Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Street Feast At Dalston Yard


The friends partied at the Street Feast in Haggerston earlier and loved it. It's now popped up at Dalston Yard at Hartwell Street. Popped by for a peek. Food trucks and little stores aplenty. The crowds wouldn't pack in till 4pm, so we went earlier. Had other plans in the evening that didn't involve in being squished shoulder to shoulder packed with a thousand other humans queuing up for food. Not big on picnics either. It's all about the portaloos, or the lack of it, really. Hence, not bothered with the Foodies Festival at Battersea Park.

Remember the 'debate' about the merit of Singapore's World Streetfood Congress? Anyway, street food is unique to geographical location, and these in London aren't about structured dialogues. They're meant to be parties for everybody. No stuffy vibes permitted. Not exactly big on it though. Nowadays, I generally veer away from crowds and parties of this nature. The food isn't an attraction either. It doesn't beckon anymore than Michelin-starred restaurants do. To me, pizzas, burgers, tacos and goat curry aren't exactly different from idli, murtabak, thosaimee siam, sup kambing, Hokkien meechar kway teow, and laksa. The marked difference between these events in two cities- those awesome craft beers by Meantime, the great venues either at spacious parks or merchant yards, and the weather, and oh, the 101% hip factor that's impossible to replicate.

Thankfully there was coffee first thing. Then I went around looking for edibles. Found a tasty veggie wrap at Mama's Jerk Station. The friends already plopped onto one of the tables with bottles of wine and cups of beer. They were eyeing the dudes setting up the grill over at Honest Burgers, fully intending to be first in line when they were ready for orders. Had loads of Yakima Red, an unplaceable cool beer. It was quite refreshing to sit in the sun and not perspire because there was a really chilly wind blowing fiercely.

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