Coffee Max

Coffee Max is a Halal Italian restaurant on Tooting High Street. I've been going there for years, whether it be for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Over the years I've tried a lot of things, from pizza and panini to a full on English breakfast.

When I go to a restaurant on a regular basis and end up really liking a particular dish I'll begin to order that everytime I go (I'll never try anything new). For a long time it was the panini that was my favourite. My go to panini was the 'Melted Mozzarella' which is made from turkey rashers, cheese, tomato and basil. Delicious! There are a range of other fillings to choose from including a vegetarian option (vegetables, olives, and cheese) and a fish option (tuna, sweetcorn, tomato, lettuce, red onion, and mayonnaise). All the options excluding the vegetarian are priced at £5.95; the vegetarian option is priced at £5.25. All the panini come with chips.

For the last year or two when going to Coffee Max I've always ordered the 'Melanzane Alla Parmigiana' or as I like to call it, 'the aubergine dish' (see the photo below). On the menu it's listed as a starter but the first time I tried it I was so full afterwards that for me it's a lot more filling than a starter is. I usually have it with some bread and that is my meal complete. 

Melanzane Alla Parmigiana £4.75

Melanzane Alla Parmigiana is baked aubergine layered with tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan. I love aubergine (one of my favourite vegetables) so I could eat the aubergines on their own and still be satisfied but the tomato sauce and cheese add a beautiful flavour to the aubergine. The bread is perfect for mopping up the tomato sauce and there is a generous amount of bread given so I usually have enough for the entire dish. 

Last week I went to Coffee Max for dinner and ordered my usual 'Melanzane Alla Parmigiana'.

I don't always have dessert after a meal (it depends on how I'm feeling) but this time I really needed something sweet. I usually have the chocolate fudge cake (see photo below) which is lovely! I am a chocoholic but for some reason am not very fond of chocolate ice cream or chocolate cake (I know, I'm weird) but I've literally eaten this cake everytime I've gone to Coffee Max for either tea & cake or as a dessert after dinner and I've never gotten tired of it. It comes drizzled with chocolate sauce and accompanied by whipped cream. I usually have it warm and in the past I've sometimes had it with ice cream (instead of whipped cream). 

This time though I wanted to have something different for dessert and went for the Tiramisu instead. I've eaten Tiramisu in the past and although I'm not a huge fan I do like it. Tiramisu is made using sponge cake, coffee and mascarpone cheese. The last time I ordered it (which was probably years ago) it certainly didn't look as pretty as it did now. The tiramisu was presented in a dessert glass with two Italian biscuits on the top (see photo below). A perfect mix of cake, cream and coffee (perhaps a little heavy on the coffee, I know I know, Tiramisu is made with coffee, what am I talking about?!). I was unable to finish it though (not because of the taste but because there was quite a lot of it and around 3/4 of the way in I was full). 

The Tiramisu and Chocolate Cake are both priced at £3.95. 

Post written by Nabs.

Atmosphere- 8/10

Service- 8/10

Food- 9/10

Chocolate Sushi Rating- 8/10

Ideal Sweets

Ideal Sweets is an Indian Sweet Shop and Bakery that recently opened on Tooting High Street. The front is painted in an eye catching red (unfortunately I haven't been able to get a photo).

I've never really been a massive fan of Indian Sweets or Methai (as they're otherwise known; for the purpose of this post I will refer to them as Indian Sweets or Sweets.) The reason being is I've found that they can sometimes be unbearably sweet. I once tried a Chocolate Barfi thinking that as it's got chocolate on the top I'll be able to eat it but I didn't even finish half of it. I do however really like Laddu and I've often found myself craving them. The ingredients include flour, sugar, milk and rice, depending on the type of Laddu. Okay, enough about my likes/dislikes and back to Ideal Sweets. 

On the weekend that Ideal Sweets opened their sweets were half price and as you can guess there were long queues on all 3 days so I decided to wait. I think the first time I went was later on in the week. 

As you walk into the shop you're greeted with a warm sweet smell and a large selection of sweets to choose from. As it was my first visit I asked for a piece or two of mostly everything to be put into the box. The prices are reasonable: a kilo of sweets costs £9 while a half kilo costs £4.

The sweets in the above photo have almost become my standard order (everytime I go these are generally the ones that I get). The selection includes (from the left): Rasgulla, Pista Barfi (the green sweet), Gajar Halwa (which is made with carrots) and Habshi Halwa (the brown sweet and my favourite!) 

If I could only recommend one of these tasty sweets to try I would choose Habshi Halwa, no hesitation! I can probably eat at least 2 pieces if not 3. Habshi Halwa is chewy, sticky, almost like toffee (only nicer). It does contain nuts however and a few other sweets might do as well so if you're allergic to nuts check before buying.

I'm watching my sugar intake so I won't be getting another box for a while...I won't leave it too long though.

Post written by Nabs.