Tweat Up Taco Wars, 18th May

Hurrah, and indeed Huzzah! I finally made it to a Tweat Up food competition, and, even though I have no frame of reference, I'm going to just go ahead and say it was the best one. This is mainly down to the fact that it was a battle of the tacos, and I love love love Mexican food (as established in my Breddos Tacos post). 

I don't even know where to begin in writing about this day. It was epic. It was tasty. It was surprisingly filling. I had in mind that we might actually go out for dinner when all this was over, and was secretly pleased that Dogtown Hot Dogs were on hand to fill any hole left by the tiny tacos. But ten of those little guys soon fills all the space in your stomach. Halfway through and I was suggesting we 'take a break' and have just a drink instead of going for yet another taco in order to give me a chance to digest. Once the ten were done, I didn't eat anything else the rest of the day!

We got there at about 1 (it was held at the current Street Feast venue) and we were among the early starters. There was someone at every taco station, but no big queues. And, even though queues did develop over the day, especially at some of the more hyped/popular taco warriors' stations, they never got out of hand, or too tiresome to stand in. Many people (including us) developed the tactic of getting a taco from a stall with less of a queue to eat in the queue for the next one. The height of efficiency.

So, we got our scorecards and figured out how it worked. Our first taste was more or less chosen at random - number 7 - L.A. Sueno with their duck heart and pork taco topped with blueberries (which I didn't eat - down with berries!). It was an excellent beginning and turned out to be the taco that won Stephen's 'heart' (I totally did not mean for that wordplay to happen). The duck heart made the taco taste a little like pate and Stephen attested that the blueberries made all the difference. I liked it, but for me the best was yet to come.

I won't go into detail about all ten of them. To be honest, they were all tasty but a fair few of them were tasty without standing out above the crowd. I enjoyed eating them, but thinking back now, a lot of them blur into each other. I only disliked one, which was, sadly, the last one I had. That was the one from Santana Grill - although I liked the salsa verde and guacamole very much, the meat tasted a little bitter and I didn't enjoy it.

The tacos that still stand out burning like stars in my mind were:

BanhMi11's. This was the third taco we ate and became my front runner for a while. Stephen thought it tasted too Vietnamesey, but that was exactly what I thought was so good about it. The pork had an amazing flavour, I loved the crispy shallots and it seemed a perfect idea to take banh mi flavours and mexican them up a little by popping them in a tortilla and adding a dollop of guacamole. I thought the fusion worked, but I soon found other tacos that I liked more.

Breddos Tacos: Now, these guys really made an effort for this competition. They'd clearly put a lot of thought into how they could take the simple taco and ratchet it up a notch or five. For me, they actually went a little step too far, or I could easily have voted this my number one. I loved the addition of a pipette of hot sauce, which reminded me of a piquant bloody mary. They added candied chillies to the dish which were truly outstanding. I want to sprinkle them on every taco I have in the future. Seriously guys, please do them at your Taco Shack! But then they kinda spoiled it with popping candy. I don't really like the sensation of popping candy, and in this case also felt it distracted from all the other good stuff going on  (which included 10 hour short rib marinated in umami broth!). For innovation alone though, these guys were my winners.

Kimchinary: Another taco that really went the distance when it came to being inventive was the taco from Kimchinary. They, also, maybe went a little too far - it was supposed to be a taco, not a whole gourmet meal in a tortilla. Theirs was a combination of ox cheek and cod's cheek which did, in fact, go really well together, and the black sesame seeds with (of course) the kimchi was quite an inspired idea. But the whole thing didn't really say taco to me in the way others had so I ended up going with someone else for the win.

Luardos: This was the perfect example of how to take the essence of a taco but to do it so well, with just the right amount of creativity as to make it really special. It was a simple prawn taco. A juicy prawn taco. With an amazingly fresh tasting mango salsa. Some shredded sesame cabbage. And that was kind of it - no bells or whistles as such. They went that little bit further than, say, Benito's Hat (whose tacos were fine, just not different enough from their everyday offerings) but it was still, in effect, a taco. But a taco that really made you take notice when you ate it. This is who I picked as a winner.

And it turns out lots of people agreed with me as they won, with 25% of the vote. Breddos came second with 20% and there was a joint third between Buen Provecho (another whose taco simplicity belied its tastiness) and Stephen's faves L.A. Sueno.

So the food was an obvious highlight, but the day itself was just grand. It felt so much more like a festival than many other 'food festivals' that claim that title. There was a mariachi band there for pretty much the whole day, which immediately added a festive feel to the thing. They wandered around the whole area making sure no one missed out on the mood music. The video barely does them justice.

You got two drinks (as well as the ten tacos) in your entry price and of course free drinks always help create a buzz. It also helps when your first taco of the day is handing out complimentary shots of tequila infused with coconut, chocolate and raisins. I don't even like coconut and raisins but this drink was delicious. You didn't want to 'shoot' this - it was a drink to sip and savour.

There were some queues, yes, but nothing to make you irritable and in fact, it provided the perfect chance to get chatting with your fellow voters. I really enjoyed discussing who was everyone's favourite so far and comparing the various merits and failings of each taco or finding out where everyone stood in the controversial 'pineapple with meat' debate. Or telling someone they were in for a treat as they went to queue for a taco you'd already had. 

The guy from Hot Breath was on hand to provide some extra entertainment with his Tape Measure game. That guy just cracks me up. He comes up with some of the crappest sounding things and makes them brilliant. All it is, is seeing who can pull a tape measure out the longest without it collapsing but everyone loved it! Stephen was briefly in second place but his length was soon overtaken. Gutted as there were some pretty decent prizes on offer - tickets to Ginstock and a bottle of tequila!

Another highlight was the Rotary Bar Mescal Margarita Mixing Machine. A little cement-mixer was loaded with ice, a LOT of tequila, some mescal and some juices and churned to make margaritas. Which were then sloshed into people's cups for free! I got some and it was fantastic. My first try of mescal and you could really taste the smokiness it lent to the drink. My first taste of mescal but certainly not my last.

We had a couple of other drinks but I didn't get around to getting a festival-sized cocktail (to my shame) and we stayed long enough to witness the winner being crowned but then, I must confess, with all that food and booze in my belly, I went home for a nap!

Such, such a good day. Were they all like this? 

So, if you went, who were your winners and losers of the great Taco War of '13?

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.

Sebright Arms, 1st February

I almost forgot to write about this place. Last Friday was actually my second occasion there, as when we went to the Tapeheads VHS quiz, that was the venue. However, I was so caught up in the quiz, I didn't give much thought to my surroundings.

I found myself there for a quick drink on Friday before gorging myself on Fonduta at Forza Win(ter) and had much more time to appraise the place.

I liked it. It is definitely a pub, not a bar, and not of the shiny gastro variety neither. In fact, the decor rather reminds me of the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club - similar red velvety yet shabby tones abound. There's an upstairs with a few banquettes and tables and chairs, and a downstairs where they have several gigs a week. As I sat sipping my large house red (only a fiver, bargain!) my table vibrated with the drums and the bass of whichever band was warming up in the basement.

While it feels like a local boozer, and its location would rather lend itself to slightly shady clientele (it's on a street off Hackney Road, where there isn't much else) pretty much everyone in there was clad in a hipsterish manner. It's a hip place. And this should really be no surprise when you learn that Lucky Chip have had a residency here since the middle of last year. They serve up some of their famous burgers, like the El Chappo, but have a few more dishes on the menu to choose from, and some specials that aren't always options at their van - one with softshell crab caught my eye, even though I don't actually eat softshell crab myself. 

I'm not much of a beer or ale drinker but the Sebright serves the "Real" version of them, and ciders too, and it has gotten the nod of approval from someone I know who knows more about these things than I.

In short, a great little pub.



Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato

Tapeheads Video Quiz, 9th January

Well, Hot Breath have knocked it out of the park again, creating a completely silly, highly entertaining version of a pub quiz.

The concept is a multiple choice quiz with questions based around the dubious videotape collection of the host's, including, but not limited to, his own appearance on a TV gameshow, a tragic vehicle for Bill Cosby in his prime, an ass-kicking Burt Reynolds and, The Fat Boys' classic: Disorderlies.

It's a quiz for people of a certain age - my age - late 20s, thirtysomethings who can laugh fondly at the awful 80sness of the videos, even if we don't actually recognise the films themselves.

So Mike, he of Hot Breath fame, plays a clip and then it's kind of a "what happens next" deal, and you pick the option you think is most likely/makes more sense/is most ridiculous. For example, in Leonard Part 6, does Bill Cosby kill the evil henchman by a) stuffing a hot dog down his throat? b) smothering him with a steak? or one of two other equally ludicrous options? (It was a by the way, although I went for b.) To get some extra prizes there are bonus point rounds, and one grand prize in which you have to guess how many times the word "Dude" gets said in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. I wildly overestimated and was no way near. It's a mere 48.

The prizes on offer were pretty darn good, as it was all in aid of charity. The grand prize was a 50 pound bar tab and food for 8 at the Sebright Arms, which, incidentally is where the quiz took place.

It was busy when we got there, packed before the quiz started and chaotic to say the least as the co-host went around trying to take people's entry fees and hand out the answer sheets, while people were still trying to wiggle into spaces to sit.

But once the first clip was up on screen everyone's attention was fully focused on the cinematic delights which could lead to victory. As you can probably imagine, watching such unheard of movies, most people didn't have a clue what the correct answers were, although sometimes you could make an educated guess. This meant that, unlike with most pub quizzes, there wasn't that group of smug, older know-it-all men (it's always men) who get everything right. Winning was more a game of luck than anything else. Of course, I still didn't win anything, but two of my party won one of the bonus rounds and got to take away some rather special beauty products. This was for answering the question on how old we thought the host of a video showing you how to work out your face to make you look younger was. She was a creepy 61.

I had an uproariously good time, and get this - I wasn't even drinking! Note: I did not say I wasn't drunk - I said I wasn't drinking. This was stone-cold sober fun. If they do another one, I'm there.

Hot Breath Karaoke, 17th November

Oh lordy, how can I ever go to normal karaoke again? Well, I probably will but it will be with a heavy heart when there is no prize-bestowing wheel to spin afterwards, or jingles, yes, there is no other word for them, to be played once I have spun the wheel and been awarded my prize.

This is another one from my personal bible – Time Out’s 1000 Things to Do. I’ve been trying to keep an eye out on when these irregular nights happen but always seem to just miss it. I almost did last weekend as well. You may recall that I said I was going to The Blitz party. Alas, it was not to be as I had no one to accompany me and perhaps, just perhaps, fate was dealing me a kind hand in order for me to make Hot Breath Karaoke instead.

Oh-so-fortuitously it was also being held in a pub just up the road from me which I thought looked nice but had never been in, The Lauriston. It said it kicked off at 9 so we got there for about half eight. I expected the pub to be packed but for the karaoke to be happening in a different room so that we might get a seat in there. I was wrong on both counts. The pub was actually only maybe half full and I went to grab a spare table with glee until I noticed some savvy people had reserved them. I know for next time. Also, the karaoke was taking place in the main pub area – there was in fact no other pub area for it to take place in. Just a little stage, with the wheel and Mike (I think that's his name) with his controls beside it.

The prizes this night were all the same – some of Mike's homemade maple syrup pumpkin pie. I’m not normally a fan of pumpkin pie but the addition of maple syrup piqued my interest and the baker also runs Coins Junkyard Snacks, a cart specialising in American type junk food at Netil Market. Having sampled the frosted flakes chicken nuggets from him before, I thought the pie would be worth a try, if only I could win it.

The premise is simple. You put your name down to sing. If you sing, you get the chance to spin the wheel and if you’re lucky it will land on ‘Winner’. Or ‘Free Booze’ (a shot). If you’re not so lucky it may land on ‘True or False’ and you will have to answer a simple question before you get a prize (the pie). If you’re unlucky you’ll land on ‘Loser’ and have to resume your seat empty-handed.

It’s surprising how much fun this addition makes karaoke, on top, of course, of all the silly songs and cringey singers. I probably graced the stage far too much, as I got progressively more drunk. I think my highlight, or perhaps low point, was singing Barbie Girl by Aqua with my friend. Not something I will be repeating, however. But I’m happy to say I did win a slice of pie, complete with whipped cream and it was delicious. I would love to get my hands on some more.

bad photo of good pie

In between songs our esteemed host plays filler music which is more ‘killer’ than ‘filler’ and which got people dancing in their seats, or standing up depending on where in the pub they were, and the pub certainly got pretty busy by the time the karaoke was in full swing. If you didn’t get your name down early, you might have ended up without even a chance at winning some of that pie.

I would love to come back to Hot Breath Karaoke. It’s really good fun – as long as you bring some people who are up for having a laugh and don’t mind making slight fools of themselves in public.

The people behind HBK do other nights as well and I think I’m going to head to the next one that is coming up – the VHS video pub quiz!