Interview
Time’s Table with... Priyesh Patel of Londis N16
By Joanna Sarah-Freedman
09 Aug 2024
7m
Every now and then a meal becomes more than just a meal. It could be innovative and exciting – the kind that shapes your cooking going forward. But there’s something equally magic about the dish your mum used to cook you growing up, or even the reliable weekly staple you knock together on repeat.
In this series, Time’s Table, we chat to people about the food that has left an impact on a time in their life – be it their past, present or future. Trust us, you can learn a lot about someone through what’s on their plate.
Time’s Table with… Londis N16
People talk about London’s hidden gems a lot, and most of them aren’t particularly hidden at all. They gush about Brick Lane bagels and that random cheese conveyer belt in Soho, as if they aren’t in every glossy guide on the internet.
But Londis N16 is a hidden gem in the truest sense of the words. From the outside it just looks like your standard corner shop (and in many ways, it is). However, alongside all the expected bits and bobs, the store is also selling homemade Gujarati food which has amassed a rather cult following.
Daily changing menus often include the likes of chana masala, palak paneer and mango lassi, alongside their famous garlic and coriander chutney. Samosas have also become a menu mainstay – deep fried and flaky, with a lightly spiced filling – and if you’re lucky, you might find a vada pav, or a sweet dessert, too.
What makes Londis’ cardboard-packed curries so special is that they’re a family endeavour, made with love by Anju, in a shop run by her sons Priyesh and Alpesh, handed down from her husband Mayank’s parents.
Their food is inspired not only by their Gujarati heritage but also by their lives in Hackney, where the Patel family has been holding the fort since not long after they moved from Zambia in the late 70s.
It’s proper, hearty, diasporic Indian home-cooking, unlike anything you’d find at your local curry house.
Intrigued? Us too. So, we spoke to Priyesh, son of chef extraordinaire Anju, about some of the pivotal meals in his life, in a bid to get to know the family better.
Past - Puri and chai
“I'm a big, big fan of chai, which is an Indian tea. It’s not just the chai but everything that comes along with it – snacks and breakfast dishes.
“If I had to pick one nostalgic food it would be puri, which you can dip in the tea. I remember my mum and my grandma making it when I was younger. It was just a quick thing they always had the ingredients for.
“It’s basically a dough, made [in a similar way] to chapati. You put spices in it and roll it out into a circle, and then you deep fry it and it puffs up. Let it cool, and then you have it for breakfast.
“When you dip it, it picks up a bit of the spices in the tea. It's really delicious. It’s soggy, spicy and very savoury.
“When I was younger, I would try and roll puri myself, and my grandma would fry them, but I could never really get it as round as she could.
“I don't really eat it that much now, because deep frying at home is a hassle. I just have buttered toast and chai tea, which is still so tasty! When I’m home for Christmas, though, puri is something that I'll always request.
“It’s actually what we based our first supper club on – Indian breakfast foods – because you only ever get them in the home.
“Now I’m older and live out [of home] I miss my grandma and mum's cooking all the time. I appreciate my upbringing more, and the food I grew up with.
“It's exciting for me to show these things to the people in my life, because to me, these meals are kind of everyday and normal, but to them, they're really interesting and delicious."
Present - Courgette pudla
“Because I’ve always grown up with a shop, I never really went shopping, or to the big shop.
“If you look into my grandma and mum’s cupboards, it's just stocked with lots of lentils and dry goods. They’ve always just made stuff from the cupboard.
“One example which I'm really loving making at the moment is called pudla. It's just such a quick and easy store cupboard dish which [I believe] is Gujarati, so from the west of India.
“I first cooked it last year for my housemate at the time, because I knew she’d love it. I remember I had to call my mum and ask her how to make it… I know these recipes are on the internet, but usually I just call her!
“You just grate courgette, ginger and garlic and then you mix it into gram flour with water, and make a pancake. I put fresh coriander and turmeric in it too.
“It's really spongy and savoury, and the ginger is really good in it. You could have it for breakfast too (yes, I like breakfast foods!)
“I have the pancakes with our chutney [recipe here], which is made from coriander, garlic, chilli and yoghurt. That’s a go-to in our family. It was in the fridge all the time growing up, and it’s amazing how many people love it now, too.
“You can make the pancakes using lots of different types of vegetables. I’ve not experimented as much as my mum has. She loves to experiment, though, I don't think she's ever read a recipe, it’s all just stuff she’s learnt along the way.
“I’ve definitely gained a lot of cooking wisdom from her. For instance, there's often similar spices in most of the dishes she cooks, but they all taste so different, which I always find kind of amazing.
“She's wanted to [get into] food for a long time, but it's quite a lot of work, so she only started when my brother and I took over more of the shop. It's inspiring to see this whole new big part of her life now. She's in her 50s and she's so ambitious.”
Future - Samosas at Punjabi Deli
“When I was in New York recently, I went to this deli which is called Punjabi. It’s on the Lower East Side, opposite that really famous place, Katz’s Deli, and they had samosas in the counter.
“They heat them up for you and give you chutneys and stuff, and I remember I ate it there. It was really tasty, but I guess it wasn't the dish that was inspiring, it was the atmosphere and the style of that place.
“I think it was family run and has been there for years. It's just a small shop. In New York, there's lots of people trying to make money and pay rent, so those really good old places… you have to know about them, and there’s only a few that are left to find.
“Even now, my favourite places to go are old school places. I went to a pie mesh place in Greenwich for my birthday this year! In New York, I also went to another deli uptown, near The Met. That also felt family run. It was called Lexington Candy Shop, and it was a really nice experience… just really friendly.
“I find places like that interesting because they’re dwindling, as they have to be passed down generations, and then every so often a generation will want to do something else and then the business will be lost.
“So, when you go to those places and there's a few generations working there, the atmosphere is completely different. It's very warm. It sounds sad, but it’s kind of a slice of the past, and like you’re experiencing something historical.
“I guess that’s kind of our ethos, too. When my grandparents moved [here], there was a lot of crime, and taxi drivers often wouldn’t go to Hackney. It was very cheap, so my grandpa had bought the shop and the property above, and they started running it in 1979.
“Then, when my dad took over [from his parents], he made big changes, and me and my brother are now making changes, and it's constantly about modernising and being receptive to the community.
“Because we lived on top of the shop, it was an integral part of my upbringing. For a few years, my brother and sister were in boarding school, so I used to wake up early, say at 6am, and just play around in the shop because I was kinda scared to be upstairs on my own.
“I grew up with a lot of customers that still come in today. They helped me with homework.
“We talk about it all the time…'when's a good time for us to step back and not do this anymore?' But it's difficult for us to even think about that, because so much of our customer base and so much of our shop is about how my family interact with our customers and how they interact with us.
“That's always the way that the shop has always been run – led by our customers.”
Featured image: Londis N16/Twisted
