Taking it to the Streets

Over the last few weeks I've eaten some excellent street food (some better than others). My goal is to try all of the street foods named in Buzzfeed's 21 London Street Food That Will Change Your Life. Today's post features eight of those places and one that absolutely should have been included in Buzzfeed's list.

When my brother in law was in town, we went to Anna Mae's for some mac n cheese which ended up being very disappointing. We went toward the end of the lunch hour so I wonder if that had a negative effect on the food.  

We got plain macaroni and cheese so unless someone has a specific favourite that they think I should try, I won't be coming back here.

I do love their van with the photo of Burt Reynolds on the spare tire. 

On a Saturday, Warren and I went to Peckham to try Ali Baba Juice. Warren tried the mango and pickle. I had some hesitation but it was actually delicious. 

I got the nashi pear, hibiscus, and ginger. I love ginger so it was really good, but I think I actually preferred Warren's mango and pickle. The guy at Ali Baba was really friendly and told us about some must see places in Peckham. 

Also on a Saturday, we headed to Broadway Market to try some Persian street food at Zardosht. 

We got a mix box of saffron orange chicken and lentils, chickpeas, and apricot. The lentils were good but nothing compared to the saffron orange chicken. 

We also tried dates with orange blossom, mascarpone, and nuts. Neither one of us liked the dates very much. I thought they tasted like perfume, which I think was the orange blossom. We also tried a patty made from potato, yogurt, and saffron. It was good but I think it would have been better warm. 

Once a month Kerb street food comes to Paddington which is walking distance from my flat. I love it and haven't missed once yet. One time my friend Suzette and I tried food from the Grilling Greek (I had been there before but I hadn't tried their chips with feta yet). The souvlaki was amazing yet again and the chips were really good when they were hot.

I met up with some friends a few weeks ago when Kerb was at the Gherkin. I was eager to cross off another place from my list so I was excited that Luardo's was there that day. 

I actually preferred Luardo's burrito to the ones at Chipotle but Kate disagreed. I'm not a big fan of spicy food and I especially dislike cilantro (coriander here). The Luardo's burrito was way less spicy and didn't have as much cilantro as the burritos at Chipotle so it was a big winner for me. 

Our main reason for going to the street food market at the Gherkin was because YouDoughnut was there. They are my all time favourite street food place in the entire city of London. They were up in Leeds for January and February so I have been missing them and was ready for another hot doughnut sundae. 

I was so excited to hear that they are going to be open 5 days a week this summer at a more permanent location somewhere in London.

I knew Warren would love The Rib Man at Brick Lane Market so I waited until he was able to go with me. They make these sandwiches that are only made of rib meat. The bread didn't add anything so we just ate the filling. The meat was so tender and flavourful.

Since Warren also loves burgers we went to Bleecker St. in Spitalfields for lunch one weekend. I was surprised that it was a proper food place and not a stand like most of the street food on the list. 

I suggested that Warren pick which burger we would get so I was not surprised at all when he came back with the Bleecker Black and sweet potato fries.

The Bleecker Black has two hamburger patties and a middle patty of black pudding. The guy at the counter said it is their best burger. It was amazing! And the sweet potato fries were really soft and delicious. The burger was huge so I was glad that we split it. 

And finally, La Creperie de Hampstead. This place should have been on Buzzfeed's list in my opinion. 

The crepes there are super buttery and the fillings were delicious. I got one with applesauce and it was awesome. Plus, any place you have to wait in line almost 30 minutes for a crepe has to be good. 

Saatchi Gallery

A few weeks ago my friends Cierra and Lisa invited me to come along to the Saatchi Gallery with them. I am not a big fan of modern art but I went along anyway. I complained most of the time we were there but I still had fun taking photos of the displays. 

The exhibit currently on display is called Pangaea II: new African and Latin American art. It features sculpture, painting, installation, and photography from 19 emerging artists from Africa and Latin America. 

My favourite exhibit was a room full of oil. It smelled terrible and when I saw it I didn't get it at first because the oil was so still and almost looked like a mirror. But something about it was really interesting and slightly disturbing. 

As with most museum shops in London, the Saatchi Gallery had a really cool shop with loads of things I would actually love to buy. This painting of Queen Elizabeth (part of the Pure Evil paintings that I mentioned in an earlier post) was really great. If only I had an extra £3,000 lying around. 

Another cool piece for sale was this "word UP" neon sign. I think it would look really great in our flat. 

Here are Lisa and Cierra with one of the more colourful paintings in the exhibit.

Even though I am making a mocking face in this next photo I kind of liked the painting. Not the greatest I've ever seen but it has an interesting perspective.

This next photo is of Cierra in a blank corner of the gallery, but I feel it represents how I sometimes feel when I look at modern art. Like the artist is just messing with me.

At one point during the day I said, "Why are there so many people here? I don't get it!" Cierra said, "This is actually a really famous gallery, Rachael." I'm sure others would have gotten a lot more out of the Saatchi Gallery than I did but it was still a fun place to go with some friends.

Queen's English as a Second Language Part 6

Jackets--baked potato, as in "I love jackets with cheese and beans."

Elevenses--a drink and a small amount to eat between breakfast and lunch, as in "I'm feeling peckish. I'm ready for my elevenses."

Tonnes--tons (used interchangeably with the US word)

Desiccated coconut--the British equivalent to shredded coconut

Juicy bits--pulp, as in "I don't mind juicy bits in orange juice."

Bicarbonate of Soda--Baking Soda, as in "Why doesn't this grocery store sell baking soda? Oh oops, because it's called bicarbonate of soda here."

Cornflour--cornstarch

Tosser--an insult similar to "jerk" in the United States but more harsh. It is often used to describe someone who likes to show off or brag excessively or someone who is completely useless.

Cuppa--a cup of tea, as in "Do you fancy a cuppa?"

Pinny--an apron worn for cooking, as in "My gran's pinny has giant flowers on it."

Stuck in--to start doing something enthusiastically. Not to be confused with "tuck in" which refers to eating with enthusiasm.

Bunting--a type of festive decoration typically with colorful triangles or flags (this may also be a term in the US but I hear it more often in the United Kingdom)

Snog--to make out, as in "I can't believe how many people snog in public."

Spot of bother--to get into some trouble. I'm not sure if people actually say this but it sounds super British!

This next one is about grammar in the UK. Here they say, "at weekends" or "at the weekends" instead of "on the weekends". Also, it is pronounced weeKEND instead of WEEkend. 

Please Sir, I Want Some More

A few weekends ago my friend, Lisa, and I went to a new popup that only sells porridge. 

I ordered the maple syrup, bacon, and poached egg porridge. It was delicious! The bacon was more like American bacon (or as they call it here, "streaky bacon") but really thick. The yolk from the poached egg made the porridge even better, too. It was a really great combination of sweet and savoury. 

Lisa got the dark chocolate, raspberry, and lime porridge. Neither one of us was too certain about the lime in that mix but it was also really good. I thought it was interesting how the cafe used different kinds of oats depending on what they were going for with the other ingredients. 

I liked that the popup had a minimalist feel to it but I hope they do well enough that they open an actual restaurant with more seating. It was pretty crowded the Saturday morning we were there. 

Near the restaurant there was some really great graffiti. So we walked around the neighbourhood (from about Aldgate station to Highbury and Islington) to find more street art. 

I loved this one of Kim Jong Un mixed with Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe painting. 

Here is Lisa with this graffiti that had a really great colour combination.

We were there just a few days after Leonard Nimoy's passing. Even though I'm not a big Star Trek fan I still really appreciated this graffiti featuring Spock. 

 We came across this one of a crying Jackie Kennedy. There is a whole series of these called "Pure Evil". It was cool to see a graffiti version.