Hot Stuff: the Rival

My friends who live down the road from Hot Stuff, in Vauxhall, cannot stop raving about it. They have been going to this Indian for years. I’m slightly jealous of the attention it gets - the affection with which they talk about it surpasses friendship. So when I’m invited for a birthday I jump at the chance to meet this rival.

Poor Hot Stuff. 17 of us descend onto this local favourite which is so compact, it’s about the size of my lounge. And I would never think of squeezing in 17 people plus other diners into my lounge. The room is so small that the toilet is practically in the kitchen, and over the course of the night there is undignified limbo-ing under the table to reach that toilet.

But it’s all in the spirit of keeping diners happy, and the Hot Stuff team seem at ease with the numbers. With owner Raj back in Kenya to get married, I’m sure the rest of the crew are wishing they were back in Kenya as well when we come along.

But, quite simply, the service is faultless. Dishes arrive in quick succession, we all share fun-coloured curries, they put up with our bad jokes – they even smile at some of them. I can see I have stiff competition. Oh, and did I mention that it’s BYO with no corkage fee? Damn, they’re doing well.

So, to start. Chilli paneer, pleasingly orange and mildly hot. For me, paneer has previously sat up there with halloumi, slightly unsatisfying for the amount of love it usually gets. My head isn’t fully turned, but this is moreish, like a bar-snack. Perfect with a swig of Cobra.

Jeera chicken – definitely the dish of the night. The pieces are lightly spiced with cumin, softened with yogurt, and begging to be nabbed at by fingers.

Lovely coconutty peshawari naan comes to mop up all the juices, whilst keema kofte, and onion and potato bhajis served with tamarind and mint chutneys are party food for us screaming kids.

Then come the mains. Sweet butternut squash and spinach, achari chicken (cubes of breast with tomatoey, almost sour sauce), aloo gobi, lamb dopaiza a dish both onioned and underwhelming. Garlic naan,savagely torn to pieces, it was so good.


The mains aren’t the star of the show - when you try them all at the same time, the punch of flavours all gets overwhelming, but they are fine dishes, and extra fine for the price. It all comes to £22. It’s not the best curry in London, but if I lived in Vauxhall, this place would supply my curry hit. I think I’ve made a new friend.

Hot Stuff restaurant and takeaway
19 Wilcox Road, London, SW8 2XA, 020 7720 1480

London’s new Colony

Opening of Atul Kochhar’s new restaurant


In advertising, you know you’ve stumbled on a chin-plummeting idea when it seems so obvious you think – why the hell has this not been done before?
Animalistic joy evoked in a drumming gorilla. Can you get any more joy than that?

And this is how I feel about Colony, Atul Kochhar and restaurateur Carlo Spetale’s new venture in London’s Marylebone Village, the champagne-fuelled opening for which was last Wednesday night.

I mean - serving dishes inspired by street-food from the myriad of British colonies, street-food honed from centuries-old techniques. These global influences all in one place. What a great, steamingly obvious idea. And with a ridiculous amount of street-food out there in the world, there is also a ridiculous amount of room for Colony to evolve.

And then there’s the idea of bar-snacking this food.

Nothing whets the inebriant appetite more than a good injection of savoury spicy nibbles, and with Colony bringing over the head chef from Michelin-starred Benares, one would hope for particularly good spicy nibbles. Their speciality is in nashtas, which they call Indian-style tapas, usually eaten in India as elevenses. My personal favourite of the canapés was the paneer with a vibrant verdant herb sauce.

I’d just arrived as Jimmy Choo, the revered shoe designer, was leaving and was told that Kochhar and Choo are soon off on a jolly jaunt together to Malaysia for culinary research. Mmmmm. The master of spice with the master of shoes. Not the most obvious choice of travelling companions until you realise that Choo is fortuitously Malaysia’s ambassador of tourism. Will he intensify Kochhar’s already far-reaching interest in multi-cultured Malaysian food?

Kochhar will also be venturing to other former colonies, including South Africa, to compile these recipes for a book, and there are rumours of a TV programme too.

Time will tell whether this concept will fly, but I’m willing to wager success.

Colony Bar and Grill: 7-9 Paddington Street, London W1U 5QH
020 7935 3353

The Hoxton Pony
Quick word on where NOT to go. I had to scoot off to the Hoxton Pony afterwards for a masquerade ball. Surly service, soggy nuts and general all-round disappointment – Hoxton’s very pony bar.

104-108 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3AH
020 7613 2844