Taj Mahal Restaurant in Streatham

The Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant Streatham

Back in the late 1980’s I shared a bedsit with my friend Dennis in Streatham, it cost £23 a week, unimaginable these days.  In true bedsit tradition we had our local Indian curry house, we went there most weeks, eat the same dishes and always seemed to pay £22 for two.

Recently when Dennis was back in London I returned to the restaurant for a trip down memory lane, some 20 years after my last visit.

The Taj Mahal was established back in 1962, it has basic seating for about 30 people and a small bar at the front of the restaurant. 

On arriving we were met by the owner Moben, who remembered us from years before, he is very knowledgeable about his food and he made us feel very welcome.

We chose starters of, Onion Bhaji, Prawn Puree, Vegetable Samosa and mains of Chicken Jalfrezi, Lamb Naga and for old times’ sake we had Chicken Korma and Lamb Rogan.

The Naga Lamb was tender and fell apart in my mouth the flavour was excellent and the chicken in the Jalfrezi was perfectly cooked. The curries were very tasty and not overly spiced.

We had Sag Paneer to go with our mains which was very creamy and sweet.

The usual accompaniments of rice, Nan bread and poppadum’s were also good.

We also had Cobra and Kingfisher beers and a Mango Lassi.

The bill for the meal for four people including drinks and service was about £85 which seems reasonably good value.

Delivery Service

A few weeks later on a Wednesday evening I tried their delivery service and I am pleased to say this is pretty good too. All the dishes were equally as good, although the Nan bread was a tad cold on delivery, a minor slip which did not spoil the experience.

On the whole Taj Mahal is a good value restaurant serving quality produce in a friendly environment and definitely worth paying a visit.

Taj Mahal

11a Leigham Court Road

Streatham

London

SW16 2ND

020 8769 0704

^{https://twitter.com/TajCurry}

Occlusal Trauma and Haddock & Chips

The thought of a trip to the dentist when you know there’s going to be bad news is not something I relish but the pain has been so excruciating that I just want to get in the chair and scream ‘’Get this thing out of my mouth’’.

I sit down in the chair and press my thumbs against my forefingers and squeeze hard.

I’m hoping he can’t read my mind. I know I know, floss in the mornings- floss in the evenings. How many do you smoke sir?

Ooh I gave up last week, just after this tooth started giving me gip. (This is me talking to myself of course.)

Thankfully my dental technician is not one of those finger-wagging flossers. I think we sorted that one out on my last visit. After all who is paying your wages my good dentured friend?

My last memorable extraction was over fifteen years ago and I don’t think I have suffered from having one less tooth in my head but as you get older the thought of losing teeth gets a bit scary. I’m thinking, how will I eat Steak with two teeth missing on the left side of my jaw?

Anyhow the bad news is, one is coming out and the other one can be saved, well at least for a couple of years. I reached that age when it all starts to fall apart. It happens to us all I’m told.

So I have them scraped and polished, it’s actually more painful than having a filling done. My teeth are looking shiny and clean and once again I’m able to walk pavements of Sw4 with my head held high.

I’m sixty quid lighter in the pocket and so I go for some retail therapy at Boots and stock up on all the things you buy when you’ve just had your teeth cleaned and polished.

Two hours later the numbness has faded and I’m thinking of food, but what can I eat?

Fish and Chips sprang to mind so I got myself off to Olleys Chippy just down the road from me and ordered Haddock Chips and Garden Peas.

Very nice it was too and a soothing way to end the day.

If you ever find yourself toothless Fish n Chips is the way forward!

Olleys Fish Experience

65 – 69 Norwood Road

Herne Hill

London

SE24 9AA

www.olleys.info

Raising the Steaks

Here at the Half Moon pub, we have have just changed our butcher to Warman and Guttridge of Smithfield market who are supplying us with some great tasting British sirloin steak.

We serve our 8 oz sirloin steak with a crispy rocket and sweet pepper salad and a good portion of old style chunky chips. It's a great way to indulge yourself and for only £12.95 we think its good value too.

We recommend medium rare, its nicely charred on the outside and succulent and juicy on the inside.

Sirloin steak and chips , medium rare and juicy @ The Half Moon Pub 

The Half Moon Pub
10 Half Moon Lane
Herne Hill
London