[CH] UK CHers & sources, wasabi

Mary McGee Wood (mary@cs.man.ac.uk)
Wed, 2 Dec 1998 14:58:52 GMT

> How many other English Chile Heads are there?

My list is up to 23 now. That's just those of us who post once in a while,
of course, not the lurkers.

Most English towns of any size have an immigrant population, usually
Indian / Pakistani, who run small shops where you can get a good range 
of curry spices and fresh chiles absurdly cheaply. If there's a West
Indian presence you'll find good sauces, like the Encona range, and possibly
spice pastes. Chinese, lots of chile and ginger based sauces and pastes. 
The bigger Chinese wholesale/retail provisioners will also have Thai and
Japanese. Admittedly we're especially well off in south/central Manchester,
but even the small provincial town in the Midlands where I used to live 
was adequately supplied. I'd expect posh Anglo places like Harvey Nichols
to be more limited and more expensive, though I never go near them so I 
could be wrong...

For restaurant listings - curry not chile, but compatible :-)

http://www.curryhouse.co.uk/index.htm

	Mary

ps Speaking of shopping, a bag of wasabi powder followed me home from 
the local Chinese recently :-) Any suggestions for how to use it, besides 
the excellent mashed potato recipe posted recently (thanks Myron!) ?