Street Feast London @ Camden Town Brewery

I love hanging local, so I was happy to see Street Feast London back at the Camden Town Brewery this Saturday for a nice day of good food, good beer and more 'lympics.

After a mega swim at Parliament Hill Lido just up the road, I had the hunger of a teenage boy and the thirst of a donkey (thanks Kath?!). But by god I'd come to the right place...

In a nice little nook just by Kentish Town West overground, the brewery offers up the perfect place for a spot of street food and a beer in the sun. Joyce and I nabbed one of the brewery's classics, Hells lager - the cold crisp liquid slipping down like a sweet sweet nectar.

To eat, I jumped on the Bhangra Burger band wagon. My first experience of Baba Gupta's magic, the lamb burger folded into a wrap filled with salad, spicy goodness could not have hit the spot more. I should think it will be my first of many.


Street Feast London is ordinarily Dalston based and takes place each Friday. I've no doubt I'll be headed back to the Camden Town Brewery, however, a nice one to add to the list of 'locals'.

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Forza Win

With a love of rooftop revelry and a passion for pizza, Forza Win, the East London supper club of the Napoli inspired Pizza Pilgrims, held immediate appeal. 

With a new rooftop residence following an unfortunate shut down a couple of weeks ago, the guys welcomed us with open arms on Friday night. Open arms and a delicious Aperol Spritz - its zingy zestiness complimenting the balmy evening perfectly.

As the infamous ovens were fired up, we sat down to a simple starter of penne pasta served beautifully al dente with a light  ragù sauce and topped with parmesan. So simple, but so delicious.

Then onto the main event - the pizza. Presented as a tasting menu, we were served pizza after pizza in impressively quick succession. 

Now I've had good pizza, spoilt by the pizzerias of Firenze and Roma, but these were great. Truly great. The dough, light and nicely charcoaled, the toppings carefully sourced for ultimate taste. My favourite was the Napoli salami and portobello mushroom - the salty bite of the meat dangerously good. 

Once we'd had our pizza-fill, we were treated to a little live music from the soulful Ligers. The vibe was lovely, a rooftop of contented Londoners wrapped up in the moment. 

A little something sweet was served in the form of creamy ricotta and vanilla Gelupo topped with flakes of sea salt and drizzled with olive oil. Bloody good - I nailed mine (and Emily's).

And with that, our soirée was over and our kind hosts ushered us back down to ground level. From what I hear, places are now pretty limited, but give it a go - your efforts will be more than worth it. Failing that, the guys (and their oven) will still be appearing in the form of Pizza Pilgrims around the city's food markets. I may now be following them around on my own pilgrimage - that Napoli salami has me hooked. 

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Weekend Wonders

There is a list the length of my arm of fun things to do in and around London this weekend... but how to choose?

It's the last night of Camden Brewery playing host to Street Feast this Friday, so go fill your boots with the finest foods and fresh-brewed beer. 

For a bit of pop up art, catch the The Horsebox Gallery's Best of British exhibition in the beautiful Blewcoat school. I'm yet to go to one of this team's event, but they're doing a whole load of great stuff, including touring this Summer's Polo, racing and country
events with their gallery-in-a-horsebox. Nice.

Forzawin launches this Saturday, a new rooftop supper club serving three course Italian meals (including Pizza Pilgrim's delicious pizza), specially chosen drinks and a nice bit of mystery entertainment all set against a view out over our fair city.

The Garden of House of St Barnabas - pic from here

This Summer, the Lexi Cinema presents The Nomad, a travelling cinema with screens popping up all over the city for some magical viewing. This weekend sees them set up shop at Greek St's House of St Barnabas (one of my favourite places) for a Baz Luhrmann extravaganza. Tickets are still going for the burlesque-dream Moulin Rouge on Saturday night, with a drink and nibbles thrown in.

Wilton's - the auditorium

On 2nd July, the lovely Wilton's Music Hall closes for 6 months worth of repairs. Head down for talks on the plan for this amazing building on Saturday and Sunday followed by cocktails in the newly opened upstairs Mahogany bar to say your farewells until 2013. 

Sunset at Frank's Cafe - snap from here

Frank's Cafe re-opens this Saturday for another year of car-park coolness. I hear the opening party is always a good one.

What I See in Her (Quello che vedo in lei) - Gianluca Capaldo

For cheap (free) and cheerful entertainment on Sunday, go check out this year's BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery. There are some lovely pieces this year. I had a weird double take situ at the private view last week as the naked girl above wondered past me (fully clothed).

Wyndstock

I, meanwhile, will be bailing on London tomorrow to head up to Norfolk for the lovely Wyndstock. So, if you fancy escaping the city, come join - it seems that there are still tickets going. It all kicks off with lunch on Saturday followed by lawn games, back to the manor (tent) to tart and onto dinner and dancing under the stars. 


Let me know if you make it to any of the above... I've got serious FOMO.

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Friday night at The StockMKT

I heard about The StockMKT from my dear friend Rimbaud (aka the hot young chef James Ramsden). His new venture Kebab Kitchen was having it's maiden voyage last night at the second round of this foodie-dream pop up market.

So, with a hop skip and a Boris, we arrived in Bermondsey square, the sweet smells of cooking food and the cheerful cries of the stall holders reaching us before we'd even entered.


My streetfood-savvy friend, Camden (blogger extraordinaire), was quick to point out her favourites Bhangra Burger, Pizza Pilgrims and Bea's of Bloomsbury who were outrageous in their offering of deep fried brownies - oh mama.

Drink in hand, it was time to start sampling. And so, with more hungry gals in tow, we opted for a coupla scotchies to whet our appetites. Sweet lord, runny yolk and salty meat, topped with cracked pepper and a dash of 'holy fuck' hot sauce - the Egg Boss showed us exactly why these English classics are back in vogue.

Egg boss' heavenly scotch eggs

Looking for more little tasters before heading in for the main event, we got a plate of Pom Pom Takoyaki's dee-lish balls. Sadly the octopus originals were already gone, but the chicken variant was pretty impressive - like savoury profiteroles, filled with sticky meat and topped with teriyaki sauce and mayonnaise (or mayonasia as Dee-Pee coined it).

Suitably startered, we headed to the Kebab Kitchen stall, it's queue by now winding itself around the block. Unfazed, we got in line, debating the options of Suffolk chicken vs. West country lamb.

James Ramsden - one half of team Kebab Kitchen

We queued and we queued - buoyed on by the nice hustle and bustle about us and the fun live music that drifted over from the other side of the square (not to mention the blissful expressions of the people ahead of us as they took their first bites). A projection show began as darkness fell - the artwork all from a project done by kids from the area. 


An hour later and our hearts were broken as we arrived at the front to find that our friends the Kebab men were completely sold out. Lucky he's my friend - I could only be happy that he'd done such a roaring trade. But, no messing about, I'll be first in line at The Ship next month when they fire up the spit and kebab once again.

In the meantime, I've just remembered that there's a forgotten Rocky Road in my bag snapped up from the lovely girls at Yummy Boutique - breakfast of Queens. 


If it's good food and a fun feel you're looking for of a Friday evening, be sure to check out The StockMKT next time it appears. Not sure when or where that will be yet, but keep your eye on their site for more info.

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