Before the Romans came the place now known as Colchester was home and settlement to a Celtic tribe - the Trinovantes. In 44 AD it became the ‘first recorded town in Britain’, as the first capital of Roman Britain (known then as Camulodunum, fortress - dunum of Camulos, god of war) in the nearly five hundred year history of Roman Britain. There are the remains of Roman villas and of walls built by the Romans still in evidence around the town and, incidentally, the Romans had brought with them all sorts of strange things, like figs, cherries, plums, damsons, mulberries, dates, olives, turnips, apples, pears, celery, carrots, cucumbers, asparagus, lentils, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts and sesame as well as coriander, dill and fennel, grapes, wine and the cultivation of oysters, for which Colchester is now renown.
When I left, Colchester, like many small British towns, had presented a very limited range of cuisines. Wimpy (Britain’s first burger joint opened in London, 1954), then the American Kentucky Fried Chicken (1964) and McDonalds (1974) moved in to vie with the ‘traditional’ fish and chip shops (1863).
Although the first Chinese (Cantonese) restaurant was opened in London in 1908 (by Chung Koon, a ship’s chef), Chinese restaurants and takeaways didn't really develop until after W.W.II with the influx of Hong Kong Cantonese migrants.
Indian (Bengali) restaurants had their beginnings with British East India Company Army officer Sake Dean Mahomed, who founded London's first Indian restaurant, the ‘Hindoostane Coffee House’ in 1810. But Indian food in the UK didn’t take off until the 1970s, when large numbers of people from East Pakistan (which was becoming Bangladesh) came to England.
The recent discovery of an ancient kebab shop (circa 1215) in Dunwich marks it as being ‘Britain’s oldest kebab shop’, yet it wasn’t until 1966 that Turkish (kebab) takeaways began their rise across the UK.
After seventeen years being away from Colchester, imagine my surprise when I discovered that Colchester has since become genuinely multi-ethnic and multicultural, enabling Colchestrians to embrace a momentous food evolution. Of course, food magazines, foodie TV shows and the fact that Colchester has an international university with a vast array of nationalities on its doorstep, has all helped to create the fusion of cuisines now available in restaurants and takeaways here.
In these glorious summer days, wandering around Colchester town you can witness a plethora of ‘burger’ places which, happily, include a menu of burgers ‘inspired by the flags of the world’, including the ‘Moroccan Burger’ which harbours falafel, vegan harissa mayo, pomegranate, pickled vegetables, hummus and a spiced apricot tagine paste, and the ‘Mexican’ with toasted Bretzel bun, fajita chicken, guacamole, deep fried jalapenos, onion, bell pepper, tequila and lime salad, sour cream, elemental cheese and salsa roja, courtesy of ‘The Flag Burger’.
Aside from burgers, Colchester’s British Indian cuisine has evolved from Colchester’s first Indian restaurant - ‘Curry India’ (1964) and later the 1970s Bangladeshi dominance to include ‘South Indian’ Dosa (plain, Masala Dosa, Paneer Cheese Dosa, Egg Dosa etc etc etc) Uttapa (Plain or with tomato or onion) and the ‘North Indian’ Channa Batura, as well as the ubiquitous Tandoori or Tikka this that or the other. Now in Colchester (which has a long history with the British Army’s Gurkha Regiment) there is a ‘Gurkha’ restaurant serving ‘spiced kheer’ and ‘Gulab Jamun’, another advertises a ‘blend of Nepalese, Indian & Tibetan cuisine’ which also features the succulent Nepali ‘Momos’ (steamed or fried dumplings).
Not just Indian, but Chinese food in Colchester has moved past ‘Sweet and Sour Pork balls’ and ‘Egg Fried Rice’ to feature delicacies including Cantonese Dim Sum (which translated means ‘touch the heart’) with my favourites like ‘Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce’, ‘Char Siu Cheung Fun’ and ‘Pork & Prawn Dumplings’ (Siu Mai). Colchester’s first ‘Chinese ‘ restaurant was ‘The Rice Bowl’, established in 1962.
Elsewhere in Colchester you can find a version of ‘Malaysian NasiLemak’, and ‘Malaysian Sambal Kangkong’ as well as ‘Sliced Beef in Malaysian Rendang’, and even a fairly decent ‘Char Kuey Teow’ from the North Hill Noodle House. There are a variety of other Southeast Asian foods like Vietnamese ‘Beef Pho’, Indonesian ‘Chicken Laksa’ and ‘King Prawn Pad Thai’. Aside from those there is ‘Inihaw na Liempo’ (Filipino Chargrilled pork belly slices, served with Jasmine rice, cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices) and ‘Pancit Bihon’ or Filipino rice noodles in an eatery hosting food from The Philippines.
Aside from all those delectable Asian eateries, Colchester presents a host of (Turkish) kebab eateries serving Shish Kofte Kebab, Lamb Shish Kebab and all the usual suspects. There is a Mauritian restaurant serving ‘Red Lentil Soup Aka Dhall Chow Chow’ and Mushroom And Grilled Pepper Curry Aka 'Rougaille De Champignons’. And some Trinidadian Cuisine (serving traditional ‘Curry Fine Beans’ with other dishes including ‘Potato and Pumpkin and Pepper Roti’), as well as African cuisine including ‘Nigerian Red Stew / Sauce with White Rice and Plantain’, ‘Cow foot in a spicy palm oil paste’ and ‘Isi-Ewu’ (spicy goat head delicacy amongst the Igbo people of Nigeria). And not to forget the various places experimenting with all kinds of pizza, including the usual Domino's Pizza, Pizza Express, Papa John’s, White Label Detroit Pizza and one exciting restaurant ‘Cuckoo Dough’, which will whip you up an amazing ‘Everyone’s Favourite’ of harissa lamb and pomegranate pizza (using double fermented sourdough), for lunch.
Since I’ve been back I’m wonderfully impressed by the great variety of cuisines that even a small British town can offer. In the supermarkets there are a multitude of ingredients which you can easily find to create dishes from a wide variety of cuisines, including flavourings such as the Middle Eastern ‘Sumac’, the North African ‘Harissa’ and even South East Asian ‘Galangal paste’.
Also, around Colchester town, there are a few specialist mini-markets such as the Dhaulagiri Store, Geylanii Stores, Ichina, Feng Huang Oriental Shop, Queen Street Continental Supermarket, Noor Super Market and Yawee Foods selling ‘Continental’, ‘Turkish’, ‘Indian’, ‘African’ and ‘Caribbean’, as well as ‘Chinese’ food stuffs. There are many ingredients and hardware for you to cook tantalising meals for yourselves, and all conveniently found around Colchester.
All in all, it has been a surprise and a great delight too, to discover such a diversity of food and cuisines in my old home town of Colchester; there is much more diversity than I could have hoped to be possible, so much more than there had been when I exited all those years ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment