Mirch Masala, Tooting

I've been meaning to write about this place for ages, but have only just got round to it. On Tooting High Road, amongst numerous other curry houses, it is a real gem. There seems to be a lot of Internet banter about the best curry house in Tooting - it seems a pretty close contest between here and Lahore Karahi. Admittedly we haven't sampled the latter (how can it possibly be better than Mirch?!), but it is defintely the best Indian restaurant I have ever been to.

The surroundings may not be the most glamorous (think formica tables and strip lighting), but the food more than makes up for it. The lamb and prawn tikka are just out of this world, as is the muttar paneer. It's so cheap (a hearty meal for 2 comes in at about £20) and its BYO as well.

Well worth a visit if you're in the area (and perhaps even if you're not...)

Hinds Head, Bray

We went to the Hinds Head on Bank Holiday Monday. Apparently Heston Blumenthal was aiming for the perfect pub when he opened it - I think he pretty much manages it. OK, so we probably would have preferred to visit the Fat Duck, but I think that will have to wait until there's a special occassion (or perhaps a lottery win).

The Hinds Head was great. Really nice village pub feel, and a great restaurant both upstairs and towards the back of the pub. As bar snacks go the scotch quails that we had whilst we were waiting for our table were a cut-above the usual dry roasted peanuts.

For our mains I had the muscles (which the chef had recommended), and they were lovely. Really big and the portion was huge (I came nowhere near to finishing them, even with help!). Tom had the lemon sole with shrimp butter that was also really good. Unfortunately the triple-cooked chips were off the menu (problems with the potato season), so we stuck the the (positively healthy) single-cooked variety.

For dessert I had the treacle tart which I would highly recommend. The milk ice-cream that it came with was SO good. Tom had the quaking pudding which apparently is a revival form the 17th Century and was basically a baked cream dessert with cinnamon. Again, really tasty!

At £85 (inc. 2 glasses of wine) it was pretty good value. The surroundings were lovely (as was the village itself) and service was friendly. There were a few nice touches such as a couple of delicious home-made chocolates with coffees and a note explaining what quaking pudding was. Next stop Fat Duck...