The other day, I had a salmon sashimi salad at Appleby’s in Stoney St, B0rough Market, London. It was superb.

Here is how it was done.

Raw (very fresh) wild salmon sliced into sashimi chunks (3 cm by 2cm by 1cm). Put onto salad leaves. Use olive oil only as a dressing.

If you cannot get fresh wild salmon, use farmed salmon but confit it for 20 minutes to kill off any potential parasites.

To confit salmon, cut into serving sice chunks, cover in olive oil and heat to 45-50 degrees centigrade for 20-30 minutes.Do not allow the temperature to rise above 50. Use a thermometer and a bane marie. To get the temperature right, put a lot of water in the bottom holding pot or tray.

Serve the confit cold

E

Address: 23a St Mary’s Row, Moseley, Birmingham B13 8HW

Telephone number: 0121 442 22 22

Website: N/A

Date of visit: 17 December 2009

Approximate cost per head: £15

Comments on wine list/beer: Small wine list at lowish mark up, cobra on tap

Summary:
This is my daughter’s local – she and her friends eat here regularly so it should be good value for money.

The room looks like a converted warehouse with exposed brick works and wooden beams. This is another one of those places that has no table clothes but you get a decent napkin. It is otherwise pretty smart and they don’t do dosa or table naan. ( My daughter informed me that she has never come across table naan in Birmingham.)

The menu is quite extensive and it includes a whole page (inside cover) on what Deolali is or means –  sent to jail. You have to read the long version yourself if you go there.

The most interesting part of the menu are:

They offered food cooked in the tandoori oven but you can’t get plain tandoori chicken or mixed grill.

They offer a variety of seafood (not just prawns).

Coming back to the food, we had green masala salmon, chicken pathia with aloo gobi and sag on the side, pilau rice and a naan. The popadoms to start with were warm.

Lets start with the naan, it was thin and slightly crispy instead of the usual doughy version. Very nice. All the food came in rice bowls – mains and starters except the naan and popadoms. Now the interesting thing is that they charge £7.50 if you have the side dish as a main and £4 if it is on the side. So if you order it as a side dish, you will get as much as a main at significantly lower price.

All the main meat and fish courses are around £10 or over. The salmon was nice so was the chicken pathia. The sag was cooked and not wilted. Another interesting observation was that the dishes came with a toping of green onions instead of coriander.

The total bill including a bottle of pinot grigio and a pint of cobra came to £53.85 (service not included). I like the place but I think this place caters to non Indians rather than Indians. However, there was a table with 4 Indians  (male businessmen in suits). I have to go to Southhall and eat with the real McCoy to see what the real ethnic scene is all about.

Eddie