Brick Lane - London's little Bangladesh
June 25th 2008 08:44
The main modes of dress are the sari and the salwar, the air is scented with tumeric and saffron, Bollywood music wafts from the windows, signs point to mosques and temples whose towers and sculpted domes rise behind the shop-fronts, the smiles or suspicious stares shoot from the dark, fine-featured faces of South Asia, the language - Bangladeshi or English - is as fast-flowing and unfathomable as the Ganges, innit? and the streets are straight from Indian subcontinent. Yet Brick Lane in London’s East End is now as much a part of the city as the traditional pub or Buckingham Palace and heading down for a curry is as much a London ritual as a pint down at the local or the changing of the guards.
Banglatown, as the locals like to call Brick Lane and its environs, is the heart of London’s Bangladeshi community. It has long been a haven for migrants. The French Huguenots, fleeing religious persecution, settled here in the 15th century. Later, Brick lane became the centre of Jewish London. The first settlers, mainly single men seeking work, arrived from Bangladesh in the 1920s. At first they worked in the Jewish enterprises which then lined Brick Lane and its side streets. With successive waves of migration throughout the 20th century, the new Bangladeshi community gradually supplanted the Jewish community. The Synagogues gave way to Mosques. More importantly, Jewish businesses gave way to restaurants where the great tradition of Anglo-Indian food began.
Dining in Brick Lane is an all-encompassing experience. It’s good to begin with a stroll down the street alongside ancient Bangaldeshi Grand-dads on their way to the Mosque and shawl-draped Grandmas with shopping bags, past the halal butchers and grocery stores stacked with mysterious tins and packets, to browse the menus in restaurant windows, to haggle and strike a deal with the good-natured curry touts who lean from every doorway “ free naan and dips” “ complimentary bottle of wine”. Whichever curry house you choose, the menu is varied, the food is generally very good, the service is excellent and the ambience is lively and authentic. Many restaurants don’t serve alcohol as they are owned and staffed by Moslems, but will allow customers to bring their own wine and beer.
We dined at Monsoon in a narrow old Huguenot house with a wide dark wooden stairway. The style of the establishment was pure British India, with elaborately dressed tables, shining silver, delicate china with a anglo-Indian motif iin elegant green and silver. The popadoms with raita, mango chutney, a searing but cleansing nameless paste, cooling onion and tomato, chicken tikka masala, coconut rice, kingfisher beer and cocnut ice-cream were sensational, inexpensive and served with grace and good humour. But most fascinating (and priceless) were the little vignettes of local family life in every corner - behind the bar, a bored schoolboy polishing glasses, at a table near the kitchen, a veiled teenage girl eating a hasty meal while a gnarled grandmother glowers from the doorway and a Bollywood movie-star maitre d' lording it over the waiters and patronising the punters. .
But Brick Lane isn’t just about Bangladesh and food. The Brick Lane market, which dates back several centuries to the heyday of the Jewish community, offers a huge variety of merchandise and attracts millions of Londoners and tourists every year. Recently the area has become a centre for student art and fashion and each year their work is displayed in the exhibition spaces in and around Brick Lane. In the last decade, the old Truman Brewery, once the industrial hub of the area, is now an office and entertainment complex. It is home to two of London’s most popular nightclubs, 93 Fleet Street East and Vibe. The Brick Lane Festival, which began in 1991 is now a huge event – a colourful spectacle and a celebration of the rich culture flourishing in Banglatown today.
A Brick Lane business
Banglatown, as the locals like to call Brick Lane and its environs, is the heart of London’s Bangladeshi community. It has long been a haven for migrants. The French Huguenots, fleeing religious persecution, settled here in the 15th century. Later, Brick lane became the centre of Jewish London. The first settlers, mainly single men seeking work, arrived from Bangladesh in the 1920s. At first they worked in the Jewish enterprises which then lined Brick Lane and its side streets. With successive waves of migration throughout the 20th century, the new Bangladeshi community gradually supplanted the Jewish community. The Synagogues gave way to Mosques. More importantly, Jewish businesses gave way to restaurants where the great tradition of Anglo-Indian food began.
Monsoon
Dining in Brick Lane is an all-encompassing experience. It’s good to begin with a stroll down the street alongside ancient Bangaldeshi Grand-dads on their way to the Mosque and shawl-draped Grandmas with shopping bags, past the halal butchers and grocery stores stacked with mysterious tins and packets, to browse the menus in restaurant windows, to haggle and strike a deal with the good-natured curry touts who lean from every doorway “ free naan and dips” “ complimentary bottle of wine”. Whichever curry house you choose, the menu is varied, the food is generally very good, the service is excellent and the ambience is lively and authentic. Many restaurants don’t serve alcohol as they are owned and staffed by Moslems, but will allow customers to bring their own wine and beer.
We dined at Monsoon in a narrow old Huguenot house with a wide dark wooden stairway. The style of the establishment was pure British India, with elaborately dressed tables, shining silver, delicate china with a anglo-Indian motif iin elegant green and silver. The popadoms with raita, mango chutney, a searing but cleansing nameless paste, cooling onion and tomato, chicken tikka masala, coconut rice, kingfisher beer and cocnut ice-cream were sensational, inexpensive and served with grace and good humour. But most fascinating (and priceless) were the little vignettes of local family life in every corner - behind the bar, a bored schoolboy polishing glasses, at a table near the kitchen, a veiled teenage girl eating a hasty meal while a gnarled grandmother glowers from the doorway and a Bollywood movie-star maitre d' lording it over the waiters and patronising the punters. .
But Brick Lane isn’t just about Bangladesh and food. The Brick Lane market, which dates back several centuries to the heyday of the Jewish community, offers a huge variety of merchandise and attracts millions of Londoners and tourists every year. Recently the area has become a centre for student art and fashion and each year their work is displayed in the exhibition spaces in and around Brick Lane. In the last decade, the old Truman Brewery, once the industrial hub of the area, is now an office and entertainment complex. It is home to two of London’s most popular nightclubs, 93 Fleet Street East and Vibe. The Brick Lane Festival, which began in 1991 is now a huge event – a colourful spectacle and a celebration of the rich culture flourishing in Banglatown today.
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