Hunger Forced Us Into A Questionable Restaurant

It was 5 pm, and me and a friend were looking for somewhere to have lunch. We found a small Somali restaurant. But as we walked in, we questioned if we had made a mistake.

It was run down. It looked like the walls hadn’t been painted in more than 10 years. The plastic tables and chairs looked like they had been thrown out of a school and were now being used in the restaurant.

But there was one thing that made us step into the restaurant – it was 5pm and it was busy. Which is strange – 5pm is too late for lunch and too early for dinner.

As we sat down waiting for the menu, we were told to go to the counter at the back of the shop. There, we were greeted with a glass panel behind which were trays, big rectangular trays like the ones found in schools. Each tray with a different type of food.

We asked for enough food for two, and the man suggested a platter.

Which was only £20. Extremely cheap for London prices.

I returned to our table as my mate went to the toilet but when he returned and sat on the plastic school chair, he said “it would have been cleaner to piss in the street”. We both started to question whether eating at this restaurant was a good idea. A run-down restaurant is one thing, a dirty one is another thing.

But we were hungry and there were no other restaurants within walking distance.

I looked at the kitchen and it looked cleanish.

A few minutes later, the waiter came over with a huge platter covered in rice and pasta topped with meats. We both looked at each other and said “this was enough food for 4 people” to the other without having to say a word.

In the middle of the platter was the biggest lamb shank I’ve ever seen. So big I thought for a moment maybe it was a small leg of lamb and not a shank. I went to take a bite of meat off the bone, and all the meat melted off the bone. Slow-cooked to perfection. Soft and succulent but outside had been caramelised.

20 minutes later, we both sat back in our chairs, with our bellies stuffed with the delicious food. And the tray still had some left.

It was a good reminder, if a place looks run down and not very inviting (not still clean), and/or it's packed, especially at a random time in the day, you know the food is going to be good.