Back to B & K best salt beef and perfect potato latke

B & K salt beef and potato latke. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

When I am in Singapore I reminisce about B & K salt beef and say that the first thing I shall do in London is have some salt beef. 

Here is a piece of take away (Americans say take out) salt beef and a latke or potato cake. Yes, I have a picture of a half eaten or broken open latke. (Pronounced lut - ker. You pronounce the a like a u and the e like an a.) but if I didn't show the inside you would not know what you are getting. What are you getting? Probably something greasy and filling and way over my calorie count. 

Singapore has had a couple of Covid clusters and is being cautious. Last Friday we were eating take away food perched on the only seat we could see, after standing around waiting for the two people at either end to vacate it. In London we have the luxury of eat in restaurants. And now Hatch End has lots of pavement dining. Luckily, the Harrow and Pinner area has wide streets (the name Hatch End Broadway is an accurate description.)

Salt beef and potato latkes are what we used to eat at their other branch when I lived in Edgware. A favourite Jewish style deli popular with liberal Jews who are not bothered about keeping strictly kosher, as well as by non-Jewish passers by. The owners aren't Jewish, but they do a great imitation of Jewish filling food and friendliness. (Not the lean and hungry look, as Shakespeare famously said.) 

We have known the owners for more than forty years. In addition to the Fellini owned Italian restaurants, and the former Hatch End Tandoori, and Sea Pebbles (Jewish style but owned by Christian Greeks) B & K is one of the noted places where the owner remembers us and greets us like old friends.

What do I miss about the UK when in Singapore. B & K. A dishwasher. What do I miss about Singapore? Palm trees and shower attachments by the toilet.

Useful Website

https://deliveroo.co.uk/menu/london/hatch-end/b-and-k-salt-beef-bar

Also in Hatch End, see my earlier post on Bandaa, East African Indian.

Last Chance To Eat Out In London and England !

 

Britain's restaurants will be closed from Thursday. A restaurant booking which a member of my family had for Thursday was moved back to Tuesday.

Business Lunches

A business contact tells us, "We can only meet in a restaurant for business meetings."

So do you have to talk business throughout the meeting?

Some people say, 'never mix business with pleasure'. I know families where two brothers have fallen out and gone to court over the profits and responsibilities of a shared business, sometimes the family business inherited from their parents or grandparents. You must have read newspaper reports about sibling rivalry, brother-in-law who fall out, and so on. Not to mention ex-spouses who separate, get back together. businesses get sub-divided. 

To take just one well examples, look at hotels. To find another, look at the brand names of clothing and fashionable items.

Many business partners and long-term business contacts also become friends, invited to a wedding. 

Friends are asked to do business, write a will, or advise on finance, 

So do you have to talk business throughout the meal?

From Thursday November 5th 2020 Restaurants in London, England, will be shut. We received an email followed by a recorded voice message from Petrus saying they had to cancel our booking but would welcome us back at a later date.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday and Wednesday, last chance to eat out. What are the rules? How do they know if you are following the rules? How do they know who you are and where you are?

Simple, if you have installed track and trace. Which you do for your own benefit. If a member of the restaurant staff or a patron falls ill, you might want to know, in order to observe yourself, get tested, or avoid members of your family who are vulnerable, such as an elderly granny or grandad, or pregnant woman. 

Meanwhile - what's going on?

Are you being tape recorded?

Will the restaurant staff report you?

Or are they just glad to have the business?

The restaurant will not want you to get them into trouble by, for example, have too large a table, visible from the street where passers-by could take a photo.

Window Coverings

Windows, shutters, curtains, signs.

Many restaurants are using curtains and window coverings. They don't want snoopers. 

Nor do they want passer-by to know if the premises are empty. Is the restaurant nothing but bare walls, or full of unguarded items which could be looted, or are the staff or security guards inside enjoying a self-cooked family meal. 

Or are the premises boarded up with wood for protection, but with jolly curtains or even a tromple l'ouil of jolly diners seen from the outside to give the impression of a joly place.

Signs might be saying, sorry we are closed due to coronavirus. Welcoming signs might say, please book for Christmas and next year.

Nobody need know what is hidden.

I asked my family, please photograph the outside of the restaurant, the inside, the food. I received the reply, "I can't start taking pictures of food during a business meeting."

What about those of us who have no business meetings? Last trip out for coffee?

Coffee Excursion

If you have a business lunch on Tuesday, you might not want another on Wednesday. But how about a coffee out with another family member? Will Starbucks and Costa be packed out? 

What can you do in the last two or three days? Many people already ate out during the last weekend opportunity.

You will be able to order food delivered from restaurants. Or collect it. 

But what about the experience of eating out, just being in a different environment? Instead of having a full meal in a restaurant, you could go out for elevenses, coffee, afternoon tea.

Elevenses

Elevenses seems to be a British word. Nobody in Singapore, nobody whose first language is Chinese (Mandarin) understands when I say elevenses. Elevenses is the eleven o'clock break, mid-morning, for coffee or tea. 

Maybe when Covid-19 has passed, if it ever passes, these reflections will be a thing of the time, a peep into the past.

I am writing to help you plan, and remember.

I imagine that from Thursday onwards, when UK restaurants are shut, my posts will only be about the take away and delivery options still available.

About The Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer, photographer and speaker. Read the next post on Americanisms and British English. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Update on Papu Miya pizzas Menu, London, England and Memories of Pizza in America

Problem
What to order when you enter a take away shop - or even a supermarket, faced with so many choices, and can't decide?

Answer
You look at the online menu first. I did that recently when supplying cakes for a book group meeting. I compared the cakes, ingredients and prices at Morrisons and Tesco. Should I go for a nut cake, plus another in case anybody was allergic to nuts?

Today I looked at the Papu Miya website. They have medium crust pizza. more filling than those thin crust pizzas. But I suppose more calories. I can vouch for the fact that I liked the Papu Miya vegetarian pizza with pineapple. Fruit and vegetable. I am always wondering about how to increase my fibre and fresh fruit intake.

The Papu Miya website offers food to order in advance and collect. You can re-heat it if it gets cold on the way home, or to a party, or you leave it for a short while before eating.

The menu includes both vegetarian and fish and meat options. You can add salads, potatoes, and garlic bread.

Stories
London, England
Why didn't I photograph the pizza and the box? Because I was busy eating pizza with one hand and typing the minutes of the meeting with the other hand. Next time I shall take a photo of the food. I shall later today add more photos.

Rockville, Maryland
When my family lived in Rockville, Maryland, on the East side of the USA, a short drive north of Washington DC, or a train ride, we were within walking distance of a highly acclaimed pizza mini-shop.

When we first saw it, after reading about it, we were surprised it was such a small shop front, and not over excited by the highly praised pizza. It was just a thick crust pizza. However, every time we took a trip anywhere else, and bought pizza from another shop, or ordered in a restaurant we frowned and muttered, "Not as good as the place at home!"

A slice of pizza was our reward and sustenance after a walk from our home in Parklawn Place to the nearby shopping mall. Funny how of all the things I remember, it is a slice of pizza, probably because each time I see a slice of pizza anywhere in the world it triggers a memory.

Anyway, here's my latest find in London, England:
www.papumiya.com/Contactus
More details of the Papu Miya Menu and address in two previous posts.

In the UK we say take away. In the USA you would ask for take out.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, English teacher and language learner and teacher. 

Love leftovers - in the USA take out, UK take away

• A friend on Facebook asked what others felt about white plates versus wooden platters. Here's my view on how the American system helps travellers. I keep in my car a Cool Box (Americans have different brand names to UK) with a couple of small frozen items. (Buy two for a pound from Poundland.) If you forgot to bring a reusable frozen item, buy the cheapest large pack of frozen peas to act as an ice pack. Or ideally fruit or some item you can consume easily whilst it is still fresh although slightly defrosted.

  
  

  A white plate can be checked for cleanliness and has no grooves. Wooden is OK for cold food like cheese. You cannot put wood in a dishwasher.

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  Angela Lansbury I like the American system of wrapping up your leftovers.You can eat out more often because the cost of your meal out pays for a second meal at home. The tip you pay covers the trouble they take to provide you with another meal. That's worth a tip. In the UK restaurants expect a service charge and a tip but don't give you food to take away. If you get leftover food wrapped up you are not tempted to finish the plate. No waste. The restaurant pays less in rubbish collection. Win win all around.

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  Food to go, ho ho.