My First Curry

Since I arrived in London I have not stopped hearing about all the amazing curry that can be found in the city! There is a large Indian population here (among many other ethnic groups), and London supposedly has the best curry you will find outside of India. I have been craving Indian food since I arrived, so tonight I finally decided to fulfill my curry desire!

A few blocks from where I live is Brick Lane, famous for having the best curry dishes in London. If you google it, you'll find endless articles, menus, reviews, and other information about all the wonderful curry to be found here. While the area is a bit intimidating (imagine something like China Town in New York City) Annabelle and I were not afraid! Nothing was going to get in my way of my first experience with this cuisine!

As we stumbled past the Spitalfields Market and off the beaten path a little bit, the aroma of Indian spices and fine meats began to fill the air. Before we knew it, we had arrived to Brick Lane where everyone has one goal: curry. Every restaurant advertised that they had "London's finest curry" or were "the finest Indian restaurant in London." I couldn't even count the number of restaurants, there had to be at least 50 and they all looked great! The atmosphere in the area was unlike anything I had experienced before: tiny restaurants, people everywhere, smells everywhere. Not to mention the men standing outside each restaurant whose job it is to coerce people inside! Every time you pass a restaurant, someone tries to sweet talk you into believing that their restaurant is better than any restaurant on the block. Right.

After passing an overwhelming amount of restaurants, Annabelle and I stumbled upon a market-looking area where there were stations with various types of food. Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Turkish, and the list keeps going. Everything looked so wonderful and smelled amazing, and when we found the Indian tent that was serving chicken curry and lamb stir-fry, I could no longer ignore the hunger pains in my stomach. For a mere 5 pounds, I got a heaping amount of rice covered in chicken curry and quite possibly the best lamb I've ever had in my life.

Annabelle and I got our food and continued down Brick Lane while eating the delicious Indian cuisine. I felt quite like a local as I casually strolled down the street eating my curry dinner. I can't express just how wonderful the food actually was. Imagine the best Indian food you can possible imagine, multiply that by 10 and add a whole new realm of flavor that you didn't know existed. Yeah, it was that good.

And now I can say I've eaten the famous London curry. I plan to venture out to Brick Lane many more times and cannot wait to discover all that the restaurants have to offer!!