Pidoni... Not Phoney Baloney

GREAT ITALIAN INNOVATORS THROUGHOUT HISTORY:

#1) Enrico Fermi



Fermi was awarded the Noble Prize for Physics in 1938 due to his outstanding work in the field of radioactivity, and he is so highly regarded in his homeland that one of the largest Metro stations in the city of Rome bares his name.

#2) Lucio Fulci



Possibly mainly on my mind at the moment due to Halloween being just around the corner, Fulci's striking and uncompromising horror films of the 80's remain some of the most shocking and memorable of the zombie genre to have been made in all of Europe.

#3) Valerio Viccei




Viccei's 1987 robbery of more than £60 million from Knightsbridge Security Deposit Centre is regarded as one of the five largest thefts on modern record.

...Actually, maybe Viccei doesn't count, but I'll tell you who totally should be on this list:

Whoever invented the Pidoni.



Hell yeah, look at those things.

I pick mine up from Mediterraneo in Brighton, which is the best kept secret in town quite frankly. Their Arancini alone have usurped our previous favourites and will be getting their own post soon enough, but for now, this is all about the elusive mystery of the Pidoni.



I got one today for a lunch on the go. Here's a step by step illustration of what happens when you eat these on foot:



(Keep scrolling)





OM



NOM



GONE!

I barely made it a more than twenty paces. I had to stop, stand still on the pavement, and finish the rest. This is food that eats BACK at you! It is all-consuming.

Above all, it is delicious.

But a casual Google search for Pidoni reveals the following:



Hmm. That's not very helpful is it...

Let's try Wikipedia:



Oh heck no, I did not mean Pironi!



What gives? Why can't I find any information about this incredible food on the so-called "Infotainment Hyper-Bypass"?

The only way to get any results is to search the Italian version of Wikipedia, which produces a short entry that roughly translates to say:

"A Pidoni is a rustic Sicilian bread in the shape of a half-moon, similar to a Calzone."

We are obviously dealing with a jealously guarded Italian treasure, and should be thankful that the dudes at Mediterraneo managed somehow to smuggle the secret out of the country!

Lucio Fulci and the rest are probably on their way to reclaim the recipe right now...



Look out guys!

Mooli's

After reading DJKneedriver's posts about the excellent value for money eats to be had in the Big Apple, I'm sort of ashamed to report that the Big Smoke cannot really compete. I'm happy to be proved wrong on this, but to my knowledge, essential eating cannot be reliably had for teh cheap.

BUT - we can get close. If you're like me, you definitely crave spicy indian food that is also easy to hold. The solution? Go to Mooli's.

Mooli's

50 Frith Street
London W1D 4SQ
020 7494 9075

http://www.moolis.com
@moolis

For this visit, I had a (spicy) World Cup special Lamb Bobotie Mini Mooli (£3.50), delicious lamb and egg tightly wrapped in hot roti. The 'classic' flavours are chicken, beef, pork, asparagus, paneer and the super-top #1 knockout, GOAT. These are accompanied by a wide variety of other fillings, such as potato, salsas and chutney's and just the right amount of crunchy salad leaves. A mooli is available in 2 sizes (mini mooli is pictured in this post), or in a nice cardboard salad box with the roti substituted for extra salad ingredients and seperate dressings.


Bobotie Mooli as a salad.

The Mooli

As it arrives it is like a beautiful gift waiting to be unwrapped, and unwrap it you must. You will not be able to stop yourself. As you tear off a strip of the foil, you're greeted with a heartily packed wrap, bursting with colour. The first bites are an explosion of flavour, every ingredient punches you right on the tongue - POW. If you're hungry this thing won't last long, but it is TASTE, TASTE, TASTE all the way down. When the world cup mooli goes back to the holding-pen, I can totally recommend the Goat mooli, packed with soft potato and chutney. Goat meat is kind of a rarity in the UK, and in the mooli it comes out beautifully tender, reminiscent of Moroccan tagine cooking.

There is only 1 downside:

Inevitable heartbreak: A finished Mooli.

Part of the charm of Mooli's is the unique stamp that everything in sight has; From the decor, fun colouring and weird posters, to the staff in the bright bright bright 'Mooli Madly Deeply' T's. This definitely extends to the food. Right there on the counter, ready to be served up, is a giant cooker of Dal (£1.50 a bowl, take THAT NEW YORK), deliciously crisp roasted pappadoms with a hot salsa, and crazy, mini-milk style, kulfi iced-creams. There are fun, bespoke, drinks on offer too - refreshing mango lassi (kind of like a light milk-shake), hot masala chai tea or a mind-bending Havana Club-injected mojito with either Guava, Lychee or Pomegranate with chilli's.

Mooli's is a really great place to sit and eat and drink for half an hour, and due to the care in which everything is presented, from boxes to wrappings, their food is also eminently transportable. A lovely treat to enjoy in the sunshine of soho. There are also weekly drinks offers for twitter followers, so follow them @moolis!

Just take it easy on those mojitos!