Adventures in Curry* - Part 1**

I was told when in london (like "when in rome...") one must have a curry...so I decided to embark on a little curry adventure to find the best curry london has to offer...and as some of you know, when I really decide I'm gonna do something there is nothing half-assed about it...or as my friend Tauni says "that Gretchen, she's not f-ing around!" (hi T). So, after reading a bit and asking a few people, I decided not to go to brick street, though I hear they have some very nice curries, instead I decided to find out where this infamous Tooting place is that I have heard about.

It turns out Tooting is off the central london tube map for a good reason - its NOWHERE near central London - being way out in the 'burbs - charming, interesting 'burbs filled with peoples from the middle east, africa, india, sri lanka, bangladesh and probably a few other places.

Coming above ground in Tooting is in someways like entering another world - part london, but part developing country - strangely reminiscent of my neighborhood at home - with its fresh produce markets that roll out onto the street, but here with indian sellers, not latino - the streets are sticky and have that unique mix of smells, much like Bangkok and the Mission - part urine, part car exhaust, part street food and spice. I am instantly glad I came to Tooting - and though I am trying to find a recommended vegetarian restaurant, I kind of lose my way...dazzled by the sari store - the colors, the glitter - i can only think this store must have the sari of my indian soul sister, Palak's, dreams (if you're reading don't worry man i took pictures!). I eat sweets that I know not the name of - except they are oddly chewy and reminiscent of cardamon - i am fascinated, yet so distracted by it all that I walk past my destination 3 whole times...yes, 3 (I guess I was kinda f-ing around).

Finally I collect myself and find it: Kastoori, vegetarian restaurant serving gujarati curries by way of africa. I feel the need to give a shout out to my gujarati friends - especially Palak, sorry man, but if you hadn't made me repeat how to say your nationality over and over and over and over again - this in part because I was kinda slow, but also because you are soooo amazingly persistent (which is MOST excellent in this case!) - then I never would have remembered it and might not have ever found this place.

Ahh, Kastoori - it may be love - yep, love love love in the form of tomato curry!

I could write more - about the green plaintains in curry, that were like sweet little potatoes and spice - or the special dessert drink of sweet lassi, warm yogurt and pistachio - or the puri that were like little taste bombs in my mouth...but then I'd be here all night writing and you'd be there all day reading and we'd all be getting hungry.

Let's just say the curry adventure was a fantastic success - most excellent curry was eaten AND the adventure took me to a part of london that I wouldn't have found otherwise...thanks again to P "gujarati, gujaRRR-AH-ti!" got it!

my curry disclaimer:
I am, quite obviously, NOT indian, nor did I grow up eating curry - so in reality have NO IDEA (am hopelessly ignorant of) what makes a great curry, so I get that my recommendation may not hold any weight with my indian friends, or indians in general. That said, to any of my friends, especially the vegetarians and non-indians/sri-lankans I say this:
If you ever find yourself in london with a little time on your hands and you're hungry: take the tube (Northern Line, heading South...yeah, a bit of an oxymoron there) to Tooting, exit at Tooting Bec Station and walk down Upper Tooting Road. A few blocks down (6-8) you'll find Kastoori, an unassuming little spot on the righthand side with a pink sign...unless you're still in that sweets shop 3 blocks up, chewing on that delight you bought, in which case, dust the powdered sugar from yourself and walk, don't run, down the street already!

Also, I found this review of Kastoori - humorous for its jabs about vegetarians:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,901010,00.html

*not that kind of curry ;-)
**a note about the numbering - i will no doubt have further adventures in curry and didn't really want to be like armistead maupin and have to go with "more" then "further" etc.; others of you will point out I HAVE had curry adventures before, but this is the first instance on me blog, so I thought I would start with the #1...well, also because I can't remember how many curry adventures I've had exactly