This is a good local place, helped for me by the fact its BYO and a 10 minute walk from where my flatmate works, making it convenient for incredible value tasty food, washed down with a decent bottle of Riesling midweek.

However, if you haven't been before, be prepared, the first time you walk on to the street it occupies you'll think about turning around. [I have no personal knowledge of the pub at the end of the street and so wouldn't want to be thought to be criticising it, but its somewhere I'd only venture into on a suicidal pub crawl.] As rubbish howls past you and the local youth hover on the street corner, you see Hot Stuff and would wonder if this was the right place, if it wasn't for it being so packed there's a few people outside waiting for a table. Hopefully you've booked and the younger of the Dawood family who own Hot Stuff, Raj, will take you to your seat, which will have very little room between it and your neighbour's seat.

Raj is always the waiter, sometimes assisted by unnamed family members from the Kitchen. He is always very friendly, recognises his regulars and is an irrepressible salesman, but at these prices you can let it ride. My view of paneer generally is not good, but on the last occasion I went, after Chilli Paneer had been recommended and declined several times the dish arrived regardless. It was not bad, the sauce decently spicy but the paneer had its usual blandness. Thankfully the starters we had ordered were good, Meat Samosas had a lamb mince filling, the texture of which along with the spicing seemed quite middle eastern but tasted great, one of the best dishes of the night. We also had Vegetable Pakoras which were more potato than anything, but tasted almost taka dahl like with turmeric and mustard seeds, these were not great but were another decent dish.

My flatmate then moved on to a lamb dish from the specials board, I'm afraid I don't have the name but the taste was good, tender lamb and not too hot. I had the much lauded Masala Fish. Its fair to say that this is a texture dish rather than being mainly about taste, the tilapia fish having been stewed to the point where it is not left with much flavour. The flipside of this is flakes of fish that really do melt in the mouth. Personally I'd like a little more flavour from the main ingredient but I can see why people enjoy the tender flesh in the well spiced sauce.

We also shared a Makani Dahl from the specials board, another dish that has been reviewed elsewhere. The dahl is clearly cooked in Ghee and it has that taste that walks a thin line between near-rancid and compelling. I know that doesn't sound great but you know what cooking in a lot of ghee tastes like. This dahl came out on just the right side, and had a complex multi-layered flavour. I can recommend it, but a shared portion will be enough for most, it certainly is for me.

As well as the dahl we shared a dish of orange squash and saag, this was the second great dish of the night, the squash just retaining the right amount of bite whilst having lost any bitterness to the flavour. It was surprisingly well matched by the spinach, helped to integrate by the subtle spicing. Along with all the above we had sundry well made naan to complete the meal.

I really like this place, all dishes are good, some are great. The prices are tiny and encourage return and experimentation from the frequently changing specials menu. BYO lets you try out interesting wine matches without scaring the bank manager, and for something more reliable there's always lager from the off-license next door. It is a local restaurant, and probably doesn't warrant a schlep across London, but I thoroughly recommend it and its certainly worth a small detour.