Dish Dash nosh
There's everything on the menu at Dish Dash, from dishes such as hummus and felafel, to Armenian-style sausage-and-mash or chicken curry. So why is the chic London restaurant, opened in the summer by co-owners Hugh Crossley and David Wardlow, described as Persian? Head chef John Goodall is now well practised in gently reminding history duffers that the Persian empire stretched from Egypt to northern India and from the Caucasus to the Horn of Africa. "Persia was one of the greatest empires in the world and its cuisine influenced everyone else," he explains.
In this spirit, Goodall has devised his menu so that half the dishes are traditional cuisine, ranging from the Middle East to India, while the rest are devised by him using authentic local ingredients.
And he's not being presumptuous. Although Goodall is college-trained and earned his spurs in kitchens such as Redmonds in Richmond, his knowledge of Asian and Middle Eastern cooking comes from the three-and-a-half years he spent travelling through the region.
Among the most popular of the traditional dishes Goodall serves is apricot and spinach khoresh (£8.50), which he describes as an "Iranian forerunner of stews, hot-pots and tagines". He slow-cooks the lamb with turmeric and then seals the meat with orange juice and dried limes before introducing apricots to balance the flavours. The sweet-sour dish is then served with toasted couscous.
Another popular option is of one of Goodall's own eclectic creations, Dish Dash chicken curry (£8.50). To make it, he marinates the chicken in lemon and lime - a trick borrowed from India - and finishes it off with a dill yogurt, which is favoured in south Turkey and Syria. The yogurt base is thickened with egg white, cornflower and (in the decadent Lebanese tradition) with sahlab - root of an orchid. Once the yogurt has stabilised, he adds a mix of spices, including rose petals, grains of paradise, Sarawak long pepper, turmeric, cinnamon, cumin and chilli.
Desserts include a selection of home-made ice-creams (£3.50), but the best-seller at the moment is almond-and-orange cake with kumquat marmalade (£3.50). Among the more traditional desserts is khoshaf (£4.50), a dried fruit salad of peaches, pears and prunes served with strained yogurt and nuts. This is just the tip of the iceberg, though, as there are at least 45 items on the menu. With winter approaching, Goodall anticipates changing some of the dishes.
The brigade of 10 serves 160-220 covers a day in the 70-seat restaurant. Average spend is about £20, although at lunch there is a £10 menu which includes a glass of wine.
Dish Dash, 57/59 Goodge Street,London W1 1FA. www.dish-dash.com
