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Food to save you when you’re living with mum
Peter Gruner meets Guardian columnist Michele Hanson who chooses an out of the way Turkish restaurant
YOU couldn’t get a more unpretentious eating place. The Crystal Charcoal Restaurant is tucked away on the Holloway Road, just opposite the Odeon Cinema.
But for busy residents such as Tufnell Park writer Michele Hanson, the Crystal, specialising in Turkish foods including chicken and meat kebabs, meat and vegetarian stews and soups, has been a bit of a lifesaver.
She discovered this little culinary oasis when she needed to find food that would awaken the taste buds of her ancient and overbearing “mother from hell”, Clarice.
At 89 Clarice moved in with Michele, becoming the subject of her poignant and at times hilarious weekly column for the Guardian newspaper.
Clarice died last year aged 99, and the columns have subsequently been turned into a brilliant new book, Living With Mother (right to the very end.) published by Virago £9.99.
“In her later years poor mother would sometimes be marooned in the upstairs bedroom of our house when the stairlift broke down,” Michele explained. “She wouldn’t eat most of the takeaways we had delivered. But she loved the food from the Crystal restaurant.
“I’m a vegetarian so I would order the vegetarian stew made with aubergines, beans and rice. Mother liked the slow-cooked lamb stew because the meat was always tasty, soft and easy to digest. It was served with tomatoes, onions, aubergine, rice and salad.”
On the rare occasions Clarice, who used a wheelchair, was able to eat out she also enjoyed going to a Chinese restaurant, because in China the elderly are treated with reverence. “We went there on her birthday and she was showered with praise, presents, and congratulations,” said Michele.
“The staff queued up to kiss her. I thought perhaps we should all retire to China.”
At Crystal the food is cooked fresh in front of you. Each table gets a bowl of olives and pickled chillies. Michele and I shared humus and home-made pitta bread, followed by vegetarian stew with rice, haloumi cheese and chips and a side salad. We both had a cup of tea. The bill for two was about £12.
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