B & K Salt Beef Bar restaurant and take away

 B & K in Hatch End, in north west London is the foodie heaven I used to dream about when I lived in Singapore. We went there in November 2025 for lunch with friends.

Starters - or main courses.

Smoked salmon. Add mixed salad.

Our starter choices included chicken soup with noodles and a dumpling. That is a dish found in Poland and several other European countries.

The service was attentive. When we started to share the soup the waitress offered us a second soup bowl without being asked.

Smoked salmon.

Mixed hors d'ouvres.

Latke (grated potato, like hash brown or roste) slightly too well done for me.

End with lokshen pudding (noodle pudding). Or apple strudel.

End with the bill which is sweetened by a foil wrapped chocolate.

The restaurant is Jewish style but not kosher. The place is run by a family of Christians. maybe originally Greeks I believe. We have been going there for years, at least since the year 2000. 

At least two generations have been running the original smaller, busy Edgware branch.The slightly more spacious Hatch End branch is sheltered from passing traffic by the slip road where you can park and pay. 

Like many restaurants, they don't take American Express.

A roundup of Restaurants in Hatch End, NW London, for breakfast, early bird dinners, birthdays and Mondays

Here's a list of places in Hatch End which are open or closed on Mondays, and which ones have music or offer to do something for a birthday, or serve breakfast or early bird dinners.

If you want small and cosy where you  can easily catch the waiter's or owner's eye, you might like little B & K, or Lattakia, small, cosy, personal service. Or any other restaurat if you sit near the bar.

If you think small places are claustrophobic and want a big and bustling when busy, noisy for privacy, if you like big is better, Izgara might be the place for you. 

Hatch End Restaurants By Cuisines

Asian

Dojo

Open Monday. Will do something for birthdays. Has music. 

'Classical?' asked my husand.  

'Modern, thumping, let's say heavy rhythm. I've recorded it for you to decide.'

Possibly too loud for the elderly with hearing aids trying to make conversation. Suitable for the younger set.

Coffee

Costa

A family favourite. Small secluded back room

You can sit outside and smoke.

Closed in the evenings.

Indian

Coriander - update - closed or closing in 2025. 

Social Dhaba

Modern Music. 

Will do something for birthdays.

Italian

Several choices.

Minori, open for breakfast, and Mondayys.  Wide choice of menu. 

Casa Mia

Open Mondays. Early bird dinners. Will do something for birthdays.

Murals.

Tonito Italian. 

Clean, pristine and spartan.

Japanese - 

Kiyoto

Open Monday. 

Will do something for birthdays.

Jewish Ashkenazi style Salt Beef  

B & K Salt Beef Bar and Restaurant (and take away counter). 

Closed Mondays except for (busy) bank holidays when they open only lunch times but close in the evening.

Middle Eastern/Lebanese

Lattakia - middle eastern

Turkish

Izgara

Mock Grape Vine overhead on the roadside glasses area adds to the atmophere. Lively.

Izgara Restaurant. Turkish food. Hatch End. London. England. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Lunch time special at Izgara. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

English & Irish, Curry & Worldwide 

Steakhouse

Will do something for birthdays.

Wetherspoons Pub - huge choice of worldwide drinks by the glass. The day's speciality cuisine varies. Seasonal events such as St Patrick's Day in March, Irish.

Also in the street

Chipsy hamburgers. 

An Indian and Sri Lankan restaurant will open sometime this year 2024.

(Rude Restaurant - update closed in May 2025 - now Eggholic on this location, see my later post on Eggholic.)

(I wrote of Rude - Asian. We liked their food under the previous name, but the current name does not appeal to my husband, although he is happy to eat at a chain called Slub and Lettuce (not in Hatch End), whilst Slug and Lettuce is not a name which evokes pleasant thoughts in my mind.

Rose Kulfi appealed to me. Closed Monday. Weekend breakfast.

I could persuade my husband, even if rude means raw, or is short for Rudie in some other language.)

 

Vegetarian

Useful Websites

bksaltbeefbar.com

dojorestaurant.co.uk

Lattakia Lebanese

www.lattakia.co.uk

TheSteakrestaurant.com

Please share links to your favourite posts. Update November 2025. Costa has closed. A new coffee and cake place is opening. See later post.

Top twenty desserts - here's my list - what's yours? Where to see, eat, try and buy or make them - anticipating Xmas holiday meals

Would you like a cake like dessert to finish lunch, or dinner? A surprise to make a grand end to a dinner party?

What about Christmas? In England people make Christmas cake or Christmas cake well in advance. The alcohol helps preserve it.

The French instead have buche Noel. 

The Italians, Spanish and Venezuelans have Panetonne. It keeps in a tin for months. 

1 Sicilian Pishacio layer cake 

(muffin)

Italian. In the UK from Etna Cafe

 

2 Lokshen Pudding

Jewish, Ashkenazi style, from B & K

Lokshen pudding from B & K, Hatch End. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Noodles with succulent sultanas (large dried grapes from the island of that name) and lemon juice for added flavour.

3 Christmas cake or wedding cake or fruit cake with yellow marzipan and white icing. Make sure it has almonds, marzipan, not just white icing. The hard icing helps keep it moist. The marzipan adds flavour, and nutrition from the almonds.

English

From Wiki.

Recipe from

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Christmas_Cake

4 Stollen with a Marzipan centre

German

From Marks & Spencer or Tesco and other supermarkets around Christmas holiday time

Check the picture to see the amount of almond paste in the centres.

5 Yemas de Cartagena

Spanish

Cartagena is in the Murcia region of South East Spain, up the cost from Marbella. We tried this declidious dessert in a Parador hotel, a former historic ruin reconstructed and turned into a tourism-attracting hotel as part of the nationwide network serving local food.

Yemas are eggs. We had a creamy dessert in the hotel.

There are also wonderful solid chestnut or almond bars or bite size pieces in divided chocolate boxes. 

https://nativespain.com/celebrations/christmas/turron-de-yema-tostada-spanish-christmas-egg-yolk-turron-spanish-recipe/

6 Apple Strudel

B & K deli take away or eat it, Hatch End or Edgware in NW London, England 

Apple Strudel. Pastry folded over filling of apple chunks. Photo by Angela Lansbury

7 Baklava

With real nuts. Avoid the sort made with cheaper peanuts.

Greek and middle European and middle eastern.

Baklava in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria. Wiki.

8 Summer Pudding

From Waitrose.

9 Bread and Butter Pudding

Bread pudding, or bread and butter pudding. Layers of bread soaked in milk. With sultanas or raisins.

10 New York style Cheesecake

Baked. A cake. Not a mousse! 

From Carnegie deli in Wikipedia.

11 Tarte Tatin

French apple torte. Also known as upside down cake. Thin pastry base and thinly sliced apples with apricot see-through glaze.

Can also be made with pears. Overlapping slices in a circle, or on a grid.

12 Mango Sticky Rice pudding 

Fresh mango and sticky rice. Singapore and Asian countries. Thailand. The Philippines uses coconut and chocolate.

13 Ipswich Almond Pudding

A cold dessert. Unusual. A great cake if you can't cook or don't want to risk something going wrong, or want to prepare in advance. I found the recipe in a looseleaf file or regional UK recipes issued by the tourist board years ago. We used to make this for dinner parties when we were just married. 

You use sponge fingers as the base and sides, soaking them in milk plus alcohol. Add layers of alternating double cream with ground almonds, more soaked sponge fingers, and whipped double cream. Refrigerate to help it to set and keep the cream fresh. Even better the next day when evaporation intensifies the flavour.

14 Surprise Mock Egg

From the now no longer Haro restaurant which was at Little Bedwyn. We would drive hours there and back for their expensive but exquisite meals on special occasions such as a birthday or wedding anniversary. The egg served like a boiled egg in an egg cup with a meringue outside and a mango flavoured yellow inside. 

To counteract over sweetness and add crunch and sustaining cereal, a salted shortbread biscuit as a reminder of the oblong 'finger' slice of toast dipped in a boiled egg when we were children.

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

15 Chocolate Lava Cake/ Melted Chocolate Puddings/ Chocolate Fondant (Chocolate bomb)

Served at Petrus (expensive) and many other restaurants. Other versions have cold white ice cream centres for contrasting colour.

Hot outside chocolate pudding with molten chocolate or chocolate pudding centre.

French bombe glacee from Wiki.

Chocolate with ice cream centre was the dessert at the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II.

16 Welsh cakes

Best served fresh and hot with melting butter. I had them hot at tea time in the Fishguard Hotel in Wales at Writers' Holiday.

17 Meringue with fruit - Pavlova

Hard white meringue base ring with chopped or whole fresh fruit in the circular centre, such as strawberries. The national dish of Australia and New Zealand, both countries claiming it was invented there. Broken up meringue in the UK is called Eton Mess. Easier to make.

From Wiki.

18 Christmas Pudding

UK. Americans serve it all year and call it plum pudding.

Heston Blumenthal added a whole citrus fruit in the middle. This was sold through supermarkets at a premium price.

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

19 Large thin Crepes (Pancake) with Grand Marnier liqueur.

Feature of Mont St Michel in the north of France.

20 Salzburger Knockerl

A huge dish to be shared. In Austrial we had soft meringues floating in sauce. Salzburg. Vienna.  The French version is Isles flottentes or floating islands.

Post draft saved to guard against loss. More text and photos being added.

For tea time in the UK we like hot crumpets with butter and jam. Some people like waffles, which come in at least two varieties, Belgian, thick, with the square or oblong holes, and American, thin, any shape, and can be served for breakfast, or Vietnamese as a snack, round thin and folded over the filling.

I haven't mentioned my former favourites which no longer have a novelty value.

1 Crème brulée or burned cream. 

2  Pot de chocolate (chocolate pot).

3 Fruit salad with caramelised ginger which we make at home.

4 Gulub Jam/Jamun. Indian. Two or three balls in syrup. Our favourite dessert in Indian restaurants (which is London are often owned by Pakistanis or people from Bangldesh who have lived in London for years.) We like it more than kulfi (Indian ice cream). We bought a packet mix from Mustaphas' store in Singapore. However, we found it hard to keep the balls from falling apart. 

Useful Websites

https://nativespain.com/celebrations/christmas/turron-de-yema-tostada-spanish-christmas-egg-yolk-turron-spanish-recipe/

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

About the Author

Angela Lansbury was born and bred in Britain, and has lived in the USA and Singapore. Her family have worked in or lived in Spain and Switzerland. She is a member of Toastmasters Clubs meeting on Zoom with visitors from the UK and USA, India, Sri Lanka, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Through the Toastmasters mentoring program Angela has connected with individuals in Vietnam and Romania, a different connection each month. Please come to the next BHA Toastmasters meeting on the 3rd Saturday afternoon every month. 

B & K SALT BEEF BAR IN HATCH END - ALWAYS ACHIEVES SATISFACTION

First thing to do on reaching London is collect a take away from B and K salt beef bar. Just the thing when you have jetlag, a hangover, or the weekend off cooking.

We had the salt beef and lokshen pudding as a take away. Yes.

The salt beef is filling. It's often better, more moist when served fresh in the restaurant. Health and Safety have spoiled it a bit. But it always makes you think of it fondly and longingly when you eat meat elsewhere.

Lokshen Pudding
However, the lovely lokshen pudding is as good as ever. How do they make the sultanas so moist? I know, they soak them overnight in something. I always ask and they always tell me. Then I forget.

Sometimes I write down the recipe, the ingredients. They add lemon juice. Lots of it.

So I know the secret. But when I cook, it's not the same. That's why they are the restaurant and I am the customer.

Lokshen means noodles. They are made into a solid circular pudding. After it is cold, or when  still hot, it can be cut into triangular slices.

Lokshen pudding with sultanas.

We eke it out over a day or two. Add fruit to reduce the calorie count and our guilt. I had strawberries and milk.

By the way, it's Jewish style food, not strictly kosher. to get a kosher license they would have to close on Saturday.

You will easily find them. Hatch End high street is not that large. They are at the station end, across the road, a couple of shops along from Impeccable clothes shop, and Tesco Express.

See my other reviews with more pictures on this blog, and my reviews on Tripadvisor.

B & K Salt Beef Bar
353 Uxbridge Road
Hatch End
Pinner
HA5 4 JN
England

Useful Websites
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g7380842-d1899079-Reviews-B_K_Salt_Beef_Bar-Pinner_Greater_London_England.html

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

Best and Biggest Lunch At B and K Salt Beef Bar, Restaurant and Take away In London, England

the mixed hors d'oevre I had on a previous visit. Photo by Angela Lansbury. copyright

.
Salt beef. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Tripadvisor asks if you ate there with family or friends. Both. Four of us, two couples. We had lunch.

One person, in a wheelchair, had already managed to negotiate the doorway when we arrived.

The toilets are at the back on the ground floor. That's good. I hate going up or down a level.

First choice, set meal or not? I chose the two-course set meal. The food is always too much for us. So a shared starter and a shared dessert is good.

Starter
Start with chicken soup. It comes with a dumpling, or kind of ravioli, pasta around meat. Both, I think, costs a little extra. One soup, two spoons. No problem.

With your main course you might have chips or latkes. Latkes, fried grated potato. don't seem to me to be what they used to be. Not such a huge difference in satisfaction between latkes and chips. I was happy with both.

I made the mistake of going for chicken. Because I like chicken. But you can have chicken anywhere.

I should have had the fish balls. They were wonderful. Moist. Tasty. My friend received four, which she planned to share with her husband. Four ended up just the right amount for four people. Next time, for me, it's fish balls.

I think most men would want the filling salt beef. Piled high.

Afterwards we had takeaways to put in the fridge at home. Three sorts of baked lemon cake on a biscuity base. No, the chocolate looks and sound nice but hides the flavour of cheesecake. I prefer plain.

The lemony lokshen pudding and apple strudel and cheesecake lasted me another two days. Just a tiny piece with coffee. For breakfast, elevenses, lunch, tea, and a late night snack. Lovely.

Filling food. Fab food.

You'll find them on Facebook and TripAdvisor and Deliveroo - but not on Mondays when they are closed.

B & K Salt beef bar and restaurant
353 Uxbridge Road
Hatch End
Pinner
Middlesex
HA5 4JN

Useful Websites
https://deliveroo.co.uk/
visitbritain.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Nosher. (That's Yiddish for snacker, one who eats between meals, like a cow which eats all day.) Please share links to your favourite posts.

Thanksgiving American Theme Meetings: turkey, kugel and potluck

American flag, the stars and stripes.

Problem
All over the world people will be celebrating or discussing Thanksgiving in November. When is it and what is it? Who celebrates and who doesn't?

Answers
Who, Where, Why?
In London, UK, we regard it as an American event. As a child I was led to believe it had something to do with Americans giving thanks for landing safely in the USA on the journey by ship from the UK, and surviving a year.

Why Not?
In the UK we don't celebrate Thanksgiving. We have harvest festival in churches and schools.

When?
American Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November.

Where?
According to Wikipedia other similar events are held in other parts of America and the Caribbean, in Europe in German and in Asia in Japan.

Caps and Plurals
The festival is given a capital letter. Notice that is is a plural. On whats app I was sent a notice about thank giving, no caps and singular.

Thanksgiving and American Clothes
Now is a good time to look out your American items, hats, tee-shirts, towels, whatever.

Cowgirl Hats
I am not sure that a cowgirl or cowboy hat is suitable, as this is from Texas and the West. However, since Thanksgiving is celebrated all over America, why not.

In Singapore you can buy a cowgirl hat for under ten dollars in a shop in Clementi shopping mall by Clementi MRT.

Cowboy or cowgirl hat in SKP, Clementi.

Hat from SKP shop in Clementi shopping Mall by Clementi MRT station and bus exchange.

Any party shop should have something American.

I suggest you check out the history of Thanksgiving in case you are asked to speak about it, or give thanks to those who prepared the food.

Thanksgiving Food
Traditionally turkey - thanksgiving day is also known as Turkey Day. (In the UK we have turkey on Xmas Day. American who had turkey the previous month on Thanksgiving Day therefore tend to go for something different on Xmas Day.)

To go with the turkey, what? Mashed potato. (At Xmas Day in the UK we have roast potatoes.)

Turkey and vegetable?
Maybe Brussels sprouts. (Turkey and Brussels sprouts is what we would have in London, England, for Xmas Day.) Yes, capital for Brussels, and plural. The sprouts were originally sold from near Brussels, capital of Belgium.

Dessert
Pumpkin pie is the seasonal and traditional dessert. You can also have pumpkin soup.

Kugel, Lockshen Pudding and Noodles
I was intrigued to read about what Ashkenazi Jews in America eat for dessert on Thanksgiving Day. Kugel. Kugel is tradition at the weekend (Sabbath being Friday night and Saturday until dusk - which is earlier in winter.)

What is it? I think kugel, to judge by the pictures and recipes, is what Londoners call lokshen pudding. Noodle pudding. Made with rich, yellow egg noodles.

The London version has sultanas and lemon.  You can get it to take away or eat in from B & K salt beef far and restaurant in Edgware and Hatch End - see my previous posts.) Asians might understand what it is if you call it noodle pudding.

Alternative To Turkey?
Duck.

Drinks?
Cider. Sparkling wine. Beaujolais Nouveau -which has been launched in London, England, with a cross-Channel dash to be the first shop to sell it and the first restaurant to serve it, the previous week.

Potluck
How about a potluck celebration? Americans like potluck dinners where everybody brings something to eat.

Music and Preparation
A potluck supper moves some of the responsibility of the catering onto the guests. That leaves the hosts time to do the decor and music.

Decor
American flags. Photos of America. America the beautiful, from sea to shining sea: landmarks include:
Grand Canyon


You might also like to include Canada:
Niagara Falls

Add some famous American Presidents, personalities and film stars:
Look in Wikipedia for free of copyright pictures of
Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Marilyn Monroe
Elvis Presley
Dolly Parton

Check the figures on banknotes.

American Patriotic Music
Print off the words:
America the Beautiful.

American Personal Favourites
Country Music:
Take me home, country roads .. by John Denver.
Elvis

After you have done this once for the USA and Thanksgiving, you will have a system to follow for your club or conference in another country or on another national day.
(Coming up this year and next: December: Christmas. Spring: Chinese New Year.)

Check if a member of your group has a birthday (in any group of thirty people you usually find one or two with birthdays on the day, or week, or month). You can order cakes, and ice cream cakes in the USA, UK and Singapore.

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

B & K Salt Beef Bar and Restaurant Revisited

Mixed hors d'oeuvres.

We have already eaten the fried fish ball and some of the chicken liver. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Rye bread. B and K salt beef far and restaurant. Hatch End. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Salt beef sandwich, chips, ketchup. Water with lemon.
Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
Where to eat which is friendly and fast and you are not expected to order a big meal? And reliable food which is filling for people who have literally starved all day.

(Don't ask why somebody was starving. Something to do with - no don't go there. Don't ask.)

Finally, open Sunday, early evening.

Answer
B and K. B and K is the answer to everything. How many stars?

✡✡✡✡
For my own interest, I shall give a plus or star for every good point.
✪
I must add, or rather deduct, a minus for each bad point. Or deduct a star for every missing item for the picky customer.

Picky Customers
The picky customer is not me, it's my starving relative. Okay, I admit it, two different picky customers. We both think that we are normal and the other person is picky. (Picky, in case any English speaking non British country reader is puzzled, is British slang for pernickety or fussy.)

Summary

Friendly, fast, filling, open Sunday evening, reasonably priced. You can get away with a sandwich for under ten pounds. Five stars. Almost everything. Not the answer to somebody who wants no pickled food. Back to four stars. I'll explain the pickle problem in a minute. 

Starter
I thought the starter of mixed hors d'oevre was cold and therefore fast and huge and enough for everyone. Yes, it was cold and fast and a large portion.

They brought two small plates. Yes, full marks for the plates. Back up to five stars.

Small plates, big platefuls
Why do they use such small plates? Is it to make the food seem bigger? No, I think I asked some time ago and if I remember rightly, which nobody ever does, it's something to do with the dishwashing.

Spills
Anyone small plates are a real nuisance for customers, well, at least one customer, me. I spent the whole time trying to take food off the plate with a knife and fork in scissor action. I used a spoon as a kind of mini dustbin. Back down to four stars.

I started wishing I had three hands. God, nature, whoever - bad design, only two hands. Those Hindu gods with several arms which much better suited to eating a buffet or a piled up small plate.

I was trying not to push food onto the relatively dirty table. The relativity was in my mind. The table looked clean but surely a plate is cleaner than a table?

Deciding that shifting food about on a plate in the middle of the table at arm's length was a recipe for disaster, I moved the plate as near myself as I could, near the edge of the table in front of myself. Despite the generous provision of a white napkin under the knife and fork originally (good touch that) now on my lap, I managed to get dripping coleslaw sauce down the front of my dress.

Stains
I know there's no a moment to lose with stains. Before nipping out of the back door to the toilet I tried to remove the stain by dousing with water from my water glass. The water had come up with a slice of lemon. Good again.

Bills
Ask for an itemised bill. Then you can see what you have ordered, what you have paid, and whether a tip is included.

Desserts And Take Away Food
Americans say take out. The Brits say take away.  After the filling dessert and main course we were full. We had half our main course packed up to take away. Plus a portion of lokshen pudding.

Chocolate cake or lokshen pudding? You choose. B and K Salt Beef Bar and Restaurant, Hatch End. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Lokshen, Yiddish, translates into noodle for the Americans, pasta for the Italians.

Photo of Strudel and Cheesecake to take away or eat in at B & K Salt Beef Bar and Restaurant, Hatch End. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

The Chat

We chatted about the history of B & K, which first opened in 1967 in Edgware. The Edgware branch is still there. However, changes of name and ownership make it more complicated than that simple sentence. You can see more of the history on their website.

B & K SALT BEEF Bar and Restaurant, 11 Lanson House, Whitchurch Lane, Edgware, Middlesex HA8 6LN. Tel: 020 8952 8204.

B & K Salt Beef Bar and Restaurant, 353 Uxbridge Road, Hatch End, Pinner, Middlesex, HA.

Tel 01923 518 693.

www.bksaltbeefbar.com/history

Author

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

B and K Salt Beef bar: 5 star restaurant rating! What could go wrong?

B and K
Photo courtesy of Trevor Sharot

Problem:
One of my favourite restaurants, and my favourite worldwide for salt beef, latkes and lokshen pudding, received a zero rating last August from the food inspectors and another eight or nine restaurants (was the nine in the same high street including this one or separate - no matter) got a one star rating, gosh - where could I eat safely and what could I recommend? That was back in August.

Answer
Spiffing news! After an official inspection three months later, B & K salt beef bar in Hatch End now has a five star rating. The top rating!

I discovered when I went along to look. They had a five star rating sign on the front window. Inside was a A-board they were just about to display advertising their five star rating.

The staff beamed all over, proud as punch. (Where did that phrase come from - Punch and Judy British sea-side puppet show left over from from Victorian era, I suppose).

Story
I asked, "What was the problem?"
They were quite happy to tell me all about it. In fact I would have been quite happy with a one sentence answer, but I got a whole story. It was more technical than I could comprehend without making an effort to listen really attentively and interrupt to check on the hours and temperatures.

The story goes something like this: The ratings are on three areas. One is compliance - are you keeping records which you are able and willing to show the inspectors? The restaurant passed on that one.

Two: general hygiene, which might include wearing gloves and keeping the place clean (depending on what you are serving). They passed on that one.

I asked, "So it wan't rats then?"
I was afraid rats were running all over the neighbourhood, so if any one restaurant is in trouble all the restaurants and houses nearby are affected. Years ago a friend of mine who had just graduated as a doctor told me not to eat in Willesden or Kilburn because of a rat problem.

(If you've got open land nearby, you probably need to block up every hole into the building around pipes and drains, or rats can get in and run along inside. Rats are nocturnal. If you or tenants don't sweep up crumbs from the floor overnight, or there are leaking pipes, the rats have tempting, attractive food and drink.)

Finally, safe storage which includes temperature, method and time taken. The only problem at B & K was with the salt beef - which is their 'signature dish'. But no problem with what I had eaten last month, fish balls, lokshen pudding. For years, said the B & K staff, they had been cooling the salt beef in liquid (brine?) with no problem. The local authority wanted the salt beef cooled in a special (and I presume expensive to buy, unless you have one already, with enough space) chiller cabinet, which brings the temperature down to (five degrees c?) in under twenty minutes.

B and K did not want the liquid removed from the outside of the beef because that's what gives it the flavour. So they arranged that the salt beef would be brought down to the required temperature within the two hour cooling period allowed.

Now they have their five star rating, the top rating, and are so pleased.

They said, if they'd been a new business, it could have killed their business. But because they had been operating so long, they had regular clientele who still supported them.

Smiling faces all round.

I may have the details wrong, but you get the idea.

Tips
1 You can check on the web about regulations in your country - for example, Singapore has the rating system like London - on the web.
2 If you want more details check on chiller cabinets.
3 Or ask staff in this restaurant or others if you are interested.

Action
I'm a bit worried about reporting all this in case I get it wrong. Please check the ratings and regulations to satisfy yourself, wherever you live. From my experience any restaurant which has a low rating or had one in the past is likely to be happy to answer questions (especially if you are supporting them by buying anyway). They are glad to put their side of the case.

(When I have time I'll get to check all the other restaurants for their ratings.)
Note to self and readers: Eat more chopped liver. B & K lokshen pudding. Yummy!


Photos of chopped liver and lokshen pudding by Angela Lansbury.

Author
Agnela Lansbury
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Lemon flavour lokshen pudding from B & K

What puts a smile on my face? The thought of lemon-flavour, moist lokshen pudding from B & K. I've been to other places where chocolate doesn't taste of chocolate and pastry is dry but if you want filling food and tasty food this is the place.

I was a bit anxious when I read in a local magazine that my favourite B & K got a low rating from the local inspectors. What was the problem? I didn't dare ask what the problem was and if it had been cleared up.

That didn't deter my family. They shrugged and said, "If it was that bad they'd have been closed down and they are still in business." My family climb mountains and race motorbikes and trek through third world countries eating yak butter and stuff from roadside stalls.

So my family happily went back and got a takeaway (admitted a month or so after the reported problem).

Good as ever. Yes I like the chopped liver. And the fried fish balls. And I like the lokshen pudding. Lokshen is noodles, but noodles doesn't have quite the same lip-smacking ring. Lokshen pudding with lemon and sultanas.

I was going to take a photo of it. But it got eaten too fast. I'll have to re-use an old photo.

I need a cheer-up. I must keep a sign on my desk. Think of lokshen pudding.
B & K
Hatch End
Pinner
Middlesex

B & K
Edgware
Middlesex

UPDATE - they now have a five star rating. See Dec 9 2016 post.
www.bksaltbeefbar.com
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

B & K Salt Beef Bar and Restaurant

Lokshen pudding. Did I say lokshen pudding? I'll say it again, lokshen pudding. I am on a diet so I try not to be tempted every time I drive or walk past B and K. But when I am overseas I dream of this place. It's addictive. I have a hugely overweight friend who orders from here several times a week. I think it cheers him up (except when he looks in the mirror).

When I eat in I like to start with hot chicken soup with vermicelli and dumplings or ravioli or both. (Lokshen soup with kneidlach.) Chicken soup cures everything, except appetite. An alternative is the mixed hors d'oevre which could feed four, or three, or two, or one hungry person (me). The chicken soup is usually served with a side plate of rye bread.

Here's the latke and cucumber salad.

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

After that I try to order chips as well as latkes (fried, grated potato cakes, flattened like Swiss rosti or American hash brownies). This makes me very unpopular with the diet police. What with? Salt beef. Or Viennas (like Frankfurters but better). I've never found anybody from Vienna or Frankfurt to debate this point. One would need a portion of both to compare.

Maybe if this place is a danger to dieters it could be a cure for anorexics. I was diverted from the restaurant with a promise of a take away. Hot latkes were still warm when they reached home. Yes I was treated to a diet-breaking potato latke, not half a potato latke, but a whole one. Plus a huge piece of cooked lamb on the bone with some turkey. (Why no salt beef? I didn't say anything.) Plus a mixed chopped salad - that doesn't count.

A piece of meat.

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The highlight was the dessert. Lokshen pudding with lemon. If you don't know lokshen pudding it's a compressed noodle pudding, what the Italians would call vermicelli. B & K makes it with succulent sultanas and the not so secret ingredient is lemon juice. If you like lemon juice - mwah! If not, you might change your mind and make an exception for B & K lokshen pudding.

We added oranges and yogurt to the lokshen pudding. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

I've tried all the dishes in other places over the years, in New York, and New Jersey and in Washington DC (where I lived for a while) plus a long gone place in Singapore, but nowhere makes food as good as B & K. Unfortunately the surroundings are rather plain, although the mural might puts you in the mood and entertain foreign visitors.

So mostly we get tempting take away (take out if you are reading in the USA). It's good value. You can buy enough food to feast a king and leave you grumbling but not broke. Eat in or take away this is the place for latkes and lokshen pudding.

£21 bought enough food for a meal for two, plus leftovers for another meal. I am planning to sneak back when the family are away. Don't tell them. But I'm still dieting to look good in summer clothes, in case we have a summer.  All right then, I'll go back after the summer. Something to look forward to.

B and K salt beef bar and restaurant
Hatch End
Pinner
HA

If you are in London, this branch is near Hatch End Station (Euston to Watford line). Another branch is in Edgware, end of the Northern line.

Maybe I have praised it too highly. Maybe you will go there and say, it was an ordinary looking little place. What was all the fuss about? Then you'll eat at a few other places and start thinking, "I wish we had gone back to B and K again."

PS Chopped liver and egg and onion!

This place is not kosher. That gives it the advantage of being open on Saturday.

Look in Golders Green or Stamford Hill if you want kosher food, in restaurants which follow Jewish holiday opening times (closing on the Sabbath - following daylight and dusk so they close early on Friday in winter and open Saturday evening, whilst in summer they are open later on Friday and open late at night on Saturday and other holidays similarly.

London has lots to offer, bagels 24 hours in Brick Lane in the East End and Scottish smoked salmon everywhere in supermarkets and kosher delicatessens, kosher food in supermarkets such as Tesco and Marks and Spencer and Waitrose, especially in NW London. Plus of course two branches of B and K salt beef. (See my other posts on salt beef, bagels, this restaurant and others.)

Photos by Angela Lansbury.

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

B & K Salt Beef Bar, Restaurant, Take Away and Deli

Filling, satisfying, just like mother used to make. I think most of it is made by the owner's mother.
Chopped liver (not chicken liver, ox liver).
Latke (potato cake).
Loaf of rye bread.
Cheese cake.
Lokshen (noodle) pudding.
I popped in for the chopped liver for a surprise starter for a family dinner from the deli counter by the door. (We've eaten here many times, for years, also their other branch in Edgware. We usually eat in and get some take away food to take home.)

While there I was tempted to buy a portion of latke, a grated potato cake, similar to Swiss rosti, or American hash brownies. I resisted.

At home I asked the family, should I have bought apple strudel? The verdict was no. We have plenty of apples from trees in the garden, ours or a neighbour's.  I thought to myself, let's make strudel.

Some desserts are harder to make at home. Such as lokshen pudding. When I mentioned 'unhealthy' lockshen pudding, I heard a resounding, 'Yes'.

So I donned my raincoat, changed into rainproof shoes, found a raincoat, selected an umbrella and trotted off like Mary Poppins, my heart singing in the rain, to buy lokshen pudding for dessert.

 How could I resist rye bread, also hard to find. While I was buying bread, why not potato. I could not resist the roster style latke.

The baked cheese cake is another of my favourites. How I hate the jelly like excuse which cons you into thinking you are getting cheese cake. Nothing like a cake. You can get proper baked cheese cake in the New York style delis worldwide, huge portions, for larger prices.

By now my spare change was dwindling and my calorie count and weight were increasing. The B & K staff kindly cut in half the cheese cake. You can ask for the food hot or cold. They do outside catering.

Here's the lokshen pudding which we combined with fruit. As you see, the lokshen pudding is almost solid, enlivened by sweet sultanas. (See my previous posts on B & K if you are a devotee of B & K or lokshen pudding or Polish style Ashkenazi food.)

Lokshen pudding and fruit. Photo by Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury, B A Hons, travel writer and photographer, author of the Jewish Travel Guide.

Who is in the picture in B & K Salt Beef Bar, Hatch End?

You go to B & K for their chicken liver pate, their salt beef, their turkey, or their lokshen pudding (noodle pudding) or apple strudel, or all of the above..

'Who is in that picture?' I asked the owner, who was serving the salt beef at the deli counter.

'My grandfather, who opened the Salt Beef Bar in Selfridges in the 1960s when it was owned by Clore.'

www.bksaltbeefbar.com