What: Shola
In a nutshell: Pakistani food in White City
Summing it all up: Aida Khan brings the Karachi cooking from her Shola supper club to White City for her first restaurant, celebrating Pakistani food.
The low-down
For the past few years, chef Aida Khan has been cooking up Pakistani food in supperclubs, and now she's opening her own restaurant - the latest to land in the White City Place development (that's the place where the BBC used to be).
There, you can expect authentic Pakistani cuisine, with a particular focus on Karachi, and passed down through her family. Planned for the menu is:
- Tamatar Kee Chutney - smashed tomatoes with a mix of curry leaves, roasted onion and coriander seeds
- Beef Behari Kabab, six-hour slow cooked spiced beef flavoured with pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and chillies
- Chicken Hara Masala, marinated overnight in a fresh herb yogurt base
- Khattee Daal, a mixture of lentils slow cooked and tempered with curry leaves and whole red chillies
- Beef Seekh Kebab - charcoal grilled beef kebabs.
- Naan Khatai, a crumbly semolina and flour cookie, glazed and sprinkled with freshly chopped pistachios.
Talking about the restaurant, Aida says:
I am essentially trying to change the way Pakistani food is portrayed and perceived in London. I grew up on very healthy, light food but Pakistani food in the UK is associated with stodgy curries. Our curries are not supposed to be dripping in fat or laden with cream and that's the ethos behind my cooking. I want to communicate the nostalgia I have for the food of my childhood.
Update 8/10/19 - Shola's now open for dinner, Wednesday to Friday - until 10pm.
More about Shola
Where is it? White City Place, 201 Wood Lane, White City, London W12 7TU
When does it open? 25 March 2019
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @sholakitchenuk.
Subscribe to be the first to get the news from Hot Dinners
