The Curry House and James Bond

Tayyabs

When: 21st July 2012

Another Saturday, another trip to East London.  Today however, would be different as I was able to spend my time enjoying two of my favourite British exports, the curry house and James Bond!  For the second week in a row I wanted to dodge the chains and thought we'd try the institutional curry house Tayyabs.

A good old fashioned curry house experience is one of my favourite things.  It brings back memories from my childhood and the novelty of being given a small chocolate at the end of the meal which to me was the height of luxury fine dining.  It was also special being able to have a good meal out whilst being vegetarian.  Anyway, times change, tastes change but the curry house remains as good as ever.

Tayyabs is famous for its tandoori cuisine, which is one of my favourite cooking styles.  We meet our friend and make the short walk from Aldgate East to the restaurant which is hard to miss from the large neon signs out front.  We took the advice to book a table as apparently it can get very busy so we were a little surprised to find only 1-2 other tables in use when we arrived.  Within five minutes of being given our menus our side of the restaurant was full to bursting, it was a good job we booked after all!  We had a table near the kitchen where I could take a good look at the action.  Service was brisk and polite but nothing to get excited about.  We ordered some starters to share:  delicious giant cubes of Paneer Tikka and some Lamb Chops straight from the tandoor in a lovely acidic marinade.  We also had some very tasty Pakoras.  Our starters were accompanied by some Popadoms and chutneys.  There wasn't much wait for the food and we were off to a great start with that addictive acidic tang of the marinated meat, I was enjoying this meal.

Before we'd even finished our starters our mains came along filling up the table.  I had one of the specialty curries, Karahi Lamb Tikka Masala, my partner also had an identical looking, but totally different tasting lamb curry.  We shared a couple of amazing buttery Tandoori Naans and some Karahi Bhindi, which to my taste was the only imperfect item we'd ordered.  This was a really great meal let down only by the rushed and less than perfect service.  It seems they have only one pace of working irrespective of how busy the restaurant is.  I would come back here to eat again, though not without trying one of the other local grills in the area and as good as the food was I would not make a special journey to come here when I have the good old Star of Bombay just a short bus ride away!  Though they did present the bill with two Union Jack chocolates (for the three of us!) to complete that famous curry house experience.

Designing 007: 50 Years of Bond Style

Where: Barbican Centre, London

As much as I love a good curry, it's no match for anything to do with James Bond.  So after some gentle persuasion we attended this exhibition at the Barbican.  There were 14 separate areas of the exhibition, a perfectly themed entrance and the opportunity to have your photo taken with the classic Aston Martin from Goldfinger.  The exhibition was divided into the various themes that has made Bond iconic over the last 50 years and each was filled with film props including gadgets, guns and the various outfits worn by Bond, the villains and the many Bond girls from the 23 films.

The first room of the exhibition was themed around gold and included the original Ken Adam sketches for Fort Knox from Goldfinger, Oddjob's steel-brimmed hat as well as Scaramanga's golden gun.  So far so good as we squeezed into a small room documenting the colourful life of James Bond's creator, Ian Flemming.  Flemming is just as interesting if not more so than the character he created.  He was a key influence in the cinematic appearance of James Bond in terms of his dress and background.  Also a number of the characters that appear in the books/films were named after Flemming's friends.  The idea of James Bond came from Flemming's time in the military and has passion for travel writing and journalism.

The next section was one that I particularly enjoyed, M's Office.  This section contained a number of Bond artefacts including passports, ID cards, credit cards, dossiers as well as a bit about the characters of M and Moneypenny.  The level of detail in these props are one of the things I love about Bond films.  Despite all the fantastic and often ridiculous elements to these films there is always a strong authenticity to the props used.  Of course once you have been briefed it's time to pick up your supplies from the Quartermaster or Q Branch as we know it.  Here we are treated to a selection of briefcases, watches and other "ordinary" items that can be transformed into lethal weapons, listening devices and escape routes at the flick of a switch.  There was also an extended section on the boat used in the opening sequence of The Wold is Not Enough.

After this was another James Bond staple, the casino.  In this section there was a full scale mock-up of the table and gamblers from Casino Royale forming the centre piece of the room.  In addition there were numerous mock ups of the various casino outfits and clips projected of many of the famous Bond casino scenes.  There was also a dress from the forthcoming Skyfall which was exciting to see.  After the excitement of the casino there was a section on the various countries and exotic places that Bond has visited over the years and how the look of these places was created.  The main focus here was on India as seen in Octopussy and the fabulous space base from Moonraker.

There were two main sections left after this, the next being Villains.  This room was filled with the costumes and props of many of the Bond villains, such as Rosa Klebb's spiked shoe, Jaws' teeth, the "bomb surprise" and Boris from Goldeneye frozen solid with liquid nitrogen.  There was also a section on the Bond girls that help Bond out in the films including Solitaire with her card table and Jinx in her bikini.  Alas it was time to move downstairs in the Bond lifts to visit the final room, the Ice Palace which celebrated Bond and all things snowy from the famous ski stunts to the magnificent Ice Palace from The World is Not Enough.  There was also the famous cello (with skis attached!) that Bond and Kara use to escape in The Living Daylights.

If I had one complaint about this exhibition it would be the lack of any interactive display areas, it would have been amazing to have been able to go hands on with some of the Bond gear as well as take some photos of it, though from reading about the lack of available items it is perhaps understandable.  This exhibition is clearly a must for suckers like me who can't wait till Skyfall later this year!  After finishing up at the Ice Place it was time to go home and reflect on a wonderful day of famous British exports, the curry house and James Bond.

Tayyabs - 83-89 Fieldgate Street London E1 1JU
020 7247 6400

Designing 007:50 Years of Bond Style - Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS Until 5th September 2012

Dinner and a Movie

Dark Shadows, Dark Dinner
When: May 2012
Where: Imli (SoHo) and Empire Leicester Square
Imli

Dinner and a movie, for me two of the things that make my world go around.  If I were to make a film it would be in the style of Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes.  This night out was a way to escape the dreaded nail biting Champions League Final.  Last time in 2008 I shouldn't have been watching, we should have been out doing dinner but the Roman weather forced us to stay in the hotel and everyone suffered...  This time round it was dinner and a movie, two of my favourite things to enjoy and then I could check the scores at the end of the film and celebrate or commiserate depending on the result.  Things started off well as the bus got us to the West End in record time.  Our driver was not a patient man and beeped and swerved his away through town taking no prisoners, it was just like being in India all over again but this time with a little more restraint on the horn.  This set us up nicely for Imli, a modern Indian restaurant.  I really like Indian food and as my partner had been before and quite liked it my expectations were fairly high.  However, our first problem was that she liked the set meals but these were only on at lunch time and we had arrived in the evening.  Secondly our friend booked online and after looking online I noticed you could get a free dessert if you booked online, she hadn't noticed...  Oh well, things can only get better.

We were shown to a nice quiet and decent sized table at the back corner of the restaurant and ordered some drinks.  One of our friends seems to have got into cocktails which is nice as I'm now not the only one to order an alcoholic drink when we go out.  I wasn't feeling too hungry so I shared the Tandoori Mixed Grill  -  Chicken, Fish, Lamb and Paneer with Dal and Naan Bread. This looked like being more than enough and it was.  I love good tandoori food and after having an amazing Tandoori meal in Orchha in India I am hooked for life.  Our friends ordered a mix of dishes from the menu.  Service was good and our waiter was trying hard with some "money saving" upsells.  The food arrived and I was a little disappointed, I think in part because my eyes are greedier than my stomach.  We had one piece of each of the dishes and a bowl of thinish and difficult to share Dal.  The lamb was very good, but was really only a bite as it was a tandoori lamb chop.  The chicken was bland and only just cooked, the paneer was ok, the bread was ok and the dal was ok.  I don't really eat fish but my partner enjoyed it.  The meal was at least filling and we washed it down with some coffees and Masala Chai.  I think I've now become a little stuck in my ways with Indian food.  I find a place I like and keep coming back, again and again and again...  It will take something special to prise me away from the Star Of Bombay on Westbourne Grove or Nayaab off Parsons Green.

Dark Shadows (Tim Burton, 2012)
It seems these days every Tim Burton film is the same with Johnny Depp playing some kind of ageless monster trying to claw back a life that cannot be lived anymore.  Sometimes you have to grow up and move on, Scorsese manages this in Hugo, albeit leaving America to do so as we watch someone who has hit rock bottom get built up and given one last day of glory, rather than be spat out by the American Dream gone bad.  Anyway, getting back to Burton, at his best his creepy Depp led films are fantastic pieces of fantasy with amazing performances and a believable world portrayed well enough for you to completely suspend your disbelief.  At worst there's Alice in Wonderland, worse than that is Alice in Wonderland in 3D...

Dark Shadows is a simple love story with a nice contrast in the narrative.  The Collins family escape Victorian England for a better life in the new world where they see their fishing business go from strength to strength.  The young Barnabas will one day inherit the family fortune which is not only the business but the town where they landed which is named Collinstown in their honour and the large family house filled with wealth and secret passages.  However, life is not so easy as Barnabas has an affair with Angelique who's family are servants to the Collins family.  Barnabas likes her body but doesn't love her as a person and in a fit of jealousy she turns to magic forcing Josette, his wife to be to commit suicide and turns him into a vampire who is locked away in a coffin as a freak of nature.

Time passes and Barnabas is dug up and is very much alive but he does not fit well with the modern world.  He fights to restore his family to their former glory but finds Angelique through various guises has made sure to do everything in her power to thwart the Collins family and their business out of revenge.  The two battle it out as Barnabas wants to move on in his personal life whilst rebuilding his family to what it used to be and find true love again and Angelique who whilst moving on professionally has not moved on personally and is still, 200 years later unable to accept that Barnabas might want to have sex with her but doesn't love her.

History repeats itself but this time Barnabas is ready and although he doesn't manage to stop his new love plunging off the cliff, she becomes a vampire and they live quirkily ever after whilst Angelique ends up a broken woman (literally).  Although it may not be the greatest story of all time the acting and casting in Dark Shadows is fantastic and for me made it all worth while.  It was nice for the day to finish on a high.  An enjoyable night at the movies followed by a Champions League victory on my phone to read about on the journey home, whilst my ears rung from a THX induced evening.

Temple Watching - Khajuraho

Running the Gauntlet: Gurus, Gods, Goods and Italian Food

We arrived at the Hotel Zen in Khajuraho after dark following the drive from Orchha and although it didn't match the flowers at the Bundelkhand Riverside, Hotel Zen made a good first impression. Unfortunately it was downhill fairly quickly from there... To start with we had booked two different room types and the hotel staff did not seem able to tell us which was which, so after some swapping around we finally decided on our rooms. Both were flawed, but at least there was a nice outside area to sit and plan where to go for dinner which despite being a little dusty was comfortable enough. The rooms themselves were basic, which by now we had learnt to mean poorly maintained/finished with bad plumbing, rock hard beds and the chance of insects. Hotel Zen ticked all the above boxes, however for the price and location it was fine as we were close to the restaurants and to the main western temple complex.

After consulting our guide book we decided to try Mediterraneo, an Italian restaurant, for a bit of a break from the rich curries at the Bundelkhand in Orchha. Despite having a good write up in the guide the place was almost empty. We all had some lovely fresh pasta and I washed it down with a cold beer. The restaurant is on a roof top terrace overlooking the high street and we had a nice peaceful meal as good as any of the UK high street chains we were used to, though of course with an Indian style and price! Anyway we liked it enough to go back a few more times. After dinner we enjoyed the short walk back to the hotel to be greeted by a man who we thought may have been the hotel's owner/manager who offered us a night cap of rum which we politely postponed till later in our stay - more on this at the end for he was truly everywhere.

As we were here for three nights, which was at least one if not two night too many, we plotted out our next few days whilst watching TV. This was the first hotel with a TV in the room during the trip so we made the most of it, flicking through local news, movies and settling on a US sitcom that I can't recall and Quantum of Solace the following night. Around 11-12 it was time for bed and inevitably another sleepless night to enjoy in the tangle of nets, liners and bug spray. Those temples better be worth it!

The following morning after breakfast at Mediterraneo (with a very interesting interpretation of a croissant and decent jug of coffee) we were off to the western group of temples that make up the main attraction of Khajuraho. Now we began to see a little more of how things worked in town. We read in our guide book that Khajuraho was known for its touts and we felt well prepared after Agra. However as we found out Khajuraho is much smaller and many of the tourists are bussed in and out with all activities planned, tables booked and hotels arranged as well as the opportunities to buy all the souvenirs they could ever want. The result is that for the few people not part of a group you never have a moment' of peace. From the second you leave the hotel until you return you can guarantee you will be offered a rickshaw to cross the road, numerous shopping opportunities, a place to eat, sleep, a trip to the "waterfall" or to go and see a “local dance”. Unfortunately the persistence of the various people out trying to make a living by ripping off tourists makes you want to do absolutely nothing at all. It is the one thing that spoils Khajuraho and like many other tourist spots, hopefully other things can be done so people do not feel 100% reliant on tourist money to live.

Rant over! We arrived with our entourage at the temple gate, picked up our tickets and a guide and had a fantastic morning viewing the temples. Our guide was very knowledgeable and helped point out the more interesting statues that make up the temple walls, which to the untrained eye are very easy to miss. For example: a lady having a thorn removed from her foot, a lady with a scorpion on her thigh as well as the many depictions from the Kama Sutra that the Khajuraho temples are famous for. Apparently there is a number of reasons for the unusual sexual depictions on the temple. The one that remained with me was that the population at the time were spending too much time in the forest praying and meditating and needed help to fulfil their social duties. The King was afraid that he would not have a people to rule, so he built temples with sex scenes to entice them back to town. The main element of the temples is that everything works in fours: the temples are built in four sections, the main area in each temple is square and the four different parts of life are represented on the temple walls from top to bottom: Dharma (ethic), Artha (livehood, wealth = economic life), Kam (sensual pleasure = sexuality and physicality) and Moksa (liberation, spiritual freedom). As we talked to our guide we also found out the massive amount of study someone goes through to be an official government guide including the necessary exams covering all of India, not just one particular site. Our guide was a local and decided to return home to Khajuraho to work once completing his studies and exams in Mumbai.

After we had finally tired of temples, at least for the time being, we decided to have a bite to eat at the Raja Café. At this time of day the restaurant was fairly empty and made for a peaceful lunch. We did some reading and looked over our photos. By this time we felt too lazy to do much else so we put off seeing the rest of the temples till the following day. I had also decided that we would return to the Raja Café for dinner. Having been in India for over a week without having had some real tandoori food was unacceptable. I had no choice but to come back as Raja Café had a large tandoori oven that I saw being stoked for the evening ahead. We then had a slow walk back to the hotel window shopping as we went, which is easier said than done as you end up with quite a following by the time you get back to your hotel. Having no intention to shop, my "head down tone deaf" approach worked a little too well as I ended up at the hotel by myself for a while waiting for my companions to catch me up!

After a nice long rest it was time to see a "traditional" dance. The dance was at one of the shinier hotels just outside of the main town centre where they also have a big government run tourist emporium (which is basically the stuff you see elsewhere, just in a quiet, air-conditioned and hassle free environment but unfortunately at double the price). Anyway for all the artistry the dance was disappointing. It was not a local dance as such, but a touristy amalgamation of Indian dance and music. The equivalent would be an Indian tourist visiting Windsor Castle and witnessing a “British”dance show with morris dancing, the cancan, men in lederhosen slapping their thighs rounded off with the flamenco. Anyway... for dinner we returned to the Raja Café where I did indeed have some amazing tandoori chicken, again washed down with cold beer. I was also glad that some of the food I ordered did not turn up. I was full afterwards. It was a great meal and it thoroughly made up for the dancing. During this trip I did have some stand out meal time memories which I will share in my summary. After dinner it was a walk home in the cool night air followed by Bond and bed. The joys of another sleepless night...

Our second full day began with breakfast at the Raja Café, the fact they had real coffee was the big draw here. We then met up with our guide from the previous day, grabbed an auto rickshaw and off we went to see the rest of the temples of Khajuraho. Our guide was a Jain Buddhist, though not the kind who walks around naked, but the kind who doesn't hurt living things. He gave us a great deal of information at the eastern (mainly Jain) group of temples and explained why Khajuraho was such an important Jain site as well as a Hindu one. The Jain temples are a lot plainer than those of the Western group and some are still active. Around the temple complex there was basic accommodation for pilgrims.

After that we enjoyed a ride through the old village where you could see people going about their lives farming and making pots. At the final small southern group of temples we had a small group of beggars waiting for us but we quickly sidestepped them for the end of our tour. The temple here was in the same style as the western group. We were then offered the chance to see the “famous” Khajuraho waterfall by our rickshaw driver. Our guide told us that it was probably best not to visit the waterfall as it was more of a trickle outside the rainy season and there was little else to see there. He did offer us the opportunity to visit a shop that made jewellery and replicas of the statues from the temples. Although knowing it was probably one that paid a commission should we buy anything we thought we'd take a look at it anyway. Seeing the work on the statues only added to the awe of the temples we had just seen. The girls were more interested in the jewellery and the owner was just as eager for them to try it all on. We did nearly spend some money on a star ruby ring/pendant but decided against it in the end. Before parting ways he showed us the active temple at Khajuraho by the western complex. Now back in town we visited our guide's family shop to sign his book. Interestingly he did not try to sell us anything at all which was a nice change. The girls then went and brought some clothes and we had another nice Italian lunch at Bella Italia (nothing to do with the UK chain of restaurants, all the less likely as the food was actually nice).

Little did we know at the time but it was World Heritage Day so we could visit the Western Temples for free again. That afternoon we went back to the complex to take pictures of the temples as the sun set. This was a really great way to spend the late afternoon. It was then back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. Where else to spend our final night in Khajuraho but up on the roof at Mediterraneo for pizza. Nice relaxing times. The following day was my birthday and we were due to fly to Varanasi. However I do have one last story to tell...

Our hotel manager was an interesting character. With it being our last night we finally took him up on his offer of some industrial strength rum. The rum was served up with fresh guava and gulab jamun (a tasty Indian dessert!). After some negotiation on the bill due to a mix up with the rooms resulting in our friend being unwittingly overcharged for a better room than she requested, it was time for bed. The rum certainly helped me sleep that night! So after packing up and a final bite to eat the following morning at Mediterraneo (where else) it was off in the waiting taxi (much to the disgust of the waiting touts) and back to the airport. On arrival we were greeted, we had our bags taken and were guided through all the security with our personal attendants (oh the joy of Kingfisher, even in economy!). Anyway, to round off we thought we'd seen our hotel manager on a few occasions outside the hotel: when not busy being a guru or giving a guided tour he also seemed to run the air side snack shop at Khajuraho airport! Truly a special character we could not forget, much like Khajuraho itself.