Review: Lahpet, Covent Garden

I can’t remember the last time I got to try a completely new cuisine. Oh, I must be getting old and jaded! But luckily I’ve found Lahpet and had my first introduction to Burmese food. This is something I want to tell any foreign tourist visiting London for a holiday: the whole point of London is how brilliantly (if expensively) we have got the whole world of food in one city. By all means have a fish and chips, and maybe a meal at Quality Chophouse. But then maybe fill the rest of your time with tables at… oh I dunno… Barrafina, Humble Chicken, Kiln, Paradise, Padella and Lahpet. The world in a city.

Anyway, Lahpet. We started with fritters, apparently a big street food thing in Burma. All three were good although the slightly gooey sweetcorn and shallot (the black one) had the best flavour and texture. The pickled green tea salad was a revelation. “All salads should be like this” as

Maureen put it. It was just crunchy right through, from the garlicky chips of double-fried broad beans to the pea shoots and peanuts, but with bright and earthy flavours from citrus and those pickled green tea leaves. Chicken thigh skewers were char-grilled beautifully.

We also chose a great curry; Hake Masala. The gravy was wonderfully bright and punchy, something like a south Indian moilee, and the lemongrass flavour in the cassava rosti that came with it was a really clever and delicious addition. I hope lemongrass cassava rosti is a real thing in Burma, because I’d like to meet it again some day! Coconut rice was good with it. We also got a side of Burma’s favourite relish: balachaung, a mighty hit of pounded dried shrimp with lime and chilli and stuff. It is dangerously addictive, but does also rather overpower anything you eat it with.

We had a good sized lunch for about £22 each before drinks. Lahpet can go straight up into the pantheon of “handy places to know in the West End for a delicious casual meal.”