Sad to hear about the passing Ali Aslam, owner of Glaswegian restaurant Shish Mahal and creator of the iconic Chicken Tikka Masala.

It is interesting to note that Ali’s roots were in Pakistan as were the Birmingham creator of the equally iconic Balti, Mohammed Arif, owner of Adil.

So much for ‘Going for an Indian ‘!

I was recently asked about whether I knew of any genuine Balti restaurants in London.

As none sprung to mind I decided to do some research so after googling ‘Balti’ and ‘Brick Lane’ (the supposed epicentre of the  London curry scene) I phoned a restaurant in Brick Lane called the ‘Eastern  Eye  Balti House‘. On questioning them, they said they served Balti but when they described it, it was obviously just a standard curry masquerading as a Balti!

I then phoned the Bangladeshi Catering Association (the National organisation based in the Brick Lane area) and when I described the authentic article, the retort was ‘ nobody does it that way’. 

All disappointing but in its own way illuminating!

Ex Blues cult hero and Senegalese manager Alou Cisse is in the news with their match against England imminent.  Interestingly there is a balti connection which occurred when the now closed Royal Naim added an Alou Balti to raise money for the ferry disaster victims which tragically affected his family. 

Highlights of the Balti included Senegalese top food exports of peanuts, beans and cassava … and yes it was a really tasty balti!