In my endless quest to be cooler than all you people I shunned the food stalls of Sunday UpMarket with their mobs of people wearing ironic large sunglasses, I turned my nose up at the hog roasts at Shoreditch cliches 93ft East and the Truman Brewery, and I certainly wasn't going to join the More4-loving set lunching away at shiny chain restaurants in what used to be wonderful Spitalfields. No, I decided I'd abandon the Time-Out guided Sunday masses and wonder the wrong way down Brick Lane in search of authentic options.
And because of that my lunch for £2.40 consisted of two of the best spinach samosas I've ever had and two hearty but dry fish cakes. It was window placement of these savoury cakes, samosas and pakoras that magnetised me into Ambala. The rest of the shop was largely devoid of the Bangla sweets they profess, but do I look like I'm bothered? It was lunch time, I wanted something salty, satisfying and solid value and I found it in spades.
Next time you do the sunday brick lane thing, give Ambala a look. Don't just be another sheep having free range tofu sausage crepes with the other Nathan Barleys. read more