On Friday night, after a long post-holiday/festival/wedding week back at work we headed over to Street Feast to check out their newest tenant, Smokestak. I hadn't been to Street Feast since last year and it was great to see how it's grown and developed since then.
We got to Dalston just before 7pm, which was a good time to arrive as there weren't too many queues to get into the venue, or at the food and drink stalls.
Then on to Street Feast's newest resident - SmokeStak, a huge tunnel of a smoker oven, where they slow roast pork and beef, spraying it with an apple juice mixture to keep it nice and moist.
But sadly the meat's marinade had chilli in (which the boy is allergic to) so I went for the Hot Rib Tips instead, that were sticky and delicious, with crispy outsides. The marinade packed a seriously good punch, with just the right amount of heat to cut through the meat.
Or more meat, this time pulled pork or ribs courtesy of The Rib Man (who also had a huge queue most of the evening)...
We got to Dalston just before 7pm, which was a good time to arrive as there weren't too many queues to get into the venue, or at the food and drink stalls.
First stop when we got in was Healthy Yummies for their seriously yummy hand dived West Bay scallops with celeriac puree, cured bacon and sea shore vegetables.
Then on to Street Feast's newest resident - SmokeStak, a huge tunnel of a smoker oven, where they slow roast pork and beef, spraying it with an apple juice mixture to keep it nice and moist.
Smokestak had the longest queue of all the stalls...
I could've chosen the Flintstone beef rib, £20 a piece, which I reckon feeds 4 people well..
But sadly the meat's marinade had chilli in (which the boy is allergic to) so I went for the Hot Rib Tips instead, that were sticky and delicious, with crispy outsides. The marinade packed a seriously good punch, with just the right amount of heat to cut through the meat.
Street Feast is what it says, and there were over 20 different traders selling food there on Friday. We could've had Japanese inspired Akita-dogs from Disco Bistro...
Or more meat, this time pulled pork or ribs courtesy of The Rib Man (who also had a huge queue most of the evening)...
In the end, the boy decided to go for homemade pizza from Fundi pizzas, which was made and cooked right in front of us in about 5 minutes, and really good value at about £7..
Street Feast is all about communal eating, and they've really upped their game with the seating arrangements (last year they just had a few rows of trestle tables; this year there are 5 or 6 different areas with seats and tables where you can sit to eat your food). They've even got an elevated area from where you can see the whole site while you eat. It was really nice to be able to sit down, as the one-handed drink/ribs/pizza balancing act wasn't working particularly well!
Drinks are provided by the Rotary Bar, and Street Feast have improved the bar system too. One bar has been replaced by several, meaning less time queuing and more time drinking!! They were doing giant festival-size cocktails, and their Rotary Margarita (tequila, pink grapefruit, lime and agave) was perfect with my spicy ribs.
If you have room left for sweets, then Sweet Tooth Factory have all sorts of sugary treats.
By the time we left the queue to get in was really long, snaking all the way round the corner onto Dalston Lane. But it's well worth the wait, so if you turn up and the queue looks like this, don't be put off. It's worth it, and it moves pretty quickly too.
Street Feast is open on Friday evenings, and Saturday midday to midnight.
Boy and I are sat dribbling at this all, always wanted to check out street feast but never have the time :(
ReplyDeletexo
It is definitely dribble-worthy! Such a great range of vendors there. Think they've closed for a couple of weeks but you should try and visit them when they find their winter home!
DeleteR xx