Daily Xpress

The word that sprang to mind was "yowsa". Not a particularly good word - it's certainly no "serendipity" for example - but I'm going with gut instinct. Besides, "yowsa" covers me in terms of value and cumulative spiciness.

The dish that inspired the involuntary "yowsa"? A lunchtime thali special from Meera's Xpress in Finchley. I'd often stopped in there for excellent and excellent value Indian snackage - I'm a bhel puri addict, me - and, indeed, have been discussing a nibbling meander through the menu with Celia and the knife-sharpening Will for a while. However, I wasn't aware until the rain forced me in today that they did the lunchtime thali thing.

It was a dangerous discovery. The thali includes a dumpling and some little paratha-style breads

a vegetarian curry, a generous spoonful of aloo, a scoop of rice


and a fine, if slightly runny, daal. It was, in a word, delicious. Or, in several words, utterly delicious, properly spicy and very satisfying. And I can't think of a word that suitably describes the value other than "yowsa": the whole thing set me back a princely £2.99.

Yeah. I know. I questioned it too. After a very average quick supper at Imli last night - did I get them on a bad night or are standards slipping? - which came in around £15 a head, the Meera's lunch was always going to look great value at one tenth of the cost. However, I wasn't expecting it to taste around ten times as good.

Basically there's only one downside here. I work from home and probably can't do a domestic lunch for much less than they're charging for the thali. I'm going to be on first name terms with them by the end of next week...

Comments

Niamh said…
Oh fab! I love finds like this. I have a similar fabulous local Indian with a great lunch thali. Danger, danger!
Kake said…
There seem to be a few of these (Meera's Xpress, that is) around... I saw one near Rayners Lane a while back.
Helen said…
Wowzers! What a fantastic bargain. I can't believe how cheap that is and it looks bloomin brilliant.

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