Inspired by London’s Food Tube Map, I decided to create Slough’s own version of a Quirky Food map, asking locals and scouring menus to find the most interesting food in our Berkshire town. Ordinary food with a slight twist or an unusual ingredient. And surprisingly, I found quite a lot. Here are my 16 Quirky Foods of Slough.
These are in no particular order, and restaurants are those recommended by followers of @sloughitsnotsobad.
1)Doner Quesadilla
Now when I heard ‘Doner Kebab’ and ‘Quesadilla’ in the same sentence, I thought what a mix. I love both foods, so to combine them is a genius idea! You can find them at German Doner Kebab on Farnham Road. According to food blog Blog Literati this dish is “for those who can’t deal with large sized Doners, they can go for this option which has all the goodness and taste of a Doner in a more comfortable and palatable quesadilla form.”
2) Gulab Jaman Cheesecake
People have been raving about Chaiiwala across the country, and now a brand new branch has opened on Farnham Road. The Desi breakfast is the main pull, but howabout a cheesecake with a gulab jaman indian sweet inside for quirky. There are pics all over Instagram – definitely one to try.
3) Amritsari Fish Fingers
Fish fingers with Indian spices in the batter. I am curious as to how they would taste, and would Lily – my fish finger addict – like them? They are available at Masala & Coal inside the Three Tuns.
4) Matcha Cheesecake
It’s a cheesecake again, but this time it’s green! Made with Matcha Green Tea, you can try this at Mori Japanese Restaurant on Slough High Street. They also serve deep fried ice cream!
5) Eel Sushi (Unagi)
Okay I am not going to try this one, but if you are daring and want to try an unusual ingredient, how about eel sushi?! Also available at Mori Japanese Restaurant. As well as normal sushi!
6) Lentil Doughnuts
We all love a sweet doughnut. But a savoury one? That could be interesting. Rickshaw Road serve Lentil Doughnuts – aka the South Indian snack Medu Vada, and they come with samar and coconut chutney.
7) Bubblelicious Popping Candy Sundae
It’s pink and blue, it has popping candy, it looks pretty – and you can get it in Slough! Head to Creams just off the High Street. They describe it as:
“Blue and pink bubblegum gelato and strawberry gelato with Creams soft vanilla ice cream, drizzled with bubblegum and strawberry sauces, topped with popping candy. All showered with 100’s/1000’s sprinkles and topped with a Creams wafer.”
8) Cheese & Chilli Naan
One of my readers recommended Swagath, who are a South Indian restaurant on the High Street. They serve authentic meals from that side of the world, and whilst it’s not the quirkiest of foods, the cheese & chilli naan bread does sound a bit different.
9) The Paneer Bomb
An exclusive dish created by one of the chefs at SKVP (Shree Khrishna Vada Pav). This place on Alpha Street North (off the High Street) serves vegetarian street food, and the decor inside is really cool from the pics on Instagram – there’s even a London Underground roundel!
They say “Paneer Bomb is our Chef Nikita’s special invention. Succulent pieces of paneer that melt in your mouth and sauces stuffed between slices of bread and deep fried.” – basically a deep-fried paneer sandwich!
10) Syrian Traditional Ice Cream
So many people recommended Damascene on the High Street to me. They serve Middle Eastern food like shawarmas and wraps, but the ice cream looked really interesting to me.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsrI7zCA6uz/11) Saffron Tea
If you are after Afghan and Persian cuisine, there is the Kabul Palace on Slough High Street. And they serve Saffron Tea which I think is quite rare.
12) Falooda
Falooda is a traditional Asian dessert drink made of rabri milk, vermicelli, tukmaria seeds and rose syrup served with kulfi ice cream. Not something you can get at Starbucks! You can try this at Favourite’s Dessert Lounge on Slough High Street. As well as ice creams and freakshakes.
13) Mighty Minty Freakshake
Speaking of freakshakes, Treatz, also on Slough High Street, do a good selection of freakshakes. Though I’m not sure how you’d eat a slab of cake out of a milkshake cup. The Mighty Minty looked like the ‘easiest to eat’ to me, and it has After Eight and Aero Choc Mints on it – tasty, or should I say freaky.
14) Beer Battered Pakora
Head on to the Panjab Restaurant in Langley, and there are lots of interesting Panjabi dishes (as you can guess from the restaurant name). I’ve heard of beer battered fish and chips, but not beer battered pakoras. Different!
15) Melting Chocolate & Peanut Bomb
One we have actually tried at The Red Lion in Stoke Poges – the Melting Chocolate & Peanut Bomb. It’s an amazing piece of food theatre for you and it tastes divine. Hot chocolate sauces is poured over a gold chocolate ball which melts to reveal chocolate and peanut ice cream inside. Swipe for the video in the below Instagram shot.
16) Tikka Paneer
Last but not least, I have selected Tikka flavoured paneer cheese! You can try it at the Exotic Cuisine restaurant on Farnham Road.
See? There are interesting foods to eat in Slough, and quite a lot of restaurants to try out. I’ll be aiming to try one of these places each week to put our Slough restaurants to the test.
Are you tempted to try any of these quirky foods? If you do, post a pic on Instagram and tag me @sloughitsnotsobad / #sloughitsnotsobad and I will share. It would be interesting to see what you guys think!
Sabrina x
P.S. There were even more restaurants recommended by locals, but they were just outside of Slough or didn’t have quirky dishes, but I’ll shout them out here in case you want to try them out – Spices in Datchet, Tummies in Burnham, Biriyani Nation in Slough (delivery/takeaway), Maharaja Sweets in Wexham for samosas, and the Salt Hill Park Cafe for breakfast. If you have any more to add, post a comment below.
