By Neil Sowerby
THE critic/cynic gene in me says beware: the big commercial guns are cashing in on street food now. Artisan, craft, locally sourced, hand-sliced, all the buzz ingredients, they are all up for grabs. There’s pulled pork on the supermarket ready shelves, Brewdog Punk IPA sits alongside Carling in the cool cupboard, that (wilting) organic chard you’ve splashed out on on has been flown in from Argentina. “They’re selling hippie wigs in Woolworth’s, man,” to quote Withnail and I on an earlier era’s end of a dream.
So what of Allied London’s street food in situ initiative? Read: “The Kitchens Leftbank is an innovative dining concept providing a unique space for up and coming businesses to showcase the very best of the region’s casual dining scene. Six start-up street food and pop up traders have battled out over the past year for their very own bricks and mortar on the Spinningfields estate, designing their own space, building their brand and developing their menus. Their concepts have come to life at the Kitchens.”
Fat cat patronage – or patronisation? I’d like to say the jury’s out, but actually this thin cat was bowled over by the joy of six street food traders relishing the opportunities given by all that shiny new kit-out, yet still borrowing coriander or cooking oil off each other.
They’ve bust a gut to get here, after all, to be the chosen ones from over 200 applicants. All those gusty weekends in muddy car parks after loading up the van before dawn; in the early days even giving away loads of the new-fangled street food to whet a wary public’s appetite.
I road-tested the street food (sic) at the spanking new site with its happy honeymoon vibe and was glad to see office lunchtimers grabbing the alternative to Pret or Subway through carry-outs or che cking out tables on the astroturf.
I’ve reviewed this as five-star not because all the food was perfect – it wasn’t – but because of the boundless enthusiasm and a determination not to compromise on the ethos that got the Chosen Six there. They are – with their own self-descriptions
Hip Hop Chip Shop: Untraditional fish and chip shop inspired by the inventive ethos of hip-hop culture. @thehiphopchippy
Bangers & Bacon: Bacon bandits, sultans of sausage, back bacon billionaires. @bangersandbacon
Mumma Schnitzel: “Schnitzel love in a bun” @MummaSchnitzel
Wholesome & Raw: Fruit & Veg ALIVE with enzymes and nutrients – prepared and juiced before you. @WHOLESOMEandRAW
Yakumama: Infused with the colour, fire and creativity of Latin America, YAKUMAMA serves bold, flavoursome, belly filling cuisine. @yakumamamcr
Chaat Cart: Serving real Indian street food… Close your eyes and you are on Chowpatty Beach! @ChaatCart
I knew what to expect from most of them and was allowing for teething problems in adjusting to the custom-made new kitchens, which the traders were consulted upon, along with the terrifically smart and appropriate branding and decor.
A few snapshots of a rather filling lunchtime experience....
The whole raw superfood, juiced enthusiasm was second only to the specialist cereal restaurant in my list of irrational pet hates until my SK ‘aperitif’ at Wholesome & Raw. I was ambivalent about my lunch companion’s beetroot, carrot and lemon juice (£3.95), but for a quid more my Muscle Builder Pro smoothie was a revelation. Physically more attuned to Woody Allen than Arnold Schwarzenegger, I was hardly going to storm off to the gym after this blend of pineapple, spinach, kale, banana, lemon, organic spirulina (no, me neither) and raw organic hemp protein, but boy it was good and made me feel good.
Which was as well with the sheer volume of food arriving. The masala dosa pan had been playing up, so I had to settle for a chargrilled chicken flatbread and some bel puris that popped deliciously in the mouth from the ebullient Aarti (above)at Chaat Cart.
Quite, quite different was a pork belly pancetta with pickled salsa in a (Kosher for the texture!) bun from Bangers & Bacon. A fabulous pickley, porky treat from beardy butcher James and chef Richard, the guys who “like to put the piggy in the middle”.
Next door, at Hip Hop Chip Shop, where they were grooving to One Direction (just joking), we succumbed to a deep-fried treat big enough alone for two, if they weren’t munching their way around street food central. The Feastie Boys Box (£7) offered four chunky beer-battered fish biters, four blings (gorgeous, sweet onion rings), chips and minty mushy peas. Most fish and chip shops are put to shame by this operation dreamed up by ex-adman ‘Ozzie’ Oswald.
More exotic is Yakumama, my personal favourite against some strong opposition – not that there is any sense of competition here, just a sense of ‘we’re all in this together’. Chilean Marcello Sandoval and Hannah Lovett, ex-Cornerhouse, are a strong team. I’ve tried their Argentinian chorizo buns before and their quinoa croquetas and bolinhos feijoada (Brazilian bean fritters with kale), but never their empanadas. These South American pasties were toothsome in their own right, but the salsa was whatever the Spanish for wicked is. A guacamole with a tuna salad offered a similar kick.
Finally apologies to Mumma Schnitzel. Hollie Scrancher and Matthew Walsh have perfected their speciality of crispy breaded chicken with homemade mayonnaise and chili jam in a bun, but we were teetering on the edge of that Mr Creosote moment and wouldn’t have been able to do it justice. Our next visit to the resurgent Left Bank starts here.
The Kitchens Spinningfields. http://thekitchensleftbank.com. Mon-Fri: 7am-10:30pm; Sat-Sun: 7am – 10pm. See @_TheKitchens for individual traders’ opening hours.
