Restaurant: Kolapata
Location: 222 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1BJ
Date of visit: 6 January 2013
Time of visit: 7.15pm
Steve and Elle ate: Fosca (Steve), Haleem (Elle), Shatkora Gosth (both) with Aloo bortha (both) and Khechuri (both)
I have to be honest and say we let ourselves down with this one. I have a Bangladeshi friend, and went straight to him to ask for a recommendation of a suitable restaurant/cafe for our next country quest. I also consulted some other websites. Most answers came back the same. A handful of small cafes around the Brick Lane area of London, most of which offered a multitude of food varieties, and most of which offered no menus. I was outside my comfort zone now. I hope to get out of this train of thought, but if I go for a meal I don't want to have to ask to be given a description of every single variety of food available at the counter. I'd much rather look at a menu, and make a decision in my own time. Given the choice, of course.
Thankfully, this time there was a choice. Although I had to be careful not to be led into a false sense of what Bangladeshi cuisine is. In the UK there appears to be an increasingly blurred line between traditional Bangladeshi and traditional Indian fayre. In fact, what is often billed as Indian food is actually Bangladeshi in origin. I wanted to make sure we found a restaurant that HAD menus, and although maybe lacked slightly in authenticity wouldn't offer the same variety of meals available in hundreds of competing restaurants in this part of London.
Thankfuly, in Kolapata, I think we found the happy medium. A familar restaurant setting with a menu, but which boasted a good selection of traditionally Bangladeshi meals alongside the expected "other" South Asian fayre.
When we arrived we were taken to a table fairly close to the door. With it being a chilly January night, the position was fairly cold but not uncomfortably so. First impressions of the restaurant was that is was still fairly cafe-like in appearance, but had a very nice interior with colourful ceiling lighting. It was also quite busy for a Sunday evening, although we were promptly served shortly after arriving, and this good service continued through the evening.
My starter was focsa, which consisted of six balls of crispy batter filled with chotpoti - a mix of white peas, potato, chilli, coriander and egg. It was served alongside a small dish of very thin tamarind sauce. The sauce was surprisingly cold - almost certainly intentionally - and had a real spicy kick which appealed greatly. It's not the neatest, easiest thing to eat in front of someone but it was a really enjoyable appetiser, which was made even better with the sauce.
Elle's starter - haleem - was a mix of lentils served with lamb on the bone. It was a surprise that it came with as much sauce as it did. A nice surprise, as it was a kind of creamy curry sauce alongside the small pieces of lamb, topped with fried onions and nice slices of raw green chilli. She was just as happy with her starter as I was.
As is often the case, we both ordered the same main course - shatkora gosth - mostly because it was the only chicken dish there that we knew originated in Bangladesh and that wasn't offered in every other South Asian restaurant over in Brick Lane. We were also intrigued by how the lime flavour would tie in to the whole dish.
Not surprisingly, the chicken came in a rich, oily, citrusy sauce with an abundance of tomatoes, chillies and big chunks of lime (which was mostly left aside!). The citrus flavour wasn't too intense, but it was obvious throughout. The chicken was cooked beautifully, and the amount of oil in the sauce didn't spoil things too much.
The side dishes. The aloo bhortha was a small dish of mashed potato cooked with onion, coriander and chilli. It actually had a very unusual flavour. Not unpleasant, but I spent so long trying to work out what the flavour was I can't really remember how nice it was! The khechuri was a mix of rice and lentils, and came as exactly that. There isn't much to say about it. I remember wondering how it was cooked.
Overall it was a lovely experience. The portions were very generous and the service was faultless. Very friendly and very fast - the main course came almost instantly after the starter plates were taken away.
Cost of meal: £22 (excluding drinks)
