The legendary cuisine of the Uxbridge Road (part II)

Prandia virumque cano - "I sing of lunches and the man". Who knows whether perhaps Virgil sat down one day, after lunch of course, and began his Aeneid thus, musing that all those battles and sacked citadels were after all rather a grisly subject to tackle on such a pleasant Roman afternoon...before the fact struck him that outselling Apicius would be rather a stiff job (a bit like running a Christmas TV cook-off special head-to-head with Nigella, I suppose), and that mythology was, after all, what Mr Gaius Maecenus had ordered. Having secretly divined the poet's first inspiration, I take the liberty of borrowing it for my own purposes, namely, in order to introduce this blog post in even higher style than the first on the same subject. Perhaps this will even reach such epic proportions as to actually justify beginning it in Latin...

If one finds oneself on the Uxbridge Road around lunchtime, where should one look for a satisfying repast? Depending exactly where one is, the prospects may not seem all too prepossessing. Supposing, for instance, that you have just exited, stage right (so to speak), from Shepherd's Bush Hammersmith and City line tube station (soon to be rebranded as "Shepherd's Bush Market"), the first two establishments you stumble across are a chicken restaurant and a fish and chip shop ("Rooster" and "Empire", respectively). The number of fast-food chicken joints on Uxbridge Road is in fact scarcely less than on any run-down London high streets. But look more closely! - this "Rooster" will do you tarka dal and naan bread for £1.50. You're not ever going to find that at KFC, let me tell you. Nor is it unusual: having once lived on the third floor flat above a similar Uxbridge Road establishment by the name of "Tasty Treats" (on Shepherd's Bush Green), I can recommend very highly the curry and freshly cooked naans home-prepared by the owners. Perhaps this strange symbiosis of fried chicken buckets and perfectly spiced saag aloos and chana masalas exists elsewhere in London; the frazzled poultry keeps the tills going, but all the proprietor is really interested in are his wife's Punjabi delicacies...

However, I would still recommend our newcomer to pass these places by, for Shepherd's Bush has much more to offer. Over the road from the tube at the top end of the market are two of the finest falafel joints you could wish for, "Cafe 2000" and "Mr Falafel". There is some controversy, but although Mr Falafel (who also has a sit-down branch half-way down the market) is slightly cheaper and provides an "extra-large" falafel roll that has stunned grown men into submission, the subtlety of Cafe 2000's approach has, I think, always won out. His Jamaican green chilli sauce, if it really exists in Jamaica, shows the way toward the future cultural expansion of the falafel; and if he asks you if you want aubergines with it, you must accept with alacrity. I also recently tried the falafel at King Solomon's, a neat-looking place next to the mosque after Loftus Road, and was pleasantly surprised - the falafel are very fresh and the balance of parsley, onion and tomato altogether commendable. If you want to try making these finest of vegetarian snacks yourself, both Al Abbas and Damas Gate sell them ready-fried in boxes near the counter (Damas Gate's have the edge in my opinion). They need warming up in a pitta-bread and then adding salad and whatever else you feel like, although I must point out that hummous is utterly superfluous here. (No-one needs so many chickpeas all at once: it's the equivalent of serving steak in bolognese sauce.) Roasted aubergines and peppers, either home-made - if you have time, whole in jars, or mashed into a spread (producing "baba ghanoush" and "ajvain" respectively), make the best complement.

Wondrous though a fine falafel is, which carnivore would not choose a really superb kebab instead, if given the choice? And the choice exists here, although strictly speaking it takes us somewhat off the topic of lunches, and onto dinners, whether first (7 pm) or second (1 am). For the latter or late variety I cannot recommend highly enough the "Sayed al-Saddat Restaurant", formerly known to all as Shabab (which according to a friend means something beautiful in Urdu, but we don't known what). Despite the new Arabic-sounding name, it is Pakistani-run; although their curries, samosas and bhajis are not really worth the effort, their naans are tremendous, and when you add to this cubes of fresh lamb and the most terrific sauces you have a combination that really ought to be more widely known in the capital. Their doners are genuinely fantastic too, not to speak of the mixed lamb/chicken and extra green pepper/tomato combinations. I have only had one kebab in the same league, which was opposite the Roundhouse in Camden, where the lamb was quite sensational (but the other ingredients probably only average). But on the subject of lamb we must now speak of the true mysterium tremendum of Shepherd's Bush cuisine, the Syrian restaurant Abu Zaad. I reveal its secrets here only in the knowledge that few will read them. (Certainly very few know of them at present: the Time Out review is a travesty - only a few local Arabic reviewers at myhammersmith seem to realise how great the food is here.) If anyone knows of anywhere in northern Europe that cooks better grilled lamb cubes than Abu Zaad, let him speak now or forever hold his peace. (Ditto with their whole grilled baby chicken.) Words can barely express the sublimity of flavour held within these apparently simple dishes...so I won't try. Not only that, the prices are unbelievable: around £4-5 for said dishes, for which on the Edgware Road you would pay twice as much.