Dynasty Indian Cuisine

57-59 Brookley Road

Brockenhurst 

Hampshire

SO42 7RB

On our second night in the New Forest, we were looking for a place to have dinner that would be a little different from all of the British pub fare we had been eating for two days. Dynasty Indian Cuisine fit the bill and after walking past and seeing other happy customers inside, we decided to give it a chance. I am so glad we did - we had one of the best Indian dishes I've had in recent memory. The Murgh Noorjihani, described as succulent pieces of chicken and minced lamb cooked with oriental spices and cream served with fresh coriander, was fantastic and really different from standard Indian dishes. Each flavor was distinct and balanced well against the rest of the dish - we polished this one off with no problem. The Sag Ghoost (lamb with spinach) was good as well, but we then made the mistake of ordering Sag Aloo as well, since it's basically the same dish except with potato instead of lamb. Anyway - this was a surprising gem of a restaurant in Brockenhurst, which is not exactly full of dining options, so if you're there, I'd definitely give this a try.

The Oak Inn

Bank

LYNDHURST

SO43 7FD

The Oak Inn is an adorable pub outside of Lyndhurst - it happened to be on our cycle route (in fact, it may have been the entire point of our cycle route), and since the cycle hire guy basically said to us, you should make time to have lunch there, we did. We lucked out with the one week of unbelievable sunshine at the end of March, so we sat in the garden, basking in the warmth like the sun-worshippers we are. I opted for the fresh Lymington crab sandwich, while A had scampi and chips. Both were absolutely perfect and everything you could want from a country pub. I was surprised by how generous the crab filling was, as I know how hard it is to get that much crab when you're picking out tiny shreds of flesh from a craggy shell, so not only was it tasty, it was a bargain as well. Anyone wandering in the New Forest should make sure to stop by!

Kopapa

34 Monmouth Street
London
WC2H 9HA


I chose Kopapa as our pre-theatre dinner before seeing Matilda (which is fantastic, by the way, in case you didn't already know). It was a while ago, since I'm not doing a great job of keeping up with blogging these days, but I'm pretty sure I had the starter described as "Pork, chilli, coconut & gapi salad on endive, crispy shallots, tamarind dressing". The flavors were really interesting - a delicate balance of salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami, all in one bite. I think I then had "Roast miso cod, Jerusalem artichoke, bok choy, soy ginger beurre blanc" which was cooked perfectly - the fish flaked off in big pearly pieces and paired well with the slightly Asian-influenced sauce and greens. Sadly I can't remember anything about what A had, but I know he enjoyed it as well - I'd certainly recommend this to anyone else who wants a slightly more elegant dinner in the Covent Garden area.

Homesteader Cornbread

You know, as much as I love my jalepeno cheddar cornbread, sometimes I just want something a bit more simple to accompany dinner. This is a simple cornbread - dense, only slightly sweet (mainly because I omitted quite a lot of the sugar), and moist. So easy to make, and so easy to eat.

Homesteader Cornbread

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

185g cornmeal
590 ml milk
250g plain flour
10g baking powder
6g salt
75g white sugar
2 eggs
120 ml vegetable oil

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, combine cornmeal and milk; let stand for 5 minutes. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix in the cornmeal mixture, eggs and oil until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean.

Duke's Brew and Que

33 Downham Road

De Beauvoir Town

Hackney

London 

N1 5AA

Duke's Brew and Que is my favorite new neighborhood joint - they've got pretty decent barbecue for London standards (including some pretty outstanding pork ribs), and a great selection of beers, some of which they actually make themselves. The chips are crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and the mac and cheese is as cheesy as it should get. The only dish that I wasn't quite as keen on was the creamed spinach, but then you're not really going to a barbecue place for greens, are you? Add that to a boisterous but not rowdy atmosphere, and it's a place I will be spending many nights in!