Jaaneman Sweet Centre

Best-Value Restaurants North London Are Cheap, but Not ‘Cheap Eats’ | Eater London

"The A406, aka the North Circular Road, is London’s liminal space, lined with strange shops with singular stories — all the way from Ace Cafe where bikers used to race to Hanger Lane and back before the jukebox finished a song, to Gokyuzu’s massive Chingford ocakbasi. Before long, Jaaneman Sweet Centre’s story will be fully told. On an unloved stretch of concrete and semi-pedestrianised road between Palmers Green and Arnos Grove, Nalim Bapodra has spent the last 33 years mastering the art of mithai — Indian sweets — specifically dense fudge-like burfi made with milk, milk powder, and sugar syrup. As the week goes on, the most popular flavours — chocolate, pistachio, and almond — sell out, so try to get there early. Bapodra generously encourages customers to sample, sometimes forcing whole pieces on them in the manner of an eager uncle: Make sure to save room for his more savoury mithai like mohenthal, a grittier sweet made with gram flour and fragrant with saffron." - Jonathan Nunn