The same dish – elsewhere. I was at the cinema (quelle surprise) on Saturday and fancied a bite before I drifted off to the pub. A walk past Miso, on Haymarket, garnered the fact that they did a dish called Malaysian Chicken Curry and Rice. For a fiver (a whole fifty pence more than my usual, but Hey Big Spender as Dermot Murnaghan would say).
Miso is a vaguely Japanese noodle bar taking much of its lead from Wagamama with its stripped pine benches and shared seating area. Smaller, and the staff were skittish at best. I don’t blame them, because when my MCC&R was delivered I got a shock. There is no reason why one restaurant would serve the same dish in exactly the same way as another, but still I was shocked when it came on just one plate. At the Hare & Tortoise the very wet curry is in a seperate bowl to the rice. Here it was all lumped together. But then that is because the curry was not very wet. At a push if I had to describe Miso’s version of my favourite comfort food, the harsh answer would be Homepride Cook In Sauce Curry.
I have no idea which of the two dishes is more authentic. I don’t really care, I was not planning on a trip to Malaysia. I have my suspicions though that the simplicity shown in the Hare & Tortoise may lead to a more representative dish. Miso served very plain boiled rice with a thick curry sauce consisting of small chunks of rice, peas, peppers, odd tasting potato and onion. Same dish at Hare & Tortoise is chicken on the bone in a runny soup with tomato and the tastiest chunks of potato in the world.
I ate the Miso version. It took me back to childhood curries my Mum made; I was half expercting to find a raisin or two. But i won’t be going back to Miso again. I assume it stands for (warning potentially offensive language based joke coming up, Mi So Disappointed.