuce, bok choy, fish sauce and topped with larb nua (diced beef). I've been craving these on a regular basis since first tasting them.


Other dishes I've sampled include prawn tom yum soup, laksa, pad kee mau (poorly pictured above), som tam (papaya salad), chicken pad thai, 'weeping tiger' (or chilli marinated beef), pad med ma muang (chicken with cashews) and moo ping (pork ribs with garlic and sesame). Everything I have had has satisfied and I'm happy to announce I have found a local gem. N19 - quite the foodie hotspot boasting my faves Del Parc and the nearby 500

Charuwan
110 Junction Road
N19

7/10

Holy Cow

Waiting for a bus on a rainy Sunday I noticed a new addition to the street I live on, Holy Cow promising fine Indian Food and I made a mental note to try them for size when my next curry craving reared its head.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, extremely hungover, nothing but the carb heavy hit provided by an Indian takeaway would do the job. I had a bit of trouble finding the number, the website has not yet been updated to show the Archway branch details, but a couple of calls and it was sorted.

We ordered the modi squid to start which was nicely if subtly marinated in unidentified spices. They were deep fried but were not too fatty or soggy. A solid start.

I ordered the 'Raj recommended' murg jaiselmer - chicken cooked dopiaza style with nuts, fresh coriander, capsicum, onion, and cream. The chicken is certainly the best quality I've ever had in curry form and the sauce with rich and satisfying.


Where my curry provided a mild spice, Thomas' murg magalore gave a more than welcome hefty kick and we both agreed Holy Cow will become our new regular takeaway place, relegating the nearby Tiffin Tin to second spot.

Sides, also superior in quality to what we're used to, included garlic naans, poppadums, plain rice (helpfully they do a serving for 2 which is not 2 x portions for 1, there's always rice leftover in our house) and lassis, mango and coconut both, were good, refreshing and soothing, the ideal accompaniment.


Heck, even Ainsley likes Holy Cow, but don't let that put you off. There are various locations across London and they seem to be expanding fairly rapidly. I wish them well.

Holy Cow
Junction Road,
Archway
N19

7/10