London, Paris, Brussels - deshi restaurant recommendations

**Zunaid** · #1 May 13, 2012, 07:47 AM

My wife will be making a biz trip to these three cities next week and she would love to try some real deshi grub (yes, not only have I converted her to our food, she also cooks deshi very well). Anyway, I told her my Lonthoni BC friends who could recommend a great deshi place to eat. Since this is a short trip, this has to be in town and she may not have time to make it to Bricklane. Last time we were there we did go all the way to Bricklane and ate at Sampan(?). We also ate at one deshi restaurant in the theater district right across from the theater that was showing Miss Saigon. It's been a while ago so I forgot the name. Anyway - looking particularly for recommendations in London around Kensington. I don't think Paris or Brussels can compete.

Equinox · #2 May 13, 2012, 08:39 AM

What do you mean by Deshi? Like proper Bangladeshi food or Bangladeshi owned Indian restaurants? If it's the latter then she'll find one pretty much in every corner of London. No special recommendations as they all taste the same to me.

**Zunaid** · #3 May 13, 2012, 09:33 AM

Proper deshi. And you can tell between the ones that heat up precooked proteins and premade sauces vs those that create dishes from scratch.

zinatf · #4 May 13, 2012, 09:38 AM

Calling GURU for Paris (although he doesn't live there)

deshimon · #5 May 13, 2012, 09:46 AM

In london you will get almost every where Deshi restaurant, In paris it is tough to find even any Bangladeshi owned Indian Restaurant. But there are some indian restaurant at some tourist area like Montparnass, Pigal, Saint leger etc. and also you can find few restaurant with deshi food owned by Pakistani, Indian or SriLankan at Gare du Nord in pais but in brussels it is rare.

simon · #6 May 13, 2012, 11:19 AM

agree with Deshimon bhai, althgh there is a BD restaurant in Gare du nord but as i never ate I recommend nada,better go to La chappelle or gare du nord for some Tamil khabar.

Rabz · #7 May 14, 2012, 01:26 AM

^^ Most Indian restaurants around Gare de Nord serves North Indian cuisine.

**Zunaid** · #8 May 14, 2012, 01:33 AM

We are looking for classical Bangladeshi food - we do not expect such in Paris nor Brussels. London, yes. What happened to all our Lonthoni BC friends?

Banglatiger84 · #9 May 14, 2012, 01:43 AM

Expecting to spend a day recently in London, I did an intensive search for Bangladeshi restaurants there, most of the Bangladeshi owned ones serve classic Indian food.

The "Bangali cuisine" place I did end up choosing was Kolapata, which is a minutes walk from Whitechapel station on the Hammersmith Line.
Unfortunately as i was in London for 6 hrs only, i didnt get time to go there and satisfied myself with some Fish n Chips....

http://www.kolapata.co.uk/

I am sure our posters in London would be able to suggest if there is any Bangladeshi place which is better.
My personal hunch is that any place with "Shoirsha Ilish" , "Bhuna Khichuri" and "Borhany" on the menu has to be 1) authentic Bangladeshi, and 2) cant be too bad

Navo · #10 May 14, 2012, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zunaid
We are looking for classical Bangladeshi food - we do not expect such in Paris nor Brussels. London, yes. What happened to all our Lonthoni BC friends?

Boss, all the 'authentic' places I know are in the Whitechapel/Brick Lane area and I'm not sure if that would be useful to your wife. (I remember liking the food at Gram Bangla for instance)

Around places like Euston or Holborn, there are a few Deshi restaurants but I don't know how good (read: authentic) they are. There's Hasan Raja (?) which claims to serve authentic Indian and Bangladeshi food....

deshimon · #11 May 14, 2012, 05:48 AM

Hope Brick Lane is the best place to get Bangoadeshi food. WhiteChapel is famous for BD restaurant.

Sohel · #12 May 14, 2012, 06:35 AM

Dayng Zunaid, you and Tami should move to Dhaka if you want deshi food that much. London and (especially) Brussels I get, but looking for Deshi food in PARIS, bro? C'mon. Explore the local bistros around Châtelet – Les Halles.

MohammedC · #13 May 14, 2012, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zunaid
We are looking for classical Bangladeshi food - we do not expect such in Paris nor Brussels. London, yes. What happened to all our Lonthoni BC friends?

Gram Bangla in Brick Lane is the only one that comes to my mind. Small place but busy (Well used to be about 10 years ago when I last checked).

Quote:

Gram Bangla is home to plenty of words, let alone dishes you’ve heard of. Tuck into Baim Fish, Uraind Fish, Pabda Fish, Ayeer, Sathkora, Kufta, and Kolijee Bhuna. Good job the staff at Gram Bangla will happily decode the menu for you!
The fish chutney was a winner, made with dried fish again but a variety which wasn't as 'high' as the shutki with drumstick. It had been shredded and fried with both dry and fresh chilis, onions and garlic. The kingfish curry was meaty and rich, the wide flat bean which I didn't get the name of an interesting addition.

http://visitbricklane.com/brick-lane...ts/gram-bangla

There is another restaurant called http://www.kolapata.co.uk/ but lately have not heard anything good about them. So I would avoid them If I am in Whitechappel area.

If you are staying around Kensington then you should be able to take district line on London Underground and be at Aldgate East in 20 minutes. Brick Lane, it has changed big time lately in last 15-20 years. If you choose to go to Gram Bangla its good to call them to know if they have anything special, because menu's are different from time to time.

There are other restaurant who may specialise on Bangladeshi cuisine but unfortunately I have not tried them.