Six of One: South South London SpecialPlus, the best croissant in London, school lunches made by God, Tooting market, and more
1. Malabaarii, Tooting Market
“If in doubt, go to Tooting.” I have followed this aphorism ever since I moved out of my family home and into south London a decade ago. Growing up in the Heathrow suburbs, I took my dad’s cooking and the short drive to Hounslow or Southall for granted. Now, if I’m craving the comfort of having South Asian food prepared for me, I hop on a bike and hit Tooting Broadway, usually without an end goal in mind. I walk around and see what calls to me. A few weeks ago I dipped my head through the slotted, translucent plastic curtain of Broadway Market and navigated around its horseshoe. A tiny unit called Malabaarii, which I'd not seen before, caught my eye. Reggae played loud from the speakers of the Caribbean restaurant next door, soundtracking this melting pot. There were only ten seats, all of them in the corridor looking at the solo chef perched in the kitchen through a window. The menu was bright, colourful and confidently concise. As I often do, I debated internally whether I wanted rice or bread, ultimately landing on the latter via the ‘mini sadhya’ – a platter for one, served on a banana leaf. I ordered the seafood option: a mix of vegetables (cabbage, carrot, green beans, potato, achar) with a crisply fried slice of king fish, battered king prawns and squid. Within minutes, I’d chased it all with a chai: my belly was full, my mind at ease.
The next time I brought my dad. We got the deal for two: £35 all in for homemade lemon ice teas, a choice of starter to share (chicken or cauliflower fry), the mini sadhya plus two flaky parotta served with small tasting bowls of lamb, chicken, daal and sambar. The chef grinned and nodded his head at us through the window as we thanked the waiter. In an SW17 sea of much-loved Tamil, Punjabi and Peshawari institutions, discovering such strong Keralan representation felt like uncovering treasure. If in doubt, go to Tooting. Ciaran Thapar Unit 74, Broadway Market, 29 Tooting High St, SW17 0RJ Behind the paywall: Today is a South London special. Below are recommendations for the Polish school canteen of dreams by Jonathan Nunn, as well as bistro food in Upper Norwood; the ‘best croissant’ in London (or at least Furzedown); destination pork pies in Forest Hill; and a decades-old Caribbean restaurant in Norbury doing things the right way. ... Subscribe to Vittles to unlock the rest.Become a paying subscriber of Vittles to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content. A subscription gets you:
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