7 Ways to Spot a Clean Restaurant

Last year we’ve heard of an Asian restaurant in central London shut down due to extraordinary filth. In case you’re wondering how bad it was, health inspectors found mice inside food bags and cockroaches on the kitchen floors of Malaysia Kopi Tiam. It must have been terrible news for those who ate in this diner, and it won’t be a surprise if any of them made a trip to the nearest doctor.

None of us want to eat or even set foot on a mice-infested diner, whether it’s indoor or outdoor catering London. So to help youknow if you’re in good hands, here are seven ways to tell if the restaurant is clean or not:

Check out the bathroom. This is the most basic principle in Restaurant Cleanliness 101: if the bathroom is filthy and lacks basic hand-washing necessities,chances are the owners or managers don’t think much of basic hygiene. Check if the bathroom has soap, hand air dryer or paper towels, and hot water. Also observe if the floor and wall tiles are clean.

Check out the kitchen.Kitchen staff should be wearing hair nets, caps, and gloves at all times inside the kitchen. 

Peek at the back door. Sometimes back doors are left open and you can sneak a little peek to the condition inside. Trash bins and dumpsters should be neat and covered, and if they’re not, odds are the kitchen and other hidden areas of the place look like that too. 

Observe waiters and food runners. These people are the ones who handle and deliver your food, so their hygiene should be top priority. Check if they have clean clothes, well-kempt hair, neat and trimmed finger nails, and if they are in perfect shape (no sneezing or coughing). Any restaurant in Ealing that prioritizes cleanliness will keep its front men presentable at all times.

Scrutinise the menu and silverware. It’s basic to check if the cutleries don’t smell of soap or food or have remains of food, grime, and grease. Also check if the menus are not smeared with grease or caked in food.

Watch how staffshandle silverware. If workers grab cutleries by the part you put inside your mouth that should tell you that they are not properly trained on basic food serving sanitation. It’s also better if the silverware is wrapped so there will be no cross-contamination. 

Make a food temperature check. It goes without saying that fresh meals are served hot, except of course if you ordered a medium-rare steak. If your meal is not hot, and if the menu does not specifically say that food is to be served in room temperature, it may mean that the time interval between when the plate was made and served is too long.

Whether it’s Western or Indian catering Ealing, make sure to size up the place first before taking your first bite. As the saying goes, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

A Take on History: How Brits Came to Love Indian Cuisine

Although Chinese cuisine have recently been taking ground as one of the most loved ethnic cuisine in Britain, British beer-and-curry weekends are not going anywhere. Britons’ love affair with curry is dug way too deep into the roots of history for it to be displaced in a snap. No doubt, Indian curry is the comfort food of millions of Brits, and its popularity goes back almost four hundred years ago.

When Queen Elizabeth I Said Yes

At the dawn of the 17^th century, London merchants decided it would be a worthy undertaking to cross the Indian Ocean to see if they can trade with an exotic land called India. They formed a joint-stock company called the East India Company, the sole purpose of which was to establish trade with the East Indies. They filed a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to set sail, and on 1600 the petition was granted and a royal charter was bestowed upon it. 

Amidst wars against Portuguese and Spanish forces, the company hadmanaged to become the most powerful and dominating trading corporation in India. This further strengthened Britain as a world power. Soon after, British people settled in India and intermarried with Indian women. Indian seamen, known as langars, also boarded British ships and landed in London. By 1810 there were an estimated 1400 langarson English land, and more Indians entered the country in the following years.

Brit’s Spicy Tastes 

It was not long before Brits took an interest in Indian cuisine. Curry powder was particularly popular even back then, leading to the publication of recipes and commercial production of curry powder in 1780. The Coffee House in Norris Street, Haymarket, Londonwas the first English restaurant to have offered curry on a menu in 1773.

The first ever establishment that offered solely Indian food, however, was the Hindostanee Coffee House at Portman Square, London which opened in 1809. Owned by Dean Mahomet, the restaurant sought to provide “for the entertainment of Indian gentlemen, where they may enjoy the Hoakha, with real Chilm tobacco, and Indian dishes”.

Since then, the love for Indian cuisine spread across the country, becoming one of the fastest growing food and drinkindustry sector. This exponential growth was partlytriggered in 1984 by Pat Chapman’s The Curry Club and Good Curry Guide, which publicised the cuisine and caused supermarkets to stock curry ingredients and chilled meals. Other publications also taught how to recreate curries at home. Asian catering London, particularly Indian and Chinese catering, also boomed around this time. 

Indian Cuisine Today

Bangladesh is entered the catering industry around 1970, and since then dominated the industry of Indian wedding catering London. They own approximately 65 to 75% of the more than 9000 Indian restaurants in the country. 

Chicken tikka masala is now often cited as the nation’s most favourite ethnic dish, even called by the then foreign secretary Robin Cook as “a true British national dish”. With the popularity of Indian foods, Bangladeshis will remain as top Asian caterers London.

Colonial relations play a huge role in Britain’s love for curry, and the dish will continue to represent a rich historical era when Britain dominated the world’s economic and political affairs.