food adventures
food is how i understand a city. these are the places that have shaped meals into memories.
london (home)
- tayyabs - a whitechapel institution and the lamb chops that got me through my exams at imperial. you queue in the cold and it's always worth it, no reservations and no pretense.
- gymkhana - where i go when something's gone right and the kid goat methi keema is absurd. it's michelin-starred without ever feeling like it.
- mangal 2 - a dalston ocakbasi where the charcoal smoke stays in your clothes for days and the lamb şiş is the benchmark every other kebab gets measured against.
- maroush - shawarma on edgware road at 2am, after a long week.
- regency cafe - a proper english breakfast in a westminster room that hasn't changed in decades, brutalist architecture outside and fried eggs in.
new york
- hyderabadi zaiqa - in curry hill, with a dum biryani that reminded me of dhaka. i found it jet-lagged at 11pm and went back three times that week.
- the halal guys - the cart on 53rd and 6th at 1am, for the white sauce. you know the one.
- joe's pizza - in greenwich village, where i once stood outside in the rain eating a slice, which is the only correct way to do it.
san francisco
- old mandarin islamic restaurant - halal chinese that shouldn't exist but does. the hot pot felt like a well-kept secret.
- reem's california - arab bakery. the mana'eesh with za'atar hit different when you're far from home.
- z zoul cafe - the only sudanese kitchen in the bay, run by one family in the tenderloin. the chef cooks the dishes his grandmother used to make and the shawarma with a bowl of thick lentil soup is what you want.
- old jerusalem - a palestinian place in the mission that's been going since 2005. every table gets pickled beets and olives before you've even ordered and the musakhan, sumac chicken and caramelised onions over taboon bread, is the thing to get.
los angeles
- nomad asian bistro - halal chinese in long beach that's been going since 1980, with the quiet confidence of a place that's had forty years to get it right. order the cumin lamb, the scallion pancakes and the hand-pulled noodles.
- fatima's grill - a downey spot doing lebanese-mexican fusion that sounds completely wrong and turns out exactly right. the shawarma fries and the birria tacos are all halal.
- al-noor - a pakistani room in lawndale that's been there since '98, with goat biryani and a crowd of regulars who've been coming since the day it opened.
paris
- l'as du fallafel - in the marais, eaten standing in a cobblestone alley with the sauce dripping down my hand. perfect.
- mosquée de paris - mint tea and pastries in the courtyard after friday prayers.
munich
- tengri tagh - uyghur food, which you almost never find in germany, with big-plate chicken and hand-pulled belt noodles. no alcohol and a small prayer corner at the back.
- sultanahmet köftecisi - the munich branch of an istanbul köfte house that's been going since 1920. they do one thing perfectly, grilled meatballs with bean salad, pickles and a bowl of lentil soup.
dubai
- al ustad special kabab - iranian kebabs in old dubai since 1978. the whole city has transformed around it while it stayed exactly the same.
- 3 fils - on the waterfront at night, watching the dhows, with a japanese-middle eastern fusion that made me rethink what food can be.
dhaka
- star kabab - the seekh kebabs my dad used to take me to as a kid, the thing my taste buds were trained on and everything else has been a comparison ever since.
- kacchi bhai - if you want to understand what biryani is supposed to taste like, you start here, with the potatoes at the bottom, caramelised and spiced.
general rule
i trust hole-in-the-wall places with bad lighting and no english menu over anywhere with "curated" in the description. food should be a little inconvenient.