Ribstock, 27th September

I have wanted to go to a Ribstock for about three years now but things beyond my control, rather than inability to get a ticket have always got in the way. Not this year though. I was there, at noon, finger on the mouse, ready to get my ticket, and before 12:01 I was one of the lucky 200 to have nabbed one. They did things a bit differently this year – previously tickets are around £50 and that entitles one person to try all the competition ribs  and cast their vote for their favourite. Being a Tweat Up event, they normally throw in a free drink or two with that, and I think there’s normally about ten competitors.

This year, the ticket was a whopping £79!! BUT, it was a plus one ticket – so you could go on your own and eat ALL the ribs, or you could bring someone with you for ‘sharesies’. And believe me, doing ‘sharesies’ did not mean losing out. There were only three competitors who served up a single rib, and these were gargantuan examples of a rib. Otherwise you would get at least two ribs, or, where they were baby back (by Roti Chai) we actually had four! I was stuffed by the end of it, and we had to seriously slow down our eating after four servings to make sure we didn’t ruin our judgment by being too full to enjoy them.

On top of this each ticket got you a pint glass which entitled you to unlimited refills of Frontier lager. I’m not a beer drinker myself, but Stephen made ample use of this and got through five pints in the evening before we called it a night and headed off at 9:30. Had we stayed until the end he could easily have made that seven.

On top of this – yes, there’s more! We got a free old fashioned, and a free shot of tincup whiskey – lovely stuff – smooth and sweet. But wait, there’s more!! With each ticket you also got a free bottle of The Ribman’s Holy Fuck Bacon sauce, plus some pork scratchings.

But wait, there’s EVEN more!! Some of the stalls had other freebies they were giving away with the competition ribs. Roti Chai had an apple and cinnamon whiskey shot, Breddos had a pickleback (love them!) and Texas Joe gave away packets of his fruity, lip tingling, chewy jerky (seriously – it’s delicious). Yeah, I did the math and we got our money’s worth that day that’s for sure. (I literally did the calculating as we were going along and we easily ate and drank £80 worth.)

Roti Chai's baby backs with apple and cinnamon whiskey shot

So. The Ribs. There were seven traders taking part and I won’t go into detail on them all or this post will last as long as it took to eat them. For Stephen and I there was a definitive Top 3, and we were actually split between our two favourites, it was such a close call. We enjoyed all of the ribs but there was something we couldn’t quite define yet which we knew we were looking for when it came to choosing the best. It couldn’t be too much like any old slow-cooked meat. It had to have some BBQ char, flavour and texture to it. A bit of bite, a bit of its own unique taste, not relying simply on its sauce. For us, Smokestak and Hotbox ticked all these boxes. I slightly preferred Smokestak with the rib tips it came with and a very good hot coleslaw and pickled chillies.

Winning ribs from Smokestak

Stephen preferred Hotbox, which came with some delicious pickled onions and also chillies. In the end, I voted for Hotbox in the name of romance.

Our third choice were Breddos tacos, although the public chose otherwise, with Roti Chai coming in third. We both liked the Roti Chai ribs but we felt they were more about the sauce than the rib – a lovely satay-esque sauce with a good hit of chilli. I really loved the Breddos boys’ short rib offering though, topped with the best mole I’ve ever had. I had thought I was running out of room and yet I got that in my stomach without pausing for breath. What kept it from the top spot for us was that it seemed more like a slow cooked pot roast than a barbequed beef rib. Damn tasty though!

We began our feasting at 6 and it took us three and a half hours to get to the final rib, and I’m sad to say we were far too full to try any of the other porky offerings for sale as part of PorkLife which was running concurrently. The pork belly croquettes from Breddos looked delicious, and I think Stephen was sad he couldn’t fit in a Bleecker burger. But what an amazing event. I’m now in my semi-non-drinking month so apart from all the free shots, I didn’t buy any drinks, and Stephen had his beer refills so we didn’t spend any money the whole night. Tweat Up, I salute you (again).

Here are the rest of the competitors’ ribs:

The Ribman's with Holy Fuck 'slaw

Texas Joe's beast

Q Grill's sticky ribs

Smokestak's pig

Satan's Whiskers, 1st March

I've been meaning to get to Satan's Whiskers for a while now. They hadn't quite opened the first time I wanted to go, and they were too full the second. Third time's the charm and just to be sure we made a booking.

We weren't sure if they did food and didn't think to look until we were on the tube on our way there. Deciding not to risk a hungry evening in case they didn't, we went round the corner to Hawker House (any excuse). We both tried a new trader, and, as we have come to expect, loved it. I had my first Born and Raised pizza - pepperoni, and Stephen had a bento box from Hot Box. My pizza was an oblong individual pizza cut in half. It was amazingly oozey – sauce and pepperoni juice ran down my hand the minute I took a bite. Stephen's bento box had a smoked beef, pork and jalapeno sausage with a barbecued chicken thigh. Plus a piece of cornbread and some BBQ sauce. Neither meat needed any sauce to go with them as they were both incredibly juicy and tender. 

When we arrived at Satan's Whiskers, we were seated in a prime location - in a corner, with the skeleton of a unicorn overlooking us. (Unicorns don't exist because Satan's Whiskers killed the last one to put in their bar.)

One of the many lovely waiters we encountered informed us cocktails were on the front of the menu and food/wine/beer were on the back. Food! So they did do it! And it was all so reasonably priced and sounded pretty decent. It also turned out to be better than simply decent. Stephen stepped up to the plate - he was still peckish after his meat appetiser and after our first drink ordered the brisket bun, which was topped with coconut coleslaw and came with a dollop of chilli corn on the side. I had a bite or two and I must admit, even though I don't like coconut, the sweetness it added to the 'slaw was a perfect touch.  I had a fork of the chilli corn and wished we'd ordered the full side of it as it was so good. I don't much care for corn ordinarily, but the heat of the chilli in this made it a really moreish dish. The food happened to coincide with me ordering the penicillin - a drink which includes peat, giving it a very smoky taste. It couldn't have paired more perfectly with the chilli corn and the smoked beef. 

The penicillin was probably my favourite drink of the night, simply for being the most unusual one I had (oh, and the scotch). It also came with a piece of candied ginger on the side, to complement the ginger syrup, which was fantastic. In general, Satan's Whiskers menu is more 'classics done their way' rather than theatrical cocktails with bells and whistles. And the price reflected this with none of them costing over £8.

I had started with a champagne julep and Stephen went for the bar's namesake - the Satan's Whiskers. Mine was definitely a step up from a normal julep with the addition of bubbles. I now believe all juleps should be made with bubbles. The Satan's Whisker was like drinking an orange sherbet - albeit one to which a lot of liquor has been added.

Finally, I had a brandy alexander, which tastewise was my favourite. It was like a white russian but obviously with a brandy flavour (ie with an actual alcohol flavour rather than the typically tasteless vodka) and the nutmeg on it was a nice accent.

Stephen's last drink was the Queen's Park Swizzle - look how pretty it is! This was pretty much like drinking a mojito (it was rum, lime, mint, and bitters) but with the addition of sugar it was a tad sweeter.

Satan's Whiskers describes itself as a neighbourhood bar, but in reality it is far too trendy to be taken as such. Also, you don't tend to have to wait 40 minutes to get a seat in a neighbourhood bar. But for me that's not a bad thing. It's nice to have such a cool little bar livening up a rather dull and kinda skanky stretch of road. And it's only one stop on the tube from my flat. Sold.

To round off the night we headed to the Old George on Bethnal Green Road, which I hadn't been to before. It kinda smelled a bit but I liked the vibe so we stayed and ended up staying for several drinks. Turns out the place is an Antic pub - who also own Farr's and the BBC in Balham. No wonder I liked it.

Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato

Hawker House (Street Feast), 15th November

What can I say about Street Feast that I haven't said before? It's a fantastic concept and with every new venue or new iteration they seem to improve upon it. Having moved on from Dalston Yard in the autumn, they are now ensconced in Hawker House for the winter (well, pre-Christmas winter). 

This time roughly the same 10 outfits are there every week, but to keep you coming back for more, the menu is changing every weekend. So, Spit and Roast I have had on many occasion, and may normally overlook, but then they decide to offer things like spit roasted pork belly, or chicken braise with sausage. As it happens, these weren't enough to tempt me on my visit because there were some other places I hadn't yet tried at all, but you can see how they're managing to keep the spark burning amongst even their tried and tested customers.

But, much as I love them, and Yum Bun, and Breddo's, I was lusting after new blood that night. And Stephen was there to help me. After grabbing a drink from the Hot Bar (serving a pretty good range of hot, boozy drinks, from hot toddies to mulled wine, via various hot rums - I had the buttered variety which was delicious) we did a quick circuit to decide where to start.

I veered back to Rola Wala who I hadn't tried before. I'd already read the weekend's menu before and thought the rolasliders sounded good. Being cooked on the tava, they looked it as well, so I decided to have just one as a 'starter'. The meat du jour was pulled pork, from piggies we were assured were living a happy life, well, until the day before the day before when it sadly ended for them. This was piled on a mini naan and then on top of that pickled, minted red onion, mango sauce, savian crunch, some other sauce and for an extra 50p a shot of scorpion chilli powder. The bread was slightly crunchy itself from being on the tava but pliant enough to be folded around the meat so it could all be stuffed into my waiting maw. Delicious.

Stephen tried out the sliders from Breddo's (they're resident at the Sider bar don'tchaknow) and thought they were amazing. 'Why are sliders so much tastier than regular-sized burgers?' he mused. He'd already said the classic slider was a good'un but he was even more enthusiastic about the 5 chilli cheesburger he had right after. 

Not keen to rest on our laurels we headed for round two straight away. I'm so glad Stephen wanted something from Smokestak as I was very tempted by them, but Bob's Lobsters had been calling to me. A bargain compared to the one you get at Burger and Lobster and just as good I reckon. They look bloody impressive with a big lobster claw sticking out the top and have just the right amount of mayo and other relish. The lobster itself tasted a little cajun which was a pleasant surprise. It was well worth the worrying minute or so when my lips started tingling and my tongue started itching and I'd do it again!

Stephen had what would win 'most impractically-served dish' of the night - a big, juicy, saucy bit of beef rib, in some brown paper, which got pretty soggy pretty quickly. You can't really go wrong with a well cooked bit of BBQ, though Stephen's bit did have maybe a little too much fat. Naturally he ate it, but felt really guilty afterwards.

I was feeling pretty done by that point but we didn't want to give up just yet so we had a drink while we digested. I wanted to give StreetVinWine a go, although the Whiskey bar, at which they have managed to create a tiny speakeasy-type den was also tempting.  But wine it was and I ordered their cheapest red, thinking this would still be pretty good if they were priding themselves in serving good wine. And it was. And then I did something silly, and used up all my money bar £3.70 buying Stephen a glass of rioja. Why was this silly? Well, I hadn't realised he only had £3 left himself.

So it came to 'dessert' and we discovered we didn't have enough money between us to buy the chocolate, venison and beetroot ravioli from Cooking Cooks at £7 we'd had our hearts set on sharing. As we watched the stall looking slightly neglected compared to the other traders, we (as in Stephen) decided to risk rejection and ventured to ask if they might accept £6.70 instead of the full whack. This they generously did, and, I hasten to add, were instantly met with good karma, as us buying a dish immediately attracted a mini-queue. 

I am really glad we shared this as eating it on my own would have been too much - it was a very rich, dense dish. Each element was noticeable but it worked really well together. As you put the raviolo in your mouth, the chocolate aromas filled it, but as you bit into it the beetroot and venison overpowered this to make it a very savoury dish. It was served with a gorgeous brandy and butter sauce, which I could have happily had more of, and some parmesan shavings. Not just an attention-grabbing gimmick but a really tasty, well thought out plate of food. The styrofoam bowl and my photography skills don't do it justice! 

Having spent our very last pennies, and feeling completely full, we departed after an hour and a half. It was just warming up in terms of atmosphere, but by all accounts things really got busy about a half an hour after that so if you want to go - get down there early! You'll also avoid the £3 charge they're using to help crowd control after 7pm.

I shall be back again tomorrow. Venison rolasliders, I'm looking at you!

Truckstop, 1st August

There seems to be no stopping Street Feast and Tweat Up. After their very successful stint at Merchant's Yard on Fridays with the Tweat Up extravanganzas on the Saturdays (I went to the amazing Taco Wars), they have teamed up again for Truck Stop. 

This time any street food vendor who wants to serve food has to have some kind of truck or van to serve from. Each van has a history which is fondly recalled on the website, and they are all currently parked up at Wood Wharf, and then will be back again the first Thursday and Friday of September.

It's a fantastic site, quite sprawling. With about 20 trucks, you need a lot of space. There are long tables set up in the middle of the vans, higher tables to congregate around if you don't need to sit, and then masses and masses of green space to plop down on. Despite the amazing heat yesterday, or perhaps because of it (have to assume they were using sprinklers) the grass was sodden. For some reason that didn't stop us sitting on it though, next to the water, listening to The Trouble Notes entertain.

A few bars dotted around helped people to work up and maintain an appetite. If you booked in advance you got ten 'Truckstop dollars' to spend at the bar. Tickets were £10 either way so buying in advance was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, you couldn't get any change from the 'dollars' so if you didn't work it out right you sort of lost out. Fortunately, most things were multiples of five so it was easy to buy wisely. I got myself a Rotary Maragarita after enjoying the one I had at Taco Wars so much. They definitely pack a punch. 

There was too much food to even seriously attempt trying, but luckily there were only a few food vendors I hadn't tried before so I was able to hone in on those. Had I realised that the BBQ at the back was open to all rather than just those doing the keg party, my choices might not have been so easy. I can feel a second visit coming on to rectify that...

But anyway, what I DID have was thus:

After a circuit I decided my first dish would be from Mother Clucker who I had heard so much about. The question was, chicken bites or chicken sandwich. I let my heart rule my head and went for the sandwich, complete with hot sauce and pickled peppers. It was a mistake. The chicken was lovely. More breaded than crispy battered, it tasted peppery and was nice and tender. The pickled peppers too were great, and a welcome topping. But there was too much bread and not enough sauce for the whole thing. I had taken a gamble and I had lost. 

I quickly followed this up with what turned out to be my favourite dish - arancini balls from Cheeky Italian. Three massive balls of arancini in a cup or in a wrap (I went without the bread this time), they were courgette and mint flavoured with buffalo mozzarella in the middle. Fantastic. Admittedly, I wouldn't have been able to pick out the courgette flavour without being told, but the mint shouted out whenever you had a bite. And the gooey mozzarella oozed out at every bite too. I had a little tomato sauce accompaniment, but they didn't need it.

After another drink and a little rest I had dessert - doughnuts from Fishdog. These were more like churros in their form, but very chunky churros at that, and came with a salted caramel dipping sauce. The doughnuts were warm and very sugary and you got a pretty decent portion. That caramel sauce though.... oof. I would have happily just had a pot of that and a spoon, forget the doughnuts!

After those I was feeling pretty full so didn't end up having anything else. Had I still felt hungry, I would have braved the queue for the scallops at Healthy Yummies. If you had seen how much butter those scallops were cooking in, you might raise an eyebrow at the use of 'healthy' but they certainly looked yummy, served in their shell with celeriac puree, bacon and seashore vegetables. I'll keep an eye out for them in future. 

We all continued sitting on the grass well into the evening, with the music floating around us, marvelling at the weather. It was what summer evenings were made for. Street Feast and Tweat Up are aficionados of fostering a brilliant, friendly atmosphere and they had done it again. Everyone I took with me was impressed and at least two were going back tonight!

As soon as I got home and looked at Twitter, I was reminded of the chillibacks which I had promised myself I would try and then forgot about later. I also didn't spot the 'secret' gin store. Did anyone else see it? I can only assume it was near the BBQ, an area I didn't explore at all.Yet more reasons to return next month. 

Land of Kings, 5th May

There were definitely a few negative points (more on them later) but I still can't wait to go to Land of Kings next year as I had such a brilliant day. 

Land of Kings is a multivenue festival sort of centred around the Arcola Theatre and the buildings near Ashwin street but ranging as far up Kingsland Road as The Marquis of Lansdowne, taking in most venues in between. 

Things kicked off at 2pm and the last venue to have something happening finished at 5 am. It was possible to buy earlybird tickets for a pittance of something like £15 but I managed to miss those. Still, at £30 for potentially over 12 hours of entertainment, that's not a bad price.

I got there and the streets were abuzz with the surprise gig Richie Hawtin was doing at Street Feast. I managed to get in for a bit and it was a good way to start the day, it felt like the party was kicking off already. I got myself a wine at a very reasonable £4 and soaked it up. Then my friends started arriving and we went over to the Castle Tent Stage and watched a band called Darkstar followed by a troupe of girls called Gaggle. It was about six by this point so we thought we'd partake of a little Musical Bingo. That was good fun and Ditzy Ritzy was a fun and friendly host. I think it suffered a little from happening a wee bit early on, so audience participation wasn't as great as it would have been had a few more bevvies been consumed (myself I was desperate for the loo for most of it and could only jig minimally along to the tunes in my seat). Much as I would have liked to stay for the next round - 90s - we wanted to explore some more.

So we went over to Hot Breath's New New Dance Academy, taking place in the bunker. God knows how Mike, the man in charge, managed to stay down there the whole time; I guess you do get inured to things after a while but the 'bunkerness' of it was quite intense. It was dank, it was damp, it smelled of mildew. Probably the perfect setting for the recreation of a 90s underground rave, complete with images being projected on screen - that you could be a part of via a green screen. So we danced around a little like that for a while (see below) but it was good to get out in the fresh air again.

We went back to the Castle Tent and watched Chrome Hoof, a surprise hit who blended heavy rock with dance music. I've never heard anything like it before and I liked it! And then my first highlight of the day - TEED. At first I was disappointed that he was doing a DJ set, not all his own stuff but I needn't have been. It was immense. He was playing house music with some kind of tribal flavour that made every single one of us want to dance like mad people. Which we did. Amazing. 

After this we stopped off at the Curve Garden for a little acoustic number before trying our luck with the Roof Park (still too busy) so then we went up to Birthdays. Where I finally got the glass of wine I'd been craving for the last three hours and we watched New Young Pony Club which was another highlight. We wanted to get into as many venues with our wristbands as possible so then we headed over to the Marquis of Lansdowne as our almost final destination. Normally quite an 'old man's pub' they do get a DJ later on in the evenings and it was DJ sets mostly in there at the time.

And then was an aborted attempt to get into the Bugged Out area. If we'd been able to get in then goodness knows how much more excellent my day would have been. 

So, what didn't I like?

Well Street Feast was a fail in a few ways. I love Street Feast and all their vendors and was really looking forward to filling my boots and maybe getting to try a new trader or two. I was meeting some friends at the festival and had suggested we meet in the Street Feast area. And then they only went and had that 'secret surprise gig' from Richie Hawtin there and all of a sudden Street Feast was THE place to be at the festival. I timed it just right - there was a small queue when I arrived but anyone with a wristband was waved through. Because, you see, Street Feast was the one area of the festival where you didn't need a wristband to get in. Makes sense I suppose for the Street Feast traders to get as much custom as possible. It suddenly makes no sense though, when any Tom, Dick or Harry can get to a cool gig and the people who actually bought tickets, can't. Which is what happened. People who had no idea Land of Kings was even happening were suddenly heading there in their droves. I got in fine, then minutes later when my friend with wristband was in the queue he was being told it made no difference either way and the venue was at capacity. Inside the place felt only half full and I noted lots of people with nary a pink band round their wrists. It was an amazing party atmosphere inside and yeah, Richie Hawtin was amazing. But I couldn't help but notice that there were very few people getting anything to eat. No one really. They say on the site that they 'recommend you come hungry' but if you did (like my friend who arrived about 6), you were shit out of luck. The gig ran for something like three hours with no one being able to get in after about 4:30 and I wonder how happy the Street Feast vendors were about this new arrangement. Ravers aren't exactly known for their appetites.

Secret gig at Street Feast/people not eating

I also noticed that several of the listed Street Feast traders weren't there which was a bit disappointing. Then, at about 10 pm hunger hit me and we asked a steward if Street Feast was still open. I was fairly sure they were going until midnight but we checked. She said they were there until 2 am. Yet when we got over there we found all but two of the traders had completely shut down or were in the process of shutting down. The bar wasn't even still open! My muffin from Original Fry Up material was delicious and totally hit the spot but still. 

Secondly - the bar in the Castle Tent. What was going on with it? A very limited stock made even more so by the fact it kept running out of things. As a non-beer drinker I kept ending up having to get the much-more expensive margaritas rather than a cider, or wine, say, which would have been the same kind of price as a beer as they didn't stock any. And if you did drink beer you could only choose between Tiger or Desperadoes (a very sweet beer with 'tequila' in it). And even when I realised Desperadoes were tolerable, when I went to order another one, they'd run out of those. Earlier they'd run out of Tiger! Me and my friends kept suggesting we go and get a drink we actually liked from the closest other venue, then remembering that they didn't let you take drinks in with you from other venues. I'm sure they did it because they couldn't guarantee it would be alcohol bought at a participating venue, but it was still a huge pain.

Thirdly - it was just so bloody popular! At times it felt like all the venues were oversubscribed with queues to get in or one-in-one-out situations. Couldn't get to the Dalston Roof Park. Couldn't get in to Cafe Oto. Offputting queues elsewhere. Couldn't get in to the Bugged Out area (the one place I had most wanted to go, and the only one still 'open' at the end of the night where, I would have thought, they should have anticipated everyone wanting to go regardless of whether they liked the acts). When we got there it was just no dice for getting in at all. Disappointing. 

But yes, not disappointing enough to put me off going again as I had a whale of a time despite all this. And some of these things were inevitable or unavoidable, though not ALL of these things. Maybe it will be a little different next year in which case it could become my top festival to go to.

rainbo, 1st August

Rainbo only very recently made my List after having read the Evening Standard’s article last week on the best 20 Gourmet Food Trucks in London. It was the only one in the list that I liked the sound of and hadn’t been to yet. So it went on the List and by fortuitous circumstance, came to be parked right by King’s Cross Station this week. Of course I had to go.

Rainbo do Asian street food – mostly gyoza, which are Japan’s answer to Chinese dumplings, and also called pot stickers. I love them so was excited that a new street food place was purveying them. They also offer miso soup, edamame and something they call crunchy salad. You can get six gyoza, some of the aforementioned salad and some edamame for £5.60 and that is what I did.

In one fell swoop the girl behind the counter scooped up six dumplings off the grill and popped them in the box, threading through some chopsticks. I sat on a stall with the box warming my lap as I set about eating. 

On the right of the picture is the crunchy salad. This is basically coleslaw – red cabbage, carrots and onion, but without the mayonnaise. Instead, they have ingeniously liberally sprinkled caramelised peanuts all over it. This may totally spoil the health benefits you get by eating salad, but it is totally worth it. It tastes fantastic. Really. Way more impressive than it sounds. The little pot is soy sauce, half of which I used with my dumplings and half of which I poured over the salad. In the middle are edamame beans. They’re covered in sea salt and fairly self-explanatory. 

On the right are the six plump dumplings, their bases nicely crisp and golden from the grill. They only had a choice between pork and tofu (though sometimes they have chicken and coriander) and I went for the pork and pickled ginger (like you needed to be told). Let me just say that they have made it into the inner circle of street food vendors that I will from now on have to pretend aren’t at Eat Street in order to avoid giving in to temptation. In other words, I’m saying they were good. I think I ate three with soy sauce and then three unadulterated. Yum. And what with all the veggie stuff, on top of being full, I felt unwarrantedly healthy, which is always satisfying. 

In case you're wondering, my other Street Food temptresses (I like to think of them as female - 'temptress' sounds more dangerous than 'tempter'), are Yum Bun, the Ribman, Big Apple Hot Dogs, Banhmi11 and Homeslice. 

The Shacklewell Arms, 13th July

The Shacklewell Arms was revamped and taken over by the people who run The Lock Tavern in Camden (also on my List) and regularly holds nights in association with Eat your own Ears or Bugged Out! which is how I came to hear of it. I always thought of it as a live music venue (even though I hadn’t yet been) rather than a pub, but I was mistaken. It is equally both and does both equally well.

But first, we ate. Just down the road, practically opposite the Dalston Junction station is StreetFeast, another outdoor arena for the hottest food stalls to congregate and tempt you. I had been craving a Big Apple Hot Dog for a few weeks now, so that was my reason for going but once there, the variety on offer did much to tempt me away. I decided to try a stall I hadn’t yet tasted and got some pani puri from Horn OK Please. Unfortunately, they didn’t live up to expectation. They are little pastry shells filled with potato and lentils and a salsa verde. I asked for spicy but they weren’t at all, and they were also rather unpleasantly cold. Stephen had some ribs from the Rib Man, when normally we go for the Rib roll. He was also disappointed and not as full as he expected to be. What could we do but get a hot dog anyway! Normally when I get one from Big Apple I get the beef frank at about £3.50. So I ordered the Big Frank. It was £5 and it was massive! I ate it all because it was sooo good, but I really did not need that much meat in my stomach. StreetFeast is there every Friday and has different vendors every week. I often go to Eat Street and there is definitely some crossover, but with the addition of a bar and being in the middle of Dalston, Street Feast feels very different – much buzzier than a lunchtime crowd. There’s also a marquee so that you can actually sit down and eat. “Waitresses” take your order, alert the stall in question, and then take it over to you when it’s ready. Very handy if it’s raining, which it seems to be, constantly, this summer. Unfortunately, we weren’t in this seated area, so as soon as we’d eaten, we were off!

We walked up Kingsland Road and up Shacklewell Lane. And just as I was beginning to wonder how much farther it was, and whether this was about to turn into a dodgy area in which we had no business being, I saw what looked like the building from the photos. It was strangely quiet considering there was supposed to be a band on, and from the outside it wasn’t much to look at at all. We tried the nearest door to no avail. We then heard a “Hullo, over here!” type noise and turned to see the two bouncers beckoning us over to show us the way in. I really don’t think I’ve ever come across a nicer pair of door security staff. Yes, they checked our bags, and even frisked Stephen (which worried me a little – do they get many clientele who actually need to be frisked?) but they did so very courteously. One of them, obviously being a bit of a detective, slyly deduced we had not been before (I think going to the wrong entrance may have tipped him off) and when we confirmed, opened up the door and gave us a ‘tour’ directing us to ‘the back’ for the outdoor beer garden and ‘the back’ for the Dance Hall. We then went inside. It became pretty obvious once we were in that we would have managed to find both the beer garden and the Dance Hall without any hints as the actual pub is quite small and there is nowhere else to go but ‘the back’. They also have put up helpful signs directing you to each area of the building, and back again to the front. Lost people wandering around aimlessly is clearly a concern of theirs.

I was delighted by the pub itself; it had a warm and intimate ambience, and also, a pool table, which pleased Stephen. If we lived closer, this would definitely become a regular haunt for drinks. They have Frank’s hot dogs in residence at the moment but as we’d already just had one from Big Apple, we didn’t sample. I’ll have to go back to compare though. We had a wander around and a peek in the Dance Hall which is where the live music takes place. Nothing was happening yet, and it was too  wet to go outside into the garden so we propped ourselves up at the bar and had a drink. Mine was a large wine, and I was even charmed by the wine goblet I was given and how it was filled absolutely to the brim. 

Unable to hold a single drop more!

The pub bit was busy but not crowded – all the seats were taken but there was space at the bar and you weren’t constantly jostled as you stood there. This is probably because the Arms is so far off the beaten track that it is unlikely to get passing trade – the people there have made the effort to be there. And that effort is well rewarded.

On our side of the bar there was a door that opened into the Dance Hall so we knew as soon as the band started. We wandered in and enjoyed the support act (I didn’t catch their name) who were pleasant enough. This back room is great for a live act venue, although the stage is tiny. Any more than four of you in the ensemble and extras have to be relegated to being at the back of the group, hidden in an alcove. God knows what a band would do if they had a drum set. The rest of the band would probably have to perform from among the audience. I don’t know what the capacity for this part of The Shacklwell Arms is but, for the types of acts they tend to have – lesser known/upcoming or unsigned, it seems perfect. With only a smattering of people lining the walls it doesn’t feel too empty, but if you have an act that’s a real crowdpuller, there’s plenty of room for people and plenty of room for dancing around as well (as witnessed on Friday). Gorgeous George themselves were quite fun. They have a very current sound – a bit vintage in style and an act I can imagine playing at something like White Mischief with trombone and fiddle. If I was at a festival and I was drunk and Gorgeous George were playing, I’d pass by and probably have a bit of a dosey-do to their gypsy swing. But I wouldn’t go to said imaginary festival in order to seek Gorgeous George out. They clearly have a bit of a following though so I’m sure they won’t notice my absence.

The gig on Friday was free and they have a lot of free nights there, as well as better known acts that require paid entry (normally entrance is under a tenner). The gig on Friday finished before 11 but then they had a DJ playing and the Shacklewell itself stays open until 3 am. Now that I know I like it, I will definitely keep an eye out for more reasons to head back, or if I’m going to something in the area, it will be worth going slightly out of my way to pop in for a drink on my way or way back. 

The Rib man, 9th December

The meat to bread ratio. I'm going to say that again. The meat to bread ratio. It is all important. How many times have you had a pulled pork sandwich, a burger, or one of those hog roast sandwiches, stalls of which can be found at every festival and market and ended up vaguely disappointed. And I can tell you for why - the meat to bread ratio is all wrong. And sometimes the bread is of the wrong type as well. As a bread lover, you would think the more bread the better for me, but I'm quite particular in how my sandwiches are compiled. The bread should not drown the filling and unfortunately it too often does.

Someone who clearly understands this is The Rib Man. Normally to be found on Brick Lane on a Sunday, this guy has taken one of everybody's (I use the word everybody here liberally) favourite foods and made it a gazillion times better. Ribs. Ribs are great. But what is the annoying thing about them? That they're on ribs. They're messy and annoying to eat, you have to make loads to get a decent haul of meat off of them. If only there were some other way...

Well, The Rib Man has provided the answer. He goes through all the trouble of marinating these ribs from outside reared Norfolk and Suffolk pigs and then slow cooking them. He then takes all the meat off the bones and serves it up in bread rolls or wraps. Actually, you can also buy them in their natural form on the bone as well if you so wish. 

Ooh saucy! And possibly as big as my head

I went up to Eat Street again today and he was there. That's why I went - to try him out. I saw that there were a few wraps already made and keeping warm but I wanted to try out the roll. The wraps looked good - pretty stuffed and the meat looked great, but I just had the feeling that the real test would be in the roll. So that's what I asked the lady serving for. They had a couple ready made in some paper bags but the guy 'in back' (who I can only assume is the Rib Man himself) said, wait a minute - I'll make a fresh one. And he grabbed a roll and scooped in the meat, grabbed a bunch of kitchen roll with which to hold it and handed it over. My eyes probably did a cartoon bulge at the sight of it. It was massive. The lady then asked me if I wanted any sauce (which the Rib Man makes himself). I went for some BBQ and of course some of the hot stuff. Apparently there is a second hot sauce you can have but it's so hot you have to ask for it specially. I believe it goes by the name of Holy F**k. So I figured the mainstream stuff would be enough for me.

It wasn't all that busy in that area so I found a seat and began to tuck in. 

This is the view halfway through - I'm attempting to show
how juicy the meat is without sauce

I've got to say, it was pretty special. The roll was hefty, and soft - it was the perfect roll in which to encase some shredded meat. He had also packed it so full, he had managed to attain the perfect B to M ratio (see above). At last! This almost excited me more than the taste. I had quite a bit of sauce on the meat, which I tried, sort of unsuccessfully to spread evenly across all the meat, but to be honest, the meat is so juicy, sauce isn't essential. But it tastes good so whack some of that on too. The BBQ sauce is sweet and smoky, the hot sauce is bloody hot. It seriously made my mouth, tongue and I think even teeth tingle. 

I would say I couldn't get enough of this sandwich but it is so huge, that would just be a blatant lie. At about three quarters of the way through I thought a decent person would probably stop, but I'm not a decent person - I'm a glutton so I ploughed on to the end!  Just wonderful.