Delia smith's new book backs isle of dogs curry house

By Tom Derbyshire on February 27, 2008 12:47 PM |

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DELIA Smith has brought curry lovers flocking to an Isle of Dogs restaurant.

Memsaheb On Thames in Amsterdam Road received a whole page in Delia’s acclaimed new book, How to Cheat at Cooking, aimed at beginners to the kitchen.

The celebrity cook – a Wapping resident – called the Docklands eaterie her favourite Indian restaurant and reprinted one of its dishes, the Goan Lamb Xacuti.

The book was released two weeks ago and is already tipped to be a bestseller.
Memsaheb’s owner, Moni Das (pictured), said: “When she was here once Delia said she loved the Goan Xacuti dish so much she wanted to bring it to a wider audience of people, so did we mind if she put it in her new book.

“I was honoured. It has only been out a couple of weeks but already we have had many people coming here saying they saw us in Delia’s book.”

Moni gave Delia his recipe for the dish, but as the book is targeted at novice cooks the TV star dumbed down the instructions slightly and made some supermarket substitutes.

“This is a very complicated dish,” said Moni. “We use 24 different spices, all blended together to make the sauce. It’s full of flavour, very spicy, but blended in such a way that it does not taste too hot.”

The recipe was first brought to the restaurant by a Goan chef and has remained a favourite ever since.
However, Delia likes a range of dishes from Memsaheb.

“She goes to a lot of Indian restaurants but she says she loves it here because every dish tastes different,” said Moni, who also owns Moza in Basildon.

“Whenever she comes she orders a mixture of dishes to taste them all.”

Delia’s love of the 10-year-old Docklands restaurant has brought camera crews to its door.

The celebrity cook arrived with the BBC to film for an upcoming documentary, due out in Easter. Among Delia’s party of six was former Liverpool footballer – and now a TV pundit – Alan Hansen.

See www.memsaheb.com.

Story written by Rob Virtue
rob.virtue@wharf.co.uk