We were looking for a restaurant near Brent Cross Shopping centre for a meeting with friends in the near future. One of the group wanted a kosher restaurant.
What do kosher and halal food have in common? No pork. Why? Because they both follow a rule from the book of Leviticus (Latin for laws) in the bible. Jews refer to the bible. Christians added the New Testament about the life of Jesus, and called the original bible, which Jesus followed, the Old Testament.
Why no Pork?
The rules about eating kosher, not eating pork, were dropped by the ardent follower of Jesus, Paul, when preaching to non-Jews about the messages of Jesus and the Resurrection.
Moslems came along. They followed Mohamad. (His name is spelled in English various ways, depending on how you translate the Arabic letters into the Roman alphabet. Nowadays you might conform or to be different the different countries with different pronunciations.) The Moslems kept the old, traditional, rule about not eating pork. Some people say the Christianity is Judaism made easy, whilst Islam is Judaism made difficult. (One month of fasting for Ramadan, whereas the Jews have just one day at the Day of Atonement. Christians give up one food for lent. Jews give up all kinds of food for the period including and surrounding the seder.
On the other hand, in some ways Judaism has stricter or more extensive food restrictions. No shellfish. No milk eating at the same meal as when meat is served. This is either the word of God, or a humanitarian rule that you must not kill a milk feeding calf in front of its mother, using the milk to cook the calf. (Calf cooked in milk is a classic and popular dish in Jordan, still, nowadays, in many places in the Middle East, as I discovered to my amazement, on a press trip to Jordan on a Rolls Royce car rally.
This rule accounts for the fact that SoYo restaurant has two branches side by side in Golders Green. One serves meat. The other serves only fish, eggs, and milk based dishes.
How do kosher and halal differ in supermarkets? Both have no pork. The Jewish section has no shellfish. As I am allergic to shellfish, crustaceans and molluscs, this suits me very well.
Where Are Kosher Restaurants?
You will find both kosher and halal food sections in supermarkets all over London but particularly in the East End of London and North west London. For kosher sections in supermarkets, bagels in supermarkets, and Jewish style or kosher food in delicatessens and restaurants you could look at (alphabetically) Edgware, the Finchley Road, Golders Green, Hendon, Stanmore, Temple Fortune.
A relative suggested several places in the area. We vetoed a family favourite, the cafe in the Hendon park by Hendon Central station. Great for a sunny day in the park.
We wanted something more formal, more exciting and filling, with a chance to sit and talk to friends at leisure. But not as luxurious and expensive as a Michelin restaurant, and the upmarket Chinese Kosher restaurants.
B & K
Our favourite for a big meal in an informal setting is B&K, Hatch End, and Edgware, is a salt beef, deli, take away and restaurant.
Bagels in Brick Lane
How about a bagel? London has two famous bagel shops in the East End, in Brick Lane. At least one of them is open very late, possibly all night. Before going anywhere, check the times.
Sabbath and Sunset
Strictly kosher restaurants have to close dusk to dawn on the Jewish sabbath, which in the UK means dark falls early evening on Friday in winter. So the restaurants won't be open Friday evening, in winter. However, they will be open Saturday.
In summer, the sunset time is different. You can find out by a diary, the newspaper, or your watch, or mobile phone, or computer or kitchen or oven clock (or rather, when you can see three stars).
Bagels - Why The Hole?
I started researching bagels when I turned my family history into a novel (still yet to be printed and published - next job!) I was looking at the lifetime of an ancestor on my father's side who came to the UK from Ukraine, from Lemberg, as it was then called in the 1880s. At that time or earlier Bagels come from Poland, Ukraine which was at different times under different rulers and languages, and Western Europe.
One story goes that bagel sellers would put bread on a stick and make a hole in the middle of the bread to thread bread onto the stick.
Another story is that the hole was for the benefit of the buyer. Why? Going back a few centuries, houses did not have a cooking range or oven, which would have been a fire risk and required fuel. Every house head food buyer or cook went to the baker with their dough. Or, if travelling, bought ready made food.
Another theory goes that when the householders were shopping, housewives, men if women were not allowed out of the house, workers, or travellers, would buy bread to take home or eat later. The buyer would thread the bread on a string around their neck in order to leave their hands free and keep the bulky bread handy (or hidden?!).
So there you have the story to entertain yourself or tell your friend next time you eat a bagel or kosher food or halal food.
Two options in northwest London.
So Yo restaurant
They have more than one branch. You can book a table by phone.
Useful Websites
For both the Golders Green and Edgware branches:
Update on my visit in the next post.
American English - British English
take out - take away
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