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 Harry Dasht with Roger Lloyd-Pack |
Fisherman’s philosophy is a top catch for Roger
Actor Roger Lloyd Pack chooses Kentish Town eaterie Café Red for its fresh, simple honest food, writes Dan Carrier
HARRY Dasht’s father was a fisherman, and took his boat out each night from the Iranian port of Anzali on the southern shores of the Caspian sea.
He returned in the mornings with his catch, and would take the fresh fish to his small restaurant, where he would serve up what ever his nets had garnered to hungry neighbours.
So for the proprietor of one of Kentish Town’s newest restaurants, RED, designing a menu meant drawing on his father’s experiences.
“He never had a menu,” Dasht explains.
“He would basically ask diners how many of them there were, and then cook what he had brought home the night before. That was how it worked.”
Harry is best known to Kentish Town Road shoppers as the proprietor of B and M Seafoods, the organic butchers and fishmongers.
And it is through this that actor Roger Lloyd-Pack knows Harry – and why Roger was so keen to try Harry’s cooking.
The surroundings are the product of a two-year conversion that turned a run-down Tapas bar and a sports shop into a truly original and interesting building – it was once a police station, and the cells in the basement have been cleverly converted into snug booths for a private dining experience.
But it is the food that really sells the place.
Roger, who has lived in Kentish Town for 19 years, is a confirmed foodie.
“I love cooking,” he confesses.
“My own speciality is soups – I like to make my own stock, and they are so simple and there are so many variations you can do, and I also occasionally bake bread to go with it.
And when he is not in his own kitchen, he loves eating out. “I have to say I’m a bit partial to some liver and bacon,” he confesses.
“Although it’s a treat, and not something I cook at home.”
Roger, known for his roles in Only Fools and Horses, The Vicar of Dibley, the Harry Potter films and hundreds of appearances on stage, has recently completed a hectic work schedule, appearing in a pantomine, filming shows of the Vicar of Dibley and appearing in the Last Laugh, with Martin Freeman of The Office fame. And being so busy makes demands on his diet, he admits.
“Working in the theatre can play havoc for your digestive system,” he says.
“You eat so late, you end up going to bed on a full stomach. And after some shows you just want to go for a pint afterwards.”
And he is wholly complimentary about Harry’s menu. Like Harry’s father’s restaurant, what appears is based on what Harry’s suppliers for his fishmongers and butchers have in stock. He is strict about his mission: “We serve fresh, high quality, simple, honest food.
“Our fish is wild, except the salmon and trout, which is organically produced, and our beef, lamb and pork are organic from Cornwall,” he says.
The fare could be described simply as British.
The options are solid and unpretentious – main courses include grilled Dover Sole with a Meunere sauce, or a grilled free range chicken breast with a lime sauce, all served with perfectly cooked potatoes and vegetables of the day.
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