BITEandWRITE

If music be the food of love, then tuck in! Big Feastival leaves a sweet taste in the mouth.

Where to turn at Jamie Oliver’s inaugural music and food festival - The Big Feastival.

Food, then music, then the food, then some comedy, a bit more food, some gardening, a touch of pudding, some music, a second helping? “It’s only ‘waffer thin’.” Go on then. Drinking in the sun to wash it all down, of course.

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8 July 2011 ·

Glasto Misery leads to Feastival Fever

As far as I’m concerned Glasto marks the start of the serious festival season. Sadly, this year, due to a combination of bad planning, laziness and ineptitude I failed to sort any tickets out.

The BBC’s blanket coverage and tweets from friends bleeting their way onto my phone compounded the feeling of being left out whilst everyone else is at the party.

That is until I flick though my diary and see that next weekend is the start of July. This year’s ‘start of the serious festival season’ is hopefully going to be a whole less muddy and a whole lot more gob-smackingly tasty.  It’s Big Feastival time.

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28 June 2011 ·

Followers of Lucky Chip Worship at The Church in search of Burger Heaven

Last night, where the sea of cars parts at the junctions of Ladbroke Grove, Kilburn Lane and Harrow Road, the congregation stood in front of the Church.

Parked on a mount was a brushed silver and green stainless steel trailer, preaching to a mass of hungry followers. A sound system was set-up and, despite it being Springtime-Lambtime, the gathering was all about the beef being sacrificed.

Enough, enough…you get the picture.

Lucky Chip (@lucky_chip / http://luckychipuk.com/) is North-West London (and wherever else they choose to park up’s) answer to @themeatwagonuk and new kids on the ‘we can knock out a good US style Burger’ block.

With Ginger Pig meat, soft brioche baps and crunchy pickles the guys are producing burgers more akin to NYC’s Shake Shack / Burger Joint offerings than a posh, gourmet, sit-down restaurant burger.

I like them greasy, juicy and lunch wagon style, so it’s indeed lucky they’re close enough for me to work my way down the rest of the menu soon. I started simply this time with a single with cheese and a side of chips.  These are messy eats, multiple napkins needed. The only tweak I would make is to ask for a little less French’s mustard in order to let the other flavours come through.

As for the chips, lucky? Well the thin hand-cut, jacket-on fries were the best I’d had from a mobile. I’m also guessing the knock out wasabi mayo and ginger sweet chilli dips were more well-planned than luck.

To sum up, if it’s about making your own luck, and you have a penchant for burgers, just hunt them down on the weekends and get a lucky burger break.

28 May 2011 ·

• Tags
• burger
• street food

Lo-fi Setup. Hi-fi Ingredients. Whitecross St Market’s Top Baguette

Today the recipe was simple.  I wandered down to Whitecross Street which was properly buzzing in the sun. In amongst the masses of well kitted up stalls was a single Italian, trying to assemble baguettes which were selling out as fast as he could make them.

What initially caught my eye was the lo-fi setup. 1 table, 1 knife, some fresh baguettes and some serious slabs of quality cured meats and cheeses.

There was no way this could go wrong.  Some Calabrian soppressata salami was sliced, followed by some smoked mozzarella and a couple of leaves…

Whilst the bain-maries were bubbling away elsewhere, the basics were assembled in front of me from a tiny table and they tasted sublime.

There were no contacts or names or boards though. So go hunt down the lo-fi table and hi-fi tastes, supporting the small stalls along the way.

25 May 2011 ·

• Tags
• Whitecross street market
• Calabrian soppressata
• Salami
• Street food