EAT THIS NOW! Lamb Flatbread with Egg

Ararat Bread, Dalston

One of London’s best-value lunches - and don’t forget to buy some bread to take home.

Lamb flatbread with egg - £3.50

Note: just before we get into the details, it’s no accident that I chose to cover this in the same month as the £140 T-bone at Ibai. This Substack is where I feature dishes that are well-known and talked about in London’s foodie circles; ones that people who eat out, cook, run or support restaurants for a living will travel for and recommend to their friends. The only condition I set is that I must have eaten the dish myself, anonymously if possible and never purely as a PR invite, and paid for it with my own money.

We’re an eclectic bunch, and hence so are my recommendations; I’m here for everything London has to offer, which is what makes this so much fun!

The Dish

Crispy keema-style minced lamb with a whisper of heat and a good layer of spice, folded in one of the best naan-style breads I’ve had: freshly-cooked mere feet away, the smoky charred leopard-spots freckling a pillowy bread with just the right amount of chew. Waiting for your wrap to cook is a matter of minutes but the enveloping fragrance of baking bread and caramelised meat is the ultimate appetite-sharpener.

The Other Dishes

I also ordered the cheese flatbread which is exactly as you would hope; a simple thing done very well.

The key thing to remember is to buy some of the plain naan to take home; they are £1.50 for a pack of three, freeze beautifully and will not only raise your lunch game but transform your next cook-at-home curry. I bought both wraps and two packs of plain naan for £9.

The menu is on a panel above the kitchen and is pretty straightforward: flatbreads, either plain, herb, cheese or meat. The only variable is the option of adding an egg, although at this point why not level up?

The Restaurant

Ararat Bread is in Ridley Road Market; the nearest station is Dalston Kingsland, which is directly across the road from the market entrance. Ararat Bread is at the other end of the market, one of the final units on the right hand side.

In case you’re wondering how on earth they can afford to run a bakery with those prices, do you see that shopping trolley at the front of the bakery, piled with green plastic sacks? They are all full of freshly-cooked, packaged flatbreads, on their way to an extensive network of local businesses and restaurants. You know that amazing fluffy laffa bread at Bubala? That’s from Ararat Bread (and kudos to Bubala for shouting that out on their Instagram).

As there is no seating, I can’t recommend my favourite table but I can tell you that my favourite seat is under the tree just across the market, to the right of the bakery as you leave. There’s wooden seating built around the trunk so you can sit in reasonable comfort and lean against the tree while you eat; the photos of the wraps are taken from there, so you can see how close it is.

Any down sides? As a former Hackney resident I absolutely love the vibe of Ridley Road market: eagle-eyed matriarchs checking the ripeness of plantains, £1 bowls of fruit and veg piled high and precariously balanced, the scents in the air changing from ripe fruit to fresh fish to spices and incense as you walk, old-school stalls selling household items, fufu and fish seasoning, curtains or cosmetics, the stallholders’ calls set against a background of thumping music and haggling.

Or, to put it another way, it’s a market not a restaurant: noisy, crowded, a bit smelly and with no linen-covered tables or Aesop-scented bathrooms. But if you’re looking at the Venn diagram of super-fresh, tasty, filling lunches, and ridiculous value for money, then this is your spot.

The People

There’s not too much I can say here as it’s not the kind of place where you get to quiz the chefs across the pass. Staff are busy and not given to chatting, although there is something hypnotic about watching them work with their peels, shuffling and switching the flatbreads around the huge circular oven base as it turns.

The Area

Looking for somewhere to hang out post-flatbread? Ridley Road market is just moments from what must be London’s best car park, home to the wonderful Dusty Knuckle where you can sit with an excellent coffee (while you nurse your still-warm potato sourdough loaf, more bakery swag) as well as Acme Fire Cult (see the August edition of EAT THIS NOW! ) which has a bar, and the The 40 Foot Brewery with its craft beer taproom.

You’re also close to the café-bar in Dalston Eastern Curve Garden where you can get coffee or drinks in a winding, quirky garden, or head across the road to Newcomer Wines or the wonderful Dan’s for a range of wines by the glass.

Ararat Bread: 132 Ridley Road (in Ridley Road Market), Dalston, London E8 2NR

A final word: please do comment below if you’ve been anywhere I have mentioned, if you have a dish you think I should try, or you just have something you’d like to say. One of the lovely things about Substack is the opportunity for this direct connection with your community, and I’d genuinely love to hear from you. Thank you!