Everest Curry King, 24 Loampit Hill, London SE13 7SW (020 8691 2233). Rolls and patties £1-£2.50, curries, stir fries and filled dosa £7.95-£11.95, sweets (six pieces) £6.95-£8.95
At Everest Curry King in Lewisham, they serve a beetroot curry that should silence even the most intimate of conversations. It’s not just the colour which, courtesy of the star ingredient, suggests a busy day down the abattoir, a neat trick for a vegetable rightly beloved of vegans. There’s the texture, which has both bite and softness, and the sweet-savoury depths that come when liberal spicing and coconut milk are cooked down together. It has an all-engrossing, soothing power. That describes so much of the food on offer here in a restaurant with a name that speaks of Nepal, but which mostly serves the dishes of Sri Lanka and south India more than 1,500 miles away to the south.
