Restaurants

See all winners in the Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards 2008

WINNER, 'BEST CHEAP EATS', TIME OUT EATING & DRINKING AWARDS 2008
Franco Manca
Brixton Market couldn’t be further removed from the sun-dappled piazzas of Naples, but its West Indian food stalls, wandering preachers and humid reggae soundtrack make a similarly colourful backdrop against which to indulge in a perfect pizza – and we do mean perfect.

It may seem spartan to the point of anonymity – a handful of café tables and a couple of shared pews beneath the peeling ceiling of the market hall – but Franco Manca is a thinking punter’s pizzeria. Sourdough for the bases is left to rise for 20 hours before baking; ingredients are largely organic (the owners flew in a cheese maker from Sorrento to train their Somerset supplier in the art of mozzarella making); and the 500C Forno Napoletano brick oven crisps the crust without drying it out and locks in the flavours of the toppings.

Of six pizzas on offer, we plumped for one mixing organic Brindisa chorizo with mozzarella – the peppery kick of the meat contrasting with the smoothness of Somerset’s finest – and a calzone that paired crumbling buffalo ricotta with a generous helping of organic pork; the first was served with a smile, the second with a song. Proof that a little Italy goes a long way in even the unlikeliest of places.
Franco Manca, 4 Market Row, Electric Lane, SW9 8LD (020 7738 3021/ www.francomanca.co.uk). Brixton tube/rail. Meal for two with drinks and service: around £25.
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RUNNERS-UP
Baozi Inn
From the outside, there’s little to distinguish Baozi Inn’s downbeat decor from the nebulous swarm of nearby competitors, but the almost complete predominance of Chinese diners hints at good things going on behind the scenes. The restaurant takes its name from the steamed buns of northern China; we plumped for one filled with pork and found its saucy softness indulgent. Don’t miss the Chengdu classic, dan dan noodles (which is perfectly prepared using noodles that are handmade on the premises daily) or a salad of springy poached peanuts with celery, carrots and tofu skins. Service is affable and efficient, provided you can catch the waiters’ attention over the roaring Chinese opera.
Baozi Inn, 25 Newport Court, WC2H 7JS (020 7287 6877). Leicester Square tube. Meal for two with drinks and service: around £25.

Faanoos
Faanoos emulates the warm familiarity of bustling Tehran kebab houses, but the food is cosmopolitan enough to rival its pricier Kensington peers. A combination starter plate was uniformly excellent, which included smoky kashk-e bademjan (mashed aubergine with garlic and whey), zingy mast-o mousir (shallot yoghurt) and torsh, a Persian pickle packed with chunky vegetables. Mains were similarly satisfying: a tender chicken kebab was yellowed from long marination in saffron, lemon and onion, served with mountains of perfectly fluffy, saffron-tinted rice. Save room for the rare Persian desserts – either the faloodeh (frozen rice noodles in rosewater) or the bastani (traditional ice-cream).
Faanoos, 481 Upper Richmond Rd West, SW14 7PU (020 8878 5738/ 8876 8938). Mortlake rail. Meal for two with drinks and service: around £25.

Little Lamb
The image of thirteenth-century Mongolian soldiers brewing a meaty broth in their helmets before battle is a colourful one, yet the constant flow of customers suggests that Mongolian hot pot may be interesting enough with or without the legend. Dining is based around an enormous metal pot – filled either with a red chilli broth or a pale herbal tonic, or split down the middle and offering both – into which customers dip meat, fish and vegetables ordered plate by plate. Enormous chunks of squid and thinly sliced lamb absorbed the best of the fiery broth, while needle mushrooms and thick, flat noodles made from mung beans worked well with the herbal brew. Other ingredients, including flavourless chicken dumplings, were less successful, but the sheer childish amusement of plunging, losing and later finding things in a bubbling broth far outweighed any culinary shortcomings.
Little Lamb, 72 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6NA (020 7287 8078). Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus tube. Meal for two with drinks and service: around £50.

Teachi
Teachi’s mix of traditional dim sum and bite-sized Chinese delicacies is well suited to a city obsessed with downsized Oriental dining, and the food has seldom failed to impress. Flash-fried salt-and-pepper squid is light and deliciously moreish; marinated salmon bellies are disarmingly tender; and an interesting take on duck pancakes offers flavoursome chunks of meat coated in an airy batter and cut into quaint triangles. Our only complaints on a recent visit concerned atmosphere: Teachi is pleasantly decorated, but we’ve seldom seen a restaurant sterilised by such unnecessary brightness. On top of that, service appears in six months to have gone from fawning to frowning – a request for an extra plate was sniffed at, a question about the food laughed at – and so many bottles of wine were unavailable on our last visit that the next step up from a (rather poor) house red cost almost £20.
Teachi, 29-31 Parkway, NW1 7PN (020 7485 9933). Camden Town tube. Meal for two with drinks and service: around £50.

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