Lahore Kebab House, N22

The Lahore Kebab House just off Commercial Road in London E1 has a legendary reputation for good food and service. Plenty of friends, many of whom used to work round the corner from it, have given it glowing recommendations over the years but for some reason I’ve never been, though I’ve always wanted to. So when I read in the local newspaper that they‘d opened a branch just round the corner from our house, I knew I had to pay a visit. It seemed a bit strange that they were branching out, though I’ve since learnt that they’ve already got a branch in Streatham, and that of all places to branch out to they should choose Wood Green Shopping City but I’m certainly glad they did.

Tucked away in the ‘Food Court’ of The Mall, as it’s now called, between Subway and Burger King, it seems a little out of place but hopefully people will soon realise it’s there and start using it lots as it deserves to be as successful as its parent. That said, it was by no means empty and seemed to be doing a steady trade both in the restaurant and at the take away counter and as I left a group of five came in. There’s no red flock wallpaper or any of the other trappings of the classic British curry house but it’s comfortable and clean and the food and service are top notch.

Dinnertime for me normally consists of a sandwich and a packet of crisps but I breakfasted early and lightly today in preparation for something a bit more filling. I’d heard about their lamb chops so I had to have them and then I went for my usual order when eating from a curry house that I’m new to, Chicken Madras, served up with Pilau Rice and a Tandoori Paratha. I would have liked to have washed it down with a Cobra but they don’t have a licence so I ordered an orange juice instead. In addition, when I sat down they served me with a simple salad and a bowl of raitha.

When the lamb chops came, I was a little taken aback by the amount. The menu said: five pieces, but they were larger than I’d anticipated and arrived sizzling on a skillet with onion and fresh coriander. They were well above my expectations, tender, juicy and spicy and despite knowing that I still had a fair amount of food to come I polished them off with relish, leaving behind a pile of gnawed bones.

The waiter asked if I was ready for the main course and checked that I knew that a madras is hot. Yes on both counts but now I started to worry that it would be too hot. I needn’t have worried, it was perfectly spiced, the rice was perfectly cooked and the paratha did what it needed to do. With the exception of the butter brushed on the paratha, the food wasn’t at all greasy, the chicken wasn’t at all rubbery and the whole lot was an absolute delight to eat and all that was left at the end was a few grains of rice and a clean plate. Ok, so now I’m completely stuffed and probably won’t be able to face much in the way of tea but what the hell, it was a lovely dinner and I’ll be going back very soon.

Our favourite local curry house, La Kera on Coburg Road, closed a couple of years ago and is sadly missed but in The Lahore Kebab House, I think we’ve found a suitable replacement at last.

I heard a Rumer

We watched the Hootenanny last night in our now regular ritual of welcoming in the New Year. Jools introduced Rumer to the microphone and I felt a bit worried. Another woman singer who I'd heard of but had never heard. Would she be any good or would she be a member of that all too frequent band of women singers nowadays who sing all the right notes and far too many more besides? I should have trusted Jools' judgement, she was great. She sang all the right notes, only the right notes, in the right order and sang them beautifully.

I don't know who's really to blame for this trend in recent years to sing five notes when one will do but Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey must take their share of it. Why do they do it? Are they trying to show off some sort of vocal dexterity by singing so many notes? Or are they so rubbish that they think that if they sing five instead of one that at least one of them will be the right one? Whatever, it sounds crap to me and it's one of the many reasons I don't watch stuff like X Factor. It may be fine if you're on a Swiss hillside trying to communicate with someone in the next valley but leave that to Frank Ifield. Remember, Less is More.

Anyway, she may have looked as though she takes fashion tips from Liza Minnelli but what an absolutely belting voice Rumer has. I also enjoyed Plan B who I've not really listened to before so I'll be making a trip down The High Road to HMV in the near future.

On Thursday night we went to the ballet. I haven't anything to add to what Glenda has to say about it, so read about it here.

I'm no Eddie Windass

But my blue cheese scones are pretty good. I can't do pastry though, my hands are too warm.

Labour of Love

No, not another post about UB40, I think I'd rather forget about them for a while.

It seems to have taken over my life for the past couple of months but I've finally posted the last in the series 50 Years Of Corrie In 50 Days over on the Coronation Street blog, ready to go live the day before the Corrie's 50th birthday. It was first conceived as an idea on the train back from Manchester after the 50th anniversary press party held on the Coronation Street set back in September. I don't think I had an inkling of the amount of work involved at the time. In fact I seem to remember that I thought it would only take me a couple of weeks to write a blog post to cover every year of the Street. The excess of J W Lees Coronation Street Ale must have muddled my thinking somewhat.

There was a lot of reading involved, researching of storylines, collecting of dates and searching out of pictures. Credit must go to the works of Daran Little, Sean Egan and Tim Randall, without whose books none of it would have been possible, and to all at corrie.net for lots of info on characters and dates. It's been a lot of fun to produce such an epic (for me anyway) piece of work and I don't think I could have done it for anything other than Corrie which has a very special place in my life. Without it, I wouldn't be as happy a chap as I am.

I need another project now, let's hope that it involves packing up the house and moving to Sunderland.

Signing Off

To the Forum (T & C as was) in Kentish Town last night to see UB40. It's the 30th anniversary of the release of Signing Off and they're celebrating the milestone with a tour in which they play the album in full before coming back on and doing some of their hits. It's become a popular format lately and I've been to a few similar gigs in the recent past, including Dare, Architecture and Morality, and It's a Shame About Ray.

They've all been good and the format has really worked but I think that's largely down to the fact that the albums that have been performed have been excellent and full of crowd pleasers. Unfortunately I don't think Signing Off qualifies in this respect. It's only got a couple of hits on it and it showed as the crowd didn't really get going until they played Food for Thought and then it all went rather flat again. The second half was a bit better but I was left wanting to listen to some proper reggae. I never had high expectations of the gig but even then, I came away feeling disappointed.

There should really have been some poignancy to the gig as the album was first released as a Tory government was in the throes of implementing a hate-filled, anti working class, anti anybody unlucky enough to be poor or vulnerable agenda and dressing it up as essential medicine for an ailing economy while ensuring that big business and bankers felt none of the pain. Thirty years later and we're here again but you'd never have guessed it from the attitude of the band who didn't even bother to engage with the audience on the obvious parallels that could have been drawn, They didn't even play One in Ten. Maybe they're all Liberal Democrats now.

Kirsty Karaoke

To Shepherd’s Bush Empire last night to see A Concert for Kirsty MacColl. Kirsty would have been 50 yesterday if only she hadn’t been killed by some rich twat in a boat off the coast of Mexico nearly 10 years ago.

The first and last time I ever saw Kirsty MacColl play live was in the same venue  about 10 years ago. She herself declared it to be about the best gig she’d ever done, largely due to her lack of nerves which had blighted her all through her career but on this tour she had her partner on stage with her and that seemed to do the trick.

She’s influenced so many people over the years that there were queues of artist wanting to sing at this benefit gig for Kirsty’s favourite charity, Music Fund for Cuba. We’d been promised Johnny Marr and David Gray, who failed to show up and inevitably Shane McGowan was lost in the bottom of a glass somewhere in Dublin when he should have been singing 'Fairytale of New York'.

But it didn’t matter as most of the stars who turned up for a night of Kirsty Karaoke did a brilliant job. I say ‘most’ as I don’t understand why a Corr was allowed on stage to murder ‘They Don’t Know’. Fortunately the organisers redeemed themselves by bringing on Kim Wilde later on to show her how it should be done. Great performances too from Alison Moyet, Billy Bragg (doing a cover version of one of his own songs), Jackie Clune (who knew she could sing), Eddi Reader, Boo Hewerdine, James Walsh, Catherine Tate and even Phill Jupitus.

It was left to a couple of members of Kirsty’s band to sum the night up. They’d clearly had a fantastic time and had enjoyed playing songs that they’d not done for a long time. Here’s hoping they get to play them again soon.

Save The Wenlock

I found out tonight that one of my favourite pubs is threatened with closure. Steve & Will have run The Wenlock Arms since 1994 but have decided to call it a day and an offer has been received from a developer. The sale is far from complete but it would seem that should the place be sold to a developer then the chances of it remaining a pub will be slim to none. It's been a pub since 1835 so it would be a great shame if this were to end.

I've been drinking in the place on and off since it was reopened in 1994, having worked nearby for much of the time. What intially drew me there was the great selection of well kept beer but it's more than a place just for real ale fans it is a true locals pub at the very heart of the community. For a several years I was a member of a works darts team that used the pub as its home venue and we were always made very welcome by the locals who felt that we were representing the pub as well as our office. Away teams loved the pub too, generally turning up early and staying on long after the match had finished to enjoy the excellent beer and atmosphere of the place.

The fight is on to Save The Wenlock and we can but hope that it is successful.