Another special opener that scored was an order of three large and light tempura shrimp atop a finely minced potato salad with abundant scallions.
The clam chowder, a beige brew containing lots of minced clams, potatoes and corn, was also good.
But the pasty is in fact a fine invention, and like fish and chips and sausages, you can now get brilliant ones cooked by the likes of Hugh F-W, stuffed full of delicious minced lamb, potatoes and carrots.
There was also Eurasian-style bagadale, a cutlet made with minced pork, potatoes, spices and crackers that doesn't often appear on restaurant menus, and ayam kalasan, a Malay-style dish of chicken marinated in coconut and various spices and then deep-fried.
For example, the Burmese traditional food for weaning was soft boiled egg, banana, kongi (rice), fine minced meat, potatoes and carrots.
Doused with melted butter and sprinkled with minced dill, the potatoes were the sole accompaniments to the mushrooms.
Duncan's Pie, Mash and Eels (365 Green Street; 44-20-8552-1288) is one of the few places left in London where you get a traditional "pie and mash" of minced beef and potatoes (around £3.80), as well as the infamous jellied eels.
Winter Chowder 3 pounds mussels, well scrubbed 4 slices bacon, diced 2 yellow onions, minced 4 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads 4 pounds Chilean sea bass, cut into 1-inch pieces 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste 4 cups heavy cream 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves.
The recipe for a Cornish pasty, as defined by its protected status, includes diced or minced beef, onion, potato and swede in rough chunks along with some "light peppery" seasoning.
Two somosas ($5), or flaky pastry turnovers filled with finely minced, spiced lamb and/or potatoes, were the usual except for their gargantuan size and the tangy cilantro-kissed squiggles that circled the plate.
