One Ashbourne: kosher, expensive, but beautiful British chips

 

You go in at the entrance where they check you have a booking. Out of another door so as not to collide with serving staff. A good one way system.

Kosher restaurant.

Drinks

I had a glass of Prosecco. For only thirty bob more I could have had a Bellini with strawberry. 

No need. I am sufficiently satisfied by  Prosecco. It did the trick. Made me content, happy, and smiling, merry, and laughing.  

Prosecco at One Ashbourne.

Others ordered gin and tonic. We declined non-alcoholic mocktails.

Starter

I had chicken soup.

 Pleasant. But not remarkable. I would try something else next time. I would not have it again.. (The best chicken soup is at B & K in Hatch End and Edgware.)

My husband ordered a raw steak starter. Felt the same as I did. Interesting to try it once, but insufficient flavor for one to try it a second time.

Main Courses

I was surprised that one of our group opted for the beef burger. But is was surprisingly large and high. After she removed the lettuce and mayonnaise (she is a picky eater) she seemed very happy with it. I might try that next time. Will there be a next time? Kosher restaurants are few and far between. 

Steak

The beefsteak is from Uruguay. We spent a long time debating the price and the quality of each item, particularly the steak.

Why Uruguay? Isn't Argentina bigger and better known for steak? Only one way to find out. Ask! We asked the owner, Ben. He said the steak really is from Uruguay, not via a UK shop or supplier. "It's ordered direct from Uruguay by one of the staff who knows somebody out there."

Chips

Very good chips. Big chips. Like real chips, not French fries. What the Americans call chips in Britain we call crisps.

Highly recommended. Go there just for the chips.

Duck

I had duck. Large pieces. Enough to take some home. (After soup and bread for starters, anticipating a dessert.) The duck was without potatoes. I would have liked mashed or saute or roast or baked. However, after trying the chips I would order them next time. The high point of the meal.

Risotto

My husband had risotto, rice with peas, Parmesan (aged Parmesan) and courgettes. Excellent. Rice in a creamy sauce which stuck it together.

Crumble and ice cream dessert.

The crumble seemed crunchy and overcooked to me, not melt in the mouth. But everybody else liked it. The apple was soft chunks, neither lumps nor puree.

The ice cream was white.  

No decaf coffee.

Happy Birthday Plate

All photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Lovely writing.

To sum up, what did I like most or what would I order again? Chips. And more chips. With extra cutlery to pass chips to others. Service, wonderful. 

Useful Websites

https://www.oneashbourne.com/

You can order through Goodeats and Deliveroo and pre-order a Friday night meal on Wednesday to be delivered to you on Thursday.

About the Author

I am Angela Lansbury, not related to the actress, nor the other people of the same name on LinkedIn. I am British born. I have lived in Spain (winter home) and the USA. My family has lived in or often visited the multi-racial USA where Spanish is an increasingly prevalent language, in multi-language Singapore which has signs in the four official languages which include English and Chinese, in Spain, and multi-language Switzerland where you see French, German, and Italian.. My interest in languages was helped by having long-term au pair girls from France, Germany, Spain and Italy. I have written travel articles for numerous magazines and newspapers and spoken on radio and TV in the UK, USA and Australia.

You can link up with me on Facebook and LinkedIn. See my books on Lulu.com and Amazon. Or speak to me at meetings of speakers' clubs which are part of Toastmasters International. I belong to Harrovians in the UK, and in Singapore to BHA and TCA as well as Singapore Online. 

Please check about other posts and blogs and share links to your favourites.

Delicious Khana - North Indian Cuisine - yes the food is delicious

Problem
Where to eat in North West London? Indian - but not too spicy.

Answer
After sending somebody out to race along Hatch End Broadway reading all the restaurant menus (about sixteen restaurants) the person with the veto (the one paying) chose Delicious Khana. K h a n a is Hindi for food or a meal. So the name delicious k h a n a means delicious food or delicious meal.

The restaurant is easy to find. In Hatch End you might be able to park almost outside in the s l i p road. Arriving on foot, if you live locally or walk down from Hatch End station to the shops, cross at the pedestrian lights to the restaurants and shops beside the parking slip road and there is the restaurant.

After a few reincarnations, (previously as the Pizza and Prosecco bar) it now has Italian food on the back of the menu but also North Indian food on the front of the menu. Plus of course Prosecco on the wine list.

I do like the new decor, much more elegant, with white table cloths and napkins, two elegant white mock pillars dividing one wall into three. I chose to sit at the banquette along the wall - I like to have my bag beside me and not on the dirty floor.

While we waited up came the poppadums with a set of three condiments, a mild mango and what looked like yogurt. The poppadums were just right, not greasy and not so crisp that they shattered and scattered like confetti.

The drinks were just right, too. A very moderately priced Prosecco, or wine mixed with fruit juice to make the mango Bellini, which I ordered, nothing sensational but just right.

The starter I ordered was spinach and cashew nut croquettes, which came up as circular flat patties. Not over spicy. Not much taste of cashew. However, just right.

The three lamp cutlets were yummy. One cutlet was as filling as a normal meal. I was surprised when somebody told me to stop eating or at least slow down, because the main course was still to come. The starters made a main course in themselves - I had forgotten what we had ordered and thought the lamb cutlets were the main meal.

The main course was fish in sauce, a chicken dish, and a l o o gobi, potato with cauliflower. On the side we had white rice. A rice enthusiast declared the white rice was, "perfect, light and fluffy and flavoured - better than I can make it. Chinese rice cookers turn it into a sticky mess." I am a bread and potato person. I was glad to have a hidden piece of potato. Plus a peshawri naan, flat bread sandwich contained a yummy middle layer of coconut. Peshawar means from the Peshawar region.

We were by now singing the praises of a second course.

Delicious Desserts
For desserts we were offered some American-international desserts including red velvet. I could see my fellow diners' wary looks.

The invisible clouds overhead parted. The sun shone through. Real home cooked Indian desserts! R a s m u l a i, gulab jamun, kulfi. We immediately decided, three Indian desserts, three of us dining, obviously one of each of the Indian desserts, please.

By now I wanted water and a tooth pick, as well as the restaurant's business card. Whatever I wanted appeared fast and unobtrusively. The man in charge was Alan. He reminded me of the late, handsome movie star, Yul Brynner.

The kulfi was surrounded by red sauce. The dessert's owner tried it and declared was rose flavoured.

The gulab jamun had been heated. In the microwave we presumed. We should have said, "Don't bother heating the gulab jamun. We are used to eating it cold."

Our leftovers were packed up. Yes, Delicious Khana does serve delicious food and yes, we will go back.

Delicious Khana
435 Uxbridge Road
Hatch End
HA5 4JR
tel:020 8428 2052
delicious-khana.co.uk
Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share my posts.