Review: Romulo Cafe London

A Holiday Substitute

Suman latik: fried rice cake with coconut cream,
dark coconut sauce and coconut ice cream

I've wanted to make my way back to southeast Asia over the last few years, but work-life commitments keep getting in the way. So I’ve turned to another solution: finding solace in food from the region. Queue a visit to Romulo Café, a newish Filipino restaurant on Kensington High Street. A smart, medium sized restaurant, the venue is divided into themed rooms like the Library and the Diplomat’s Dining Room, each with their unique touches of funky decor. We visited for lunch on a Sunday, and the fragrance of Filipino food wafted through the air as we sat down to our table.   

Patotim: slow-cooked duck in a steamed bun

On the left, tuna kilawin. A tune ceviche marinated in cane vinegar,

with red onion, cucumber and red pepper.

On the right, pork belly with a fried egg, pickled apples and 

caramelised shallots. 

The menu at Romulo is designed to be shared, and at the recommendation of our hostess, we ordered three starters and three mains between 4. Service was slow, in the sense that both our starters and then our mains took quite a while to arrive. However, we were brought a little something during these lulls – first bread and butter, and later pork scratchings – to pass the time. And the food that did arrive was excellent. Amongst the starters, the winner for me was the patotim: a steamed bun filled with sweet and sticky slow-cooked duck. My friends were full of praise for the pork sisig, while the tuna kilawin - imagine a spicy tuna ceviche - divided opinion at the table between those who liked raw fish and those who didn't. I loved it though, especially for the spicy-onion flavours that reminded me of salads from Bangladesh. 

Lamb kaldereta: stewed lamb with peppers, potatoes, garden peas,
slow cooked in tomato sauce and topped with parmesan

On the left, chicken relleno: roast chicken with pork stuffing

On the right, flying dish: deep-fried tilapia with dips. I ate the eye.

Our mains, while still good, had a little less star power. The deep-fried tilapia kept things simple and classic, arriving at the table butterflied and accompanied by well-chosen sauces. The chicken relleno, a dish of roast chicken with pork stuffing, was fought over by my friends. The lamb kaldereta was the last dish: a meat stew with peppers, potatoes and peas cooked in tomato sauce. It reminded me of my mom's own tomato sauce based dishes, but it wasn’t particularly popular with the rest of the table. We had two sides of garlic rice to round off our meal,  and washed everything down with nostalgia-inducing calamansi cooler. However, we didn't feel done by the end of it. Some portions, like the lamb kaldereta and garlic rice, were small, and in the future I’d much order one main per person.  

Sans rival, served with ice cream

Still hungry, we ordered desserts. My friends had the sans rival, which was nice, albeit a bit tougher than it should be. Unfortunately a number of items on the menu were unavailable, and my dreams of having halo halo were crushed. That may have been for the best, as the suman latik I ordered instead was perhaps the best part of my meal. A fried rice cake with coconut cream, dark coconut sauce and coconut ice cream, it was a delicious, moreish dessert. I am generally a fan of coconut, and I also loved the contrast between the crunchy, warm cake versus the soft, cold ice cream. 

Finally satisfied, we asked for the bill. At £101 for 4 people, this seemed like very good value for money, until we remembered we’d under-eaten. Starters at Romulo are priced £7 onward, and mains £13 onward. Add the cost of rice and drinks and you’ll easily spend £30 per head here, which is unsurprising given the Kensington location. And judging by how busy it got, this a venue for planned, perhaps special meals rather than pit stops. Staff were very friendly and enthusiastic throughout, and always on hand to refill our water or drinks. I hope that as the restaurant finds its feet, the speed of the service and the availability of menu items will get better. There’s a lot of potential here, and I would definitely like to return to see how things have evolved. 

Food: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Atmosphere: 7/10

Value: 6/10

Final Score: 7/10

Contact Information

A: 343 Kensington High Street, London W8 6NW, United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)20 3141 6390
W: www.romulocafe.co.uk

NB. The final score, while influenced by the sub-scores, is a qualitative reflection of my overall impression of the establishment.

Job Changes

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sticky toffee pudding, served with clotted cream ice cream.
Would have drenched it in custard too,
but I was too lazy to make/buy any. 

An odd post for a so-called Bangladeshi blog, I know. But I've developed a strong affection for sticky toffee pudding over the last year, at a work canteen no less. Served as part of Sunday lunch, I looked forward to it every week. In theory, I would have eschewed overeating in the previous six days to reward myself on the Sunday, but reality was a little different. Although I did reward myself with the sticky toffee pudding anyway. Unfortunately, I am in the process of changing jobs, and will no longer have access to this particular canteen soon. But I can't imagine a life without sticky toffee pudding anymore, so I've decided I need learn how to make this particular dessert. 

The results are what you see in the recipe below. It's based on a Guardian Word of Mouth post, which in itself is a discussion of various recipes. I've both drawn from and altered them to make something similar to what was served to us at work. The ginger and spicing is as faithful a reproduction as I could manage, whereas the doubled toffee sauce (it'll become obvious from the recipe!) is a luxury we obviously didn't have at the canteen. Beware of this stick toffee pudding's rich and heavy sweetness. I know it's traditionally served warm with custard or ice cream, but why go for half measures - in my opinion it works best when served with both.

Ingredients (for the toffee sauce):

• 100.00 g unsalted butter
• 50.00 g muscovado sugar
• 70.00 g golden caster sugar
• 150.00 ml double cream
• Pinch of salt

Ingredients (for the pudding): 

• 175.00 g medjool dates
• 1.00 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1.00 teaspoon of shredded ginger 
• 300.00 ml boiling water
• 50.00 g unsalted butter, softened
• 70.00 g golden caster sugar
• 90.00 g dark muscovado sugar
• 2.00 eggs
• 170.00 g flour
• 1.00 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of ground cloves
• Pinch of ground cinnamon 

Method (for the toffee sauce)

• Combine the ingredients for the sauce in a milk pan, and place on a low heat
• Allow the ingredients to melt, stirring to ensure they do so evenly
• Once the ingredients are melted and mixed, turn the heat up to medium
• Bring to a boil, and thicken the sauce for 3 or 4 minutes, or to the consistency desired
• Butter a deep, square baking dish and pour in half the sauce. Place the dish in a freezer while preparing the pudding
• Retain the remaining sauce to pour over the pudding

Method (for the pudding):

• Preheat the oven to 180C
• Stone the dates and chop into small pieces
• Add to the boiling water, along with the bicarbonate of soda and shredded ginger
• Leave to soak while preparing the pudding
• Chop the butter into small pieces and place in a large mixing bowl
• Add the sugar, and cream the ingredients together. It may help to add the sugar a little at a time, and bear in mind that the end mixture will be grainy
• Beat the eggs gently, and mix them into the butter and sugar mixture a little at a time 
• Follow up by adding the spices and baking powder into the mixture, and fold in the flour in two batches
• Return to the soaking dates. Mash up their flesh slightly if the pieces of fruit seem overly large after soaking
• Pour the dates and ginger, along with their soaking water, into the batter 

The finished batter

• Pour the finished batter into the baking dish over pre-frozen toffee sauce
• Place in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes, until the pudding is just cooked. When placing a knife through the pudding, the blade should come out moist

The finished pudding before toffee sauce,
scored with a knife

• Take out of the oven, score the surface with a knife, and pour over the remaining toffee sauce
• Serve warm with custard and ice cream

A Gluten-Free Accident

ছিটা রুটি
Splattered Flatbread 

An approximation of Bangladeshi "chita-ruti",
roughly translating to splattered flatbread

This one isn't too much of a recipe. My partner was planning to make gluten-free crumble for a potluck picnic last week, but turns out gluten-free flour doesn't behave in the same way as traditional flour. As his flour and butter crumble turned into more of a slab, we realised we'd have to do something other than dessert. Hence this "chita-ruti", translating roughly to splattered flatbread, the quickest thing that came to mind. It was a gamble, but gluten-free flour seems to have the right stickiness vs springiness ratio needed to imitate the original chita-ruti. Traditionally served with beef curry, the amounts below make enough for 10 flatbreads. Given how quickly they went at the picnic, we should have made more!  

Ingredients:

• 100.00 g of gluten free flour
• Salt, to taste
• Lukewarm water

Method:

• Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, and add enough lukewarm water to make a thin, pourable batter
• Put a large frying pan on low heat, and use a kitchen towel to smear with vegetable oil. Leave for 30 seconds to allow the pan to heat
• Using a spoon (or hands if preferred), mix the batter again before adding it the pan
• Again, using a spoon or your hand, take a small amount of batter and scatter it over the pan to make a flatbread as in the image at the top of this post
• Make sure the layer of batter is as thin as possible for quick cooking
• Ensure all the different parts of the bread connect, as this makes it easier to manage
• Cook until the edges of the bread start to just lift off the pan, which can take around a minute
• Flip, taking caring not to damage the splattered pattern, and cook on the reverse side for another minute
• Serve immediately, or stack on a dry towel so the bread doesn't steam up and serve when it is cooler

Additional Info:

Funnily enough, the traditional chita-ruti is also gluten-free, being rice flour based. But processed rice flour from UK supermarkets doesn't seem to be glutinous enough to make a proper batter. Any flatbreads I've made with it have gone crunchy-crumbly as opposed to crunchy-elastic, so a word of warning if you're going to give it a go.

A Bangladeshi Breakfast, Part 2

মোঘলাই পরোটা
Mughlai Porota 

Mughlai porota with an egg, red chilli & spring onion
filling, with a Sriracha dip on the side

I've been contemplating pancakes, mango milk and stick toffee pudding recently. However, my last two recipe posts were sweets too, and hence this savoury interlude. The Bangladeshi iteration of mughlai porota, for those who don't know, is a fried flatbread filled with egg or mincemeat. These porotas are commonly sold from road side shops in Dhaka. In my grandma's family, they feature heavily in our rotating menu of tea-time street food snacks. My mom also served them for breakfast when I was younger, in a bid to get me to eat eggs. I personally prefer these porotas for breakfast rather than tea, especially when I want something heavier as part of a brunch menu. Eggs are always a morning thing for me. 

The mincemeat version of the mughlai porota has been much less common in my life. My family rarely made it, and it's not often sold in our Dhaka neighbourhood due to the prohibitive price of meat. I've never personally made it either, and the recipe below is purely for the egg version of mughlai porota. I've also recommended shallow as opposed to deep-frying the porota. This is mostly because I can't imagine deep-frying foods I regularly eat. Do note it makes a difference - deep-fried mughlai porota comes out flakier and fluffier, and so deep-fry if you wish. Reading back over the instructions, I realise how complicated the rolling and folding may seem to a first-timer, so I'll be updating this post with more photos as soon as possible.