Tagine, Balham (UK) by Bureaucrat

My 24-hour catch-up with my mates in ye olde London, at times, felt like one big feast!  With one lunch under my sans-a-belt pants, Ms G and I headed to Tagine, a Moroccan restaurant, for dinner with Mr M and Ms B.

There was a lot of food... one might say, too much food.  To get things going, we got a range of starters.  Going clockwise from the bottom we had slata barda (sliced beetroot w honey, cinnamon and balsamic vinegar), mechouia (slow cooked grilled peppers cooked w tomato sauce, cumin and garlic), houmous and cooked carrot salad.

In this pic, we see the beetroot and carrot salads, as well as the merguez mewshwi (spicy lamb sausages) and zaalouk (eggplant cooked w tomatoes, parsley and coriander).  All were delicious, but I especially remember the lamb sausages and the eggplant to be particularly tasty.

Naturally, we also got some warm flat bread to go with the starters.

Going to place called Tagine, it's a no brainer that we had to order tagines.  These were some of the best tagines I've ever had.  Piping hot and so full of flavour.  And even though I'm not the biggest fan of cumin and fruit in my savoury dishes, I was bowled over by the flavours here. Most main dishes were 12-15 pounds each and the serving size was very generous.

This here was the lamb barkouk tagine - slow cooked lamb shanks with prunes, almonds, poached pear and sesame seeds.

And here we have the tagine lala fatima - chicken w preserved lemons, olives, potatoes and saffron.

And the mamounia tagine - slow cooked lamb shank w grilled eggplant and chick peas.

The vegetarian batenjan bil jibneh - baked eggplant stuffed w roasted peppers, rocket salad and goats cheese.

We also ordered this dish but I forgot what it was called.

A few of the guys heroically shared some desserts - sweet pastries.

But I couldn't try any of the desserts as I feared I'd bust out of my pants.  Instead, I chose a soothing fresh mint tea to aid digestion.

Verdict: we loved it

Overall

Amazing Moroccan food here.  The flavours are punchy and, although I haven't been to Morocco before, they seem authentic.  I love the interior with the low tables and chairs, cushions and coloured lights.  Even better was the fact that you get 20% off the price of your meal most days if you dine before 7pm.