Naamyaa Cafe- Bangkok style Cafe
Recently I visited Naamyaa Cafe, based in Angel with fellow food obsessed friends Into the F World, Mondolmulia, The Feel Good Foodbook and Digest Magazine. We had planned to the lastminute where to visit and this was our choice opting for a Bangkok style cafe owned by Wagamama founder Alan Yau, who also introduced us to Hakkasan, Busaba and now this venture. 
With this in mind it’s not hard to not start thinking, high street chain, how will the food fare? In my mind I was expecting to see a small quaint style hawker-esque Bangkok cafe, but it really is the opposite. Immaculately designed, clean, restaurant style setting, no short of waiter service, with attention to detail design wise. We were there for dinner, starting off with the delicious coconut, lychee juice, refreshing and sweet and the crispy fried lotus chips, so addictive.
The best thing we did order was the wok-tossed cashews, piping hot, silken with oil, chilli and lime a great starter dish. The mains covered rice sets, noodles or curries mainly as you would expect. With most of the dishes having interesting twists with elements of exotic fruits or vegetables added to perk up flavours. 
The curries were rich, spicy (mostly all on the menu) when a waiter suggested to a friend that one was relatively mild, it still had her reaching for a cup of coconut milk to tame the chilli heat!
The soft shell crab was curried in a spiced sauce served with rice, I went for the Hainanese-style chicken, which is boiled, plain and simple yet with additional sauces to add some spice. All were flavourful dishes, but as I said the chilli cashews and the drinks really stood out for me from the whole meal.
To finish I had some lemongrass tea, pungent, strong and soaked lemongrass pieces in water, served in an almost medicinal looking pot, we didn’t get to order any desserts as we were so stuffed, but the tapioca, agar puddings or the caramelised pineapple are all reminiscent of Far Eastern flavours.
Numidie-A Crystal Palace Algerian-French Restaurant
Based in Crystal Palace this little bistro style restaurant is located right on Westow Hill. This is a no nonsense family style Algerian-French restaurant, which is part of the reason I chose it as our belated anniversary dinner, somewhere non-faffy, which served GOOD quality food. That’s it, that’s all I wanted.
On arriving there on a Monday evening to an empty restaurant, not a good sign? Well its a Monday and that’s what you may expect. In this case we our waitress was especially attentive, explaining parts of the menu and recommendations.
We started off with the Duck Bourek Pan-fried shredded duck with pumpkin wrapped in filo pastry, served with apple chutney and a salad garnish. When it came it reminded me of a spring roll type snack, slightly oily and nothing much to it. Considering the waitress mentioned it as a specialty, however it tasted pleasant with the apple sauce.
The next dish made my heart sing, a comfort dish all over Lamb shank marinated in traditional North African spices served with dates and apricots with flaked almonds with a side of homemade bread to scoop up that mesmerising sauce. Rich and full of sweet, tangy flavour, melt in the mouth slow cooked lamb, this must have been made a day or two in advance to get that depth of flavour.
To finish we had a pear and almond tart with cream, which again did not fail to please, spoon-lickable stuff, especially when you have an addiction to that marzipan taste.
A lovely evening, with this gem in the midst of Crystal Palace, would come back again to try more things on the menu.
x
