An Accidental Six of One Soup Special
An Accidental Six of One Soup Special
Mimo's Cafe in Paddington plus five other London restaurant recommendations for the weekend.
Last week we published the first in series of quarterly conversations between Vittles Restaurants editors, Adam Coghlan and Jonathan Nunn. We talked about the differences between London and New York, how they have converged, good pizza, Trinidadian doubles, cocktail bar culture, and why New Yorkers are “full of shit.” We also talked about Paris and the impact of an idea called “the enabling constraint” on venues in the French capital, the key difference between St. John and St. John Bread and Wine, strange things going on in London Fields, what's happening in Vittles in 2024, and more.
You can listen to the whole conversation below:
Six of One is a column dedicated to London restaurant recommendations. In each issue, six writers will share a restaurant, bakery, cafe or takeaway spot that they believe deserves to be better known. You can find the full Six of One back catalogue here.
Today’s recommendations are from Dredhëza Maloku, Samir Jeraj, Jonathan Nunn, Shekha Vyas, Rohan Jones, and Thea Everett.
To read all the recommendations, as well as the back catalogue, please subscribe below.
1. Mimo's Cafe
Mimo’s Cafe in Paddington is located at the fake-sounding address 19 London Street, flanked by the Alexandra, Hilton and Native Hyde Park hotels. Though billed as an Italian café, Mimo’s changed hands back in 1996 when two Kosovans from Ferizaj, Sutki and Afrim, bought it from its original Italian owner (maybe Mr. Mimo himself). Afrim mans the counter in the mornings, while Sutki and his son take over in the afternoons – this is a family affair. As a chauffeur ferrying international clients to and from airports and hotels, my dad finds himself in Paddington more often than most and has been coming to Mimo’s for years. Over the years, he and much of the rest of the clientele – cabbies, chauffeurs, the Kosovan diaspora – have realised they are just as important as the food.
From 7.30am to 10.30pm, Mimo’s serves English breakfasts, Italian pastas and its famous “escalope Valdonstana” club sandwich, but it’s the deceptive mains I’m interested in. Cannellini beans is in fact Kosovan pasul, a thick kidney bean and onion stew, left to simmer for hours, sometimes served with smoky beef jerky. Pasul at Mimo’s arrives overflowing, as it should, alongside a breadbasket and ramekin of biber (paprika). Elsewhere, the “meatballs (Mediterranean style)” are qyfte, balls of tender minced-beef kebabs, served with fresh shredded salad and kajmak (unripened, creamy cheese popular in Kosovo – like Balkan clotted cream). One bite of these and I’m transported to the July heat of Pristina, eating qyfte between warm bread with my grandfather.
But my favourite dish at Mimo’s is burek, sold fresh at the counter, next to the croissants and doughnuts – skip straight past these and you’ll notice long rolls of filo pastry, ready to be warmed through and sliced up. These parcels are filled either with minced beef, or djath (feta) but drop in before lunch for the latter as they sell out fast. If you’re lucky, you might also find sweet, milky trilece: a Balkan sibling of the Latin American ‘three-milk’ dessert. To wash everything down, ask for some homemade raki from Rahovec.
Everything from this menu to the café’s logo – identical to that of a famous restaurant in Ferizaj – is a subtle nod to its roots. I love Mimo’s misleading menu: the fact that cannellini should say kidney; the fact that Mediterranean-style should say Balkan-style; the fact that my dad knows what’s what. Dredhëza Maloku
19 London St, Tyburnia, W2 1HL
2. Thatched House
Just as you leave Upton Station in Barking, on the main road you’re greeted with a sign to “Thatched House”. But this is not a twee historic Tudor house on the edge of London, this roadside pub is the beating heart of the local East African community. Alongside new-age British gastropub classic like burgers and chips, Thatched House serves classics from the Kenyan interior like nyama choma (barbequed meat), matumbo (tripe), whole tilapia, ugali and sukuma wiki. Accordingly, it attracts all sorts, everyone from pool-playing guys to couples on dates and birthday parties; principally serving a Black African clientele, with a few wazungu (white people), too. The venue pumps with 80s and 90s R&B and more contemporary East African music blaring from the TVs around the brightly lit room. Samir Jeraj
Ripple Rd, Barking IG11 9PG
Below the paywall: Jonathan Nunn on laksa in Holborn, Rohan Jones is back – and on the Gujarati snack beat in West London, while Shekha Vyas is on the y2k nostalgia hype in Harrow, and Thea Everett finds pho in Forest Hill.