Diwali Decorations On Restaurants and Pubs and On Sale in London.

Diwali decorations on sale in South Harrow, NW London. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Diwali Decoration on sale in South Harrow, Piccadilly train line, London. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

 

Diwali Decorations On Social Dhaba restaurant, Hatch End. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

On Wetherspoons pub, Hatch End, Pinner, Middlesex. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Wetherspoons pub, the Moon and Sixpence, Hatch End. Photos by Angela Lansbury.

Sri Lankan Restaurant Praba In South Harrow - For Moreish Masala Dosai, Apams (hoppers) and More

Colourful Sir Lankan restaurant, Praba, In South Harrow

The Praba Sri Lankan restaurant is within walking distance of South Harrow station and bus garage.  It is just before the South Harrow Baptist church. The area looks rather downmarket compared to Harrow On the Hill and other areas, but inside the restaurant it is quite elegant but reasonably priced. The name Praba comes from the sanskrit word for light, radiance, luminance splendour. Does the restaurant live up to its name?

Dancing Light Decor

Praba restaurant's overhead lights changing colour. Photos by Angela Lansbury.

Central ceiling decoration, changing colour. Momentarily disconcerting, even irritating. Then intriguing, interesting, attractive. Finally, forgotten when your food arrives. Meanwhile, look around.

The toilet is downstairs. Handy for those who hate stairs and saves time.

Indoor stairs lead upstairs. What is up there, we wondered.

Angela with masala dosai.

Masala Dosai

 I ordered masala dosai. A huge 'pancake'. Filled with potato. 

Dips

Served on a wide metal tray, like a thali, with three dips. White - yogurt and something? Red - tomato based? Darker red - spicy - red pepper?

Leftovers

When I asked for my leftover food to be packed up to take away, they gave me a round transparent box with a lid. I like to pack my leftovers. 

Later I commented to my husband, 'No risk of them forgetting and throwing it away. Or giving you the meal with missing items. No need to worry your food might have got contaminated.' (My husband says to me, drily, 'You can find something else to worry about.')

Service

The service was obliging although a bit erratic. They happily allowed three of us to all pay separately. They also said a group of us could come in after a meeting ended at 10 pm and order just drinks or desserts (having eaten earlier). And they were happy to let me take away the leftovers.

The menu could do with more translation. Apam is a thin pancake cooked and served in a bowl. An apam is also called a hopper.

The waiter got confused and gave one of my dishes, coconut apam, to another person who had three apam oreos. (A thin dessert pancake made with a spread of American \Oreo biscuits, which seemed very strange, but my club's President, who is Asian, ordered three of the Oreo Apams.) So my friend got to pay for something extra. And I was not able to try out the dish which was new to me.

They were out of mango for mango lassi and could offer only sweet or salted lassi. So one of my friends ordered the sweet lassi instead. 

I shall definitely go back. I loved the masala dosai. It was just right for me. Soft like a pancake. Not overcooked to a brittle crisp.  

Leftovers Next Day

I had taken home the spicy dip which I had hardly touched.  It was still too spicy, especially without the large helping of bland potato which I had had in the restaurant. So, at home, I added two tablespoons of yogurt to cool down the effect.

The test is, will I go back? Yes. I hope to try an apam. To get mango lassi. I might indulge in my family's favourite, gulab jamun (known to us from Tandoori restaurants which feature the cuisine of northern India.) 

Getting There

South Harrow is on the H12 bus route from Stanmore via Hatch End, and Rayners Lane.

South Harrow station is on the Piccadilly line.

Useful Websites About Praba Restaurant and Sri Lankan Food

https://www.prabarestaurant.co.uk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appam

https://lankawebsites.com/blog/culture-traditions/hoppers-appa-traditional-breakfast

Apam/hopper mix

https://koodai.co.uk/collections/drinks-tea-coffee-instant-mixes/products/elakkia-appam-instant-mix-1kg

https://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/mdk-easy-hopper-mix-appampancake-mix

Hopper cooking pan about £14 plus £4 or £5 postage from various sellers on ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226323175045?_skw=hopper+pan

Royal Gulab Jamun dessert from Tesco supermarket online £4

https://www.tesco.com/shop/en-GB/products/

Travel to South Harrow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Harrow_tube_station

https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/stop/490G000752/south-harrow-bus-station/

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Shopping For Christmas Trees, Decorations, Biscuits and Cookie Cutters

Traditionally a tree was a green real tree brought indoors, when it was too cold to go outside, and decorated with lights to brighten dark days. You may like to think of it as pagan. Or you may prefer to remember that Queen Victoria and Albert started the fashion.

Now you can buy or make white trees, blue trees, red trees, biscuit 'trees' - whatever takes your fancy to celebrate Christmas, holidays, whatever.

Take a trip to a garden centre such as Squires in Stanmore and nationwide around England, or a supermarket, especially those with an outdoor garden section, such as Waitrose in South Harrow or Harrow and Wealdstone, and you will see trees, real or artificial, for sale.

Stuck indoors with a cold, working? You can order artificial trees or decorations from all kinds of shops and supermarkets, to name only a few: Tesco, Argos, The White Shop.

In the old days you made decorations out of foil-wrapped chocolate or biscuit to hand out to family and guests.

Now you can make an entire tree of biscuits only as a table decoration. Supermarkets sell individual biscuits in tree shapes.

Many biscuit cutters (to American cookie cutters) are sold, or given away 'free' on magazines. I looked at a set on a magazine in Waitrose. But the cost was around £5 and I did;t need the megazine. Last year I was desperately keen to buy sets of festive cookie cutters and bought two magazines from a Tesco Express because I liked that year's cutter offer. This year I bought a set with a tree in Morrisons, Hatch End, for only £1. I wondered whether they were price matching the pound shops.



http://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/baking/biscuits-and-cookies/item/christmas-cookie-tree

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Santas Dashing Everywhere, and St Luke's Santa Dash

I saw a group of Six Santas, girls in costume, on the railway station platform at Ruislip and had to photograph them, just in case I can adapt the song on the Twelve Days of Christmas to including Six Santas Sitting or Six Santas Standing.

Varied costumes. One has a short beard and moustache, another a short beard and moustache, one a red hat edged with a white band, another a white edge hood, and two have white eyebrows.

The next day I was sitting in Waitrose, South Harrow, drinking coffee (read my previous post on the cheapest coffee) when a lady dressed as Santa joined  me.

She said she had taken part in a run raising money for St Luke's Hospice. It has several branches  of its charity shops including a large one in Pinner and another in Hatch End.

She said they steam all the clothes so they are crease-free.

Why is it called St Luke? You may recall the rhyme: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, guard the bed that I lie on.The four gospel writers of the New Testament were these four.
Who was St Luke?

According to Wikipedia:

The Roman Catholic Church and other major denominations venerate him as Saint Luke the Evangelist and as a patron saint of artists, physicians, surgeons, students and butchers; his feast day takes place on 18 October.

St Luke's Hospice
http://www.stlukes-hospice.org/events

St Luke's volunteers are wrapping presents in St Anns and St George's Shopping Centres in Harrow, NW London, to raise funds for the local hospice from the 12th December until Christmas Eve.

They are looking for volunteers. You could volunteer to help at a shop or at one of the events.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Waitrose Hot Curry and hand wash Gel at The White Company Shop's cooling Perfumed Hand Wash in Marylebone High Street

The White Shop sells aromatic soaps (£6) and shower gels and room refreshers. 

My favourites include Seychelles. It's rather expensive for every day but if you are looking for a birthday, wedding anniversary, or Christmas present and want something small enough to go in a Christmas stocking, here's one answer.

The household items include a spray or an infuser with what looks like incense sticks. Very good if you've had somebody smoking or causing another unpleasant smell (a dog, a person, mould, an empty house, for house owners, parents, morning after the party before. Also useful for a landlord freshening up for house viewings when renting looking for a new tenant - or a letting agent. A cheaper version is from IKEA.) The White Shops's rose and lavender are good.

An assistant will locate the tester for the aroma you want and spray onto your hand or hers or a piece of paper.

Waitrose Hot Food
Across the road from the White Company is a Waitrose supermarket. This branch does not have a cafe. (If you want a cafe, there's on in the Waitrose almost opposite South Harrrow station - about 500 metres from that station.). However, the Marylebone branch has a counter serving takeaway hot Indian food, rice and curries, at reasonable prices.

If you want to sit down for coffee between Marylebone High Street and Baker Street station, see my next post about Moxon street, a few paces further, offering meat and pies at The Ginger Pig, fresh fruit, cheeses, and cake and coffee at La Fromagerie, and chocolates at Rococo.