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.