Everest Curry King, London: "It's a simple place, but so good"

Everest Curry King, 24 Loampit Hill, London SE13 7SW (020 8691 2233). Rolls and galettes £1 to £2.50, curries, stir fries and filled dosa £7.95 to £11.95, sweets (six pieces) £6.95 to £8.95

At Everest Curry King in Lewisham, they serve a beet curry that should silence even the most intimate conversations. It's not just the color that, courtesy of the star ingredient, suggests a busy day at the slaughterhouse, a tip for a vegetable rightly adored by vegans. There's the texture, which has both bite and sweetness, and the sweet-salty depths that come when the generous spices and coconut milk are cooked together. It has a soothing and soothing power. This describes much of the food on offer here at a restaurant whose name speaks of Nepal, but which mainly serves dishes from Sri Lanka and southern India over 2,500 kilometers to the south.

< p class="dcr-8zipgp">Getting to eat that beet curry was a frustrating but ultimately a happy circumstance, but not for everyone. Today you are supposed to read about an intriguing fish restaurant in Northern Ireland. In time, you will. Unfortunately, a few days after I ate there, they temporarily closed for a renovation. We couldn't get in to take our beautiful pictures. These things happen.

I needed an emergency notice and came across Rambutan, the Sri- Much-talked-about Lankan chef Cynthia Shanmugalingam at London's Neighborhood Market. Rambutan is the book restaurant, that is, the award-winning cookbook came first, and if the restaurant looks like that, oh boy. It's not just a collection of recipes, even if these are quite confusing: for black pork belly curry and crispy turmeric sautéed potatoes, for coconut dal with kale, tamarind prawn curry and more. It's also a delightfully illustrated journey through Sri Lanka's culture and history, via its food. It's a song of coconuts and sambols, temperate spices, fresh curry leaves and fruit with salt and chilli. After exploring the book, I was looking forward to exploring the restaurant. At short notice, I had a table reserved for a late lunch. And then, an hour before, they texted. The restaurant had been flooded by a storm. It was closed and lunch was cancelled. Sorry.

I was now on schedule. He was my companion, the chef and writer