Jerky, scorching spice and all issues good in a Greenwich industrial property
Replace 4/01/2021 – added particulars about half-a-goat, guinea fowl, lamb ribs and masa
Lockdown, whether or not in spring, autumn or winter, can really feel like a literal and metaphorical wall blocking you off from different components of your individual metropolis, by no means thoughts the remainder of the world. Whereas meals can provide a glimpse into the broader world past your individual put up code, its effectiveness is usually a put up code lottery.
Many London excessive streets provide little past anglicised Chinese language, Indian and Turkish takeaways. At greatest they’re like Thomas the Tank Engine – whereas charming sufficient on their very own phrases, your horizons are in the end narrowed moderately than broadened on condition that they’re little greater than cartoonish caricatures. They’re there to be outgrown.
Some components of London are extra blessed with takeaway bounty than others although, with surprises tucked away in probably the most sudden of locations. Alhaji Suya serves up Nigerian suya and kilishi, grilled marinaded meats and jerky respectively, from a unit in a North Greenwich industrial park having relocated from Peckham. Its location isn’t fairly as incongruous because it first seems, with branches of Chinese language grocery store See Woo and Swedish juggernaut Ikea – full with takeout counter and cafeteria respectively – as neighbours.
You don’t must be a North Greenwich native both, as Alhaji additionally provides its jerky and a restricted choice of its vacuum packed suya for subsequent day supply all through London and many of the UK.
The fatty beef or tozo suya is the one one which’s obtainable for each native takeaway and nationwide supply. Each variations of the tozo suya had been persistently however modestly tangy and fatty with a lightweight chew. Some bites had been much more pleasing than others, including a crisper, bouncier, caramelised chew into the combination. The fatty beef wouldn’t be full and not using a serving to of the powdered spice combine, or yaji, served on the facet in a wee container. Barely candy and astringent with a citrusy brightness, it ought to nonetheless be utilized with care as its cumulative warmth introduced bulging beads of sweat to my brow and left my lips trembling.
As takeaway, you too can decide to have the tozo suya tightly tucked right into a wheat flour tortilla together with a hefty heap of onions and a smoky scorching canine. The previous reduce by means of the fatty, bouncy chew of the tozo suya and the potent spicy warmth of the yaji. The new canine wasn’t actually obligatory, nevertheless it did add some meaty variation and was hardly a distraction.
The ‘common’ lean beef suya was way more depending on the yaji for flavour and allure. Missing the tozo’s beefy tang and mouthfeel, however with nothing to take their place, it made for a far much less attention-grabbing and memorable eat.
When you’re averse to beef for no matter purpose, then don’t go for the hen suya. It was, as anticipated, desperately missing in texture and would’ve been a complete bust for style if not for the yaji’s pep. Hen wings had been barely any higher.
The bovine-free choice to go for as an alternative needs to be the lamb. Every meaty morsel not solely had comparable ranges of caramelisation, unctuous fattiness and bouncy crispness because the one of the best of the tozo, however packed in a delicate earthiness too. Laced with yaji, the lamb virtually sprang out of the foil carton and into my mouth. Don’t overlook the puddle of meat juices on the backside of the carton, each with the lamb and tozo suyas. Boldly moreish, it’s undoubtedly value mopping up with bread or drizzling over Alhaji’s citrusy vibrant and moreish jollof rice.
The sudden star of Al Haji’s menu was the kilishi. Not as fibrous or as robust and excessively chewy as another jerkies, every slender wafer – for probably the most half – bent, snapped and sheared aside simply with solely a modest toothy tug. Already exceedingly moreish, its deepily savoury character was enhanced additional by the pre-applied yaji. Its astringent citrusy notes and bristling heat are, for my cash, higher appreciated on the kilishi moderately than the suya because of the superior grapple issue of its mouthfeel.
Winter 2020/2021 house supply replace
I hadn’t supposed to replace this overview of Al Haji Suya so quickly, however a number of new additions to the house supply menu piqued my curiosity.
A complete broiler hen was a moderately scanty chook. Whereas it lacked meatiness, it was at the least a moist affair with dimpled, fairly supple pores and skin regardless of its preliminary waxy look. When you’re dead-set on poultry, you’re much better off with the entire guinea fowl. As with the broiler hen, it was neatly chopped into manageable chunks however that’s the place the similarities ended. It was a much more bountiful chook – meatier and juicier with an effortlessly supple, moreish pores and skin. All of these qualities had been magnified when dusted with the yaji.
The meat tozo and lamb suyas, in addition to the kilishi beef jerky, had been simply nearly as good as they had been earlier than.
Lamb ribs are solely obtainable in 2kg parts. They weren’t wherever as crisp and bouncy as one of the best lamb ribs obtainable elsewhere although, nor had been they as succulent and fatty as Alhaji’s common lamb suya.
When you’re feeding your complete family, a county-sized tailback of lorry drivers or merely have an voracious urge for food, then you possibly can all the time order a complete goat. Or simply half-of-a-goat, as I did to maintain me over the festive interval. The roughly 5kg of goat meat arrived in a styrofoam container giant sufficient to eclipse a complete stovetop hob.
Cleaved into simply manageable, distributable chunks, the goat was dense, meaty and really often fatty. It’s value sprinkling it with water when reheating although; in any other case it may get just a little too chewy and laborious in locations. Whereas satisfying sufficient when dusted with yaji, the goat was in any other case a surprisingly muted affair with little to say by itself both by way of mouthfeel or flavour. When in comparison with the way more pleasing guinea fowl, beef tozo or lamb suyas, it plaintively bleats on your consideration moderately than head-butting you at the back of your knees.
Though the masa could look a bit like blanched crumpets, these roughly saucer-sized discs had been truly comprised of rice flour and yoghurt. Ethereal, flippantly chewy and with a contact of sweetness, they had been apt as a milquetoast counterpart to the extra strong and strident yaji-induced warmth of the meaty mains.
The Verdict
Regardless that Alhaji Suya has one too many duffers for a menu so brief, I nonetheless have a tender spot for this outfit as one of the best of its dishes linger lengthy within the reminiscence. With the tozo and lamb suyas in addition to the kilishi, this small takeaway delivers huge, daring and unmistakable flavours – all of which makes it an amazing gateway into the world of West African meals. If extra of the nation’s takeaways had been like Alhaji Suya, then we’d all be immeasurably higher off.
What to order: Lamb/ram suya, tozo fatty beef suya, guinea fowl suya, kilishi
What to keep away from: Hen suya, hen wings, lean beef suya
Identify: Alhaji Suya
Handle: Unit 15 Angerstein Enterprise Park, 12 Horn Lane, North Greenwich London
Telephone: 07459 739273
Net: https://www.alhajisuya.com/
Opening Hours: seven days per week noon-23.00 (order half-hour upfront).
Reservations? N/A.
Common price per carton of suya: £10 approx. (£7 per 180g approx. if you happen to order on-line for subsequent day supply. The goat and sure cuts price extra.)
Score: ★★★★☆
