Camels Milk Ice Cream

This past weekend a little taste of the Middle East came to London, via Manchester, when the ice cream van Gingers Comfort Emporium unveiled their camels milk ice cream at the Experimental Food Society. This is apparently the first time this product has been sold in the UK and the milk has to be sourced from the Netherlands where Europe’s only camel dairy farm is based! As Gingers Comfort Emporium was only in London for two days, I made sure to head down to Brick Lane where they were pitched up, so I could give it a try before they headed back up North.

Kimchi Cult on London’s Newest Street

You might not be able to find it on a map yet, but Kings Boulevard – London’s newest street, is quickly gaining a reputation as a place to find great food. Specifically great street food. Since the start of October the guys from Eat.St have been running ‘eat.st at Kings Cross’, a micro street food market on Thursdays and Fridays, with a rotating group of their traders. And by all accounts its turned out to be a great success, with the local office workers flocking down to try something new for their lunch. Unfortunately for me, I work in deepest, darkest, North London and normally there’s absolutely no way I could make it down during my lunch break. But luckily today I had the day off, and I had to get a train from Euston which gave me the perfect excuse to head down and see what was on offer.

Eat My Pies on Broadway Market

What’s the old saying “the best laid plans, often go awry”? Well that was the case this weekend when I headed out to London Fields in Hackney to check out Lucky Chip at Netil Market and their fantastic sounding burgers.  But it wasn’t meant to be, as just as I arrived I was told they’d run out of meat and would have to close until they could get a delivery from their butcher!

So still hungry I decided to head down Broadway market, just a few minutes away and see what street food was on offer.  And it turns out, quite a lot!  There was a great choice including Vietnamese Banh Mi baguettes from Banhmi11, Vietnamese Coffee from Ca Phe VN, or Ghanain stews from Spinach & Agushi.  While I’ll definitely head back soon to try all of these, this time I decided try a bit of British street food, albeit with a bit of a twist, from Eat My Pies.

Kings Cross Just Got A Whole Lot More Interesting

I started hearing rumours and murmurings a few weeks ago, that something was about to be announced. Then there was an article in the Evening Standard two weeks ago suggesting that the Eat.St guys would be taking over a disused petrol station in Kings Cross for a couple of weeks, but that turned out to be premature.

But earlier today the Eat.St guys announced the full details – and it sounds like Central London is in for a bit of a treat. From this week Kings Cross is going to get its own street-food micro-market called ‘eat.st at Kings Cross’ Thursday’s and Friday’s 10am – 4pm. Sitting on Kings Boulevard (which happens to be London’s newest street) right behind Kings Cross and St Pancras, there will be four different traders each day, meaning over the course of the market you’ll get to try a whole range of different foods.

Coffee Training with Union Hand-Roasted

This is of course a blog dedicated to street food, but I love food and drink generally, so occasionally I will post something not strictly about street food.  Today’s post is one of those.

I don’t know about anyone else but when I think about great coffee my first thought isn’t an industrial estate in East London. But that’s where I found myself this past weekend when I was invited to take part in a Roastery tour and mini barista training session with Union Roasted Coffee.  But i’m also on a bit of a coffee kick at the moment (I was a late convert having only really started drinking it in the last year) so I figured a trip out East would be worth it

Street Food on the Southbank this weekend

So the weather is looking like it might actually be nice this weekend which is great timing for the Harvest Festival down on the South Bank.  Organised by the people behind the Real Food Festival (and this summers Street Food Festival) the Thames between the London Eye and the National Theatre will be lined with loads of food stalls and retailers.

Thames Festival Feast

This year the Thames Festival went all out on the food; from the London Eye all the way down to Tower Bridge, the river was lined with so many food stalls, carts and trucks, the choice was incredible.  The best of the food was (for the most part) nestled in front of the Tate Modern where the Eat.St collective was representing the best of London’s street food.  And it was here that I started my day of street food indulgence.  I was so tempted to just head straight to a few of the tried and tested vendors (Big Apple Hot Dogs was calling to me), but I decided to stick with places that I hadn’t tried before.

Street Food Alert

This weekend there’s a great opportunity to try out some of London’s best street food without having to travel all over the place.  As part of the Mayor of London’s end of summer Thames Festival there will be more than fifteen members of Eat Street (a group of London Street Food traders) represented, including some of my favourites like Big Apple Hot Dogs and Bhangra Burgers.

The traders will be spread over three locations on the South bank of the river – outside the Tate Modern, by the London Assembly building (More London) and at the Southbank.  You can get the full list of traders and the locations over on the Eat St website.

Even though the weather is looking a little dodgy over both days of the festival (Sunday especially) I will be braving the rain to try out a few new places including Anna Mae’s pulled pork and Yum Bun’s steamed pork buns.

Thames Festival

11am-11pm on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th September

 

Big Apple Hot Dogs

I can’t think of a better way to kick off this new blog than with the best hot dog i’ve ever eaten.  Located at the top of Old Street, Big Apple Hot Dogs are serving up delicious uncomplicated food.  Nothing fancy here, just perfect street food.  We’re not talking the bland, pretty pathetic excuses that Supermarkets sell as hot dogs, but proper meaty hot dogs that taste fantastic.