Bestival 2012 - Food Trumps Music

Bestival 2012 - home of 50,000 music crazed people. You want music, they got it in abundance. You want half clothed people with asses hanging out of tight jean shorts - you got it, whether you want it or not. You want a variety good food, they have it.

And thank goodness they do. I was here attending Bestival 2012 with the Swing Patrol team. We taught and performed swing dancing mainly on the Al Fresco stage, though we swing jammed an hour long electro-swing set at another venue.

There were also wildlife costumes. Factor this, all the noise, all the people, all the unfamiliar bands and djs, I found solace in the food.

This is Le Super Royal from Le Grande Boueffe. It is their juicy french sausage served with tartiflette, splashed with white wine gravy. My first food find was perhaps the best. It was indeed a juicy plump sausage accompanied by much cheesy potatoes with bacon lightly strewn about. It was savory and rich with a viscous grease coat.

The next day found me starving after a Swing Patrol performance. There were several food stands nearby, including one with a sign trumpeting "6 oz flame grilled hamburgers bigger and better." After much research the previous evening, I can honestly say that had the most enticing sign, setup, and the largest advertised burger. Notice those flame grill marks. This was flavorful smoky burger meant to be savored on its own. It came with slightly bitter greens. That's all you need. Don't hide this with ketchup. Take note foolish Bestival attendees!

Next door was the Strumpets With Crumpets store. It was a decorative front. I'm referring to the decor not the french maid oufits. For some reason, I was thinking of crepes when I read crumpets, so I ordered one with blackberry compote and goat cheese. The crumpet was simply overpowered by the goat cheese. The underwhelming flavor combination did not make up for the overwhelming price. You can get a better bang for your pound somewhere else.

If you're a omnivore camping in the artists' Duckie section, you're out of luck. If you enjoy beans with your seitan, there was the Naked Ape. Us meat lovers had to walk a few hundred meters to Bestival's beginnings. Fortunately, there was Pizza and Puppets wood fired pizza. For £6, you could get a margherita pizza. Extra ingredients cost a little more. This pizza had a great charcoal smell. The bottom was blackened with coal. The dough was slightly chewy with a slight charcoal taste. The tomato was slightly sweet, leaving the pepperoni an afterthought. Overall, a good value, though I wanted more pepperoni.

 I found Calbourne Classics late one night and saw the honey ginger ice cream listed. I inquired when the truck opens the next morning and they said around 10am. My friend and I arrived around 10:30 or 10:45. They weren't open, but still served us. I was super excited! The ice cream hinted of honey and ginger spice. The honey sweetness was just right, and golden ginger flecks peeked about. They also serve a great apple spice cake.

Pie night. First strike came at Barnaby Sykes Pie Maker. I liked the imperfect look of the handmade pies and the western style front. I asked the girl if I should get the Chicken Balti or the Lamb Mint. She has a lovely smile for lamb. The pie itself was nice and warm, oozing with the lamb mint. Thick hearty stew in a biscuit. It's the type of pie I would pack for chopping down trees in the forest.

Since I obsess over food homework, I was also staking out the spinach feta toasted pine nut at The Little Higgidy Kitchen. Simply put, you must savor this pie with small bites. It's a strong flavor combination. The spinach smell hit me first with the feta tang. The pie crust was dry. Overall, not a wolfer downer. BSPM wins.

Bestival featured a lot of pork and The Whole Hog, well, it was roasting a whole hog. Here is their hot pork roll with apple sauce, stuffing, and cracklin'. I write "crunchy cracklin, juices dripping, brioche bread? Rich pork, sweet apples, porky cracklin." My friend, who ate with me, said the next day "tasteless, watery, tough in place, flavorless meat, should've done it longer". Clearly, I'm a pork roll novice and need more experience.

This is a lamb kebab from the Polco Morocco Eatery. I obsessed over this kebab's meat. I love lamb, but honestly the work outweighed the taste. The meat was gamey, which is great, but the pieces were too large and chewy. The meat was tasty, but honestly, enjoy the kebab without the lamb. Or skip Polco.

Steaming cauldrons of rice tempted me at Paellaria. I tried the half and half, one vegetarian friendly, one chorizo. If you're a crustacean and bottom feeder avoider like me, you'll enjoy this paella. Spicy tomato sauce, fiery chorizo, wet rice. The veggie had milder flavors. The squash was a nice treat and the green beans snapped under teeth. This rates a great buy.

Speaking of great buys, the Vita Coco stand was one of the best buys and deals of Bestival. The coconut water, perfect for replenishing electrolytes and banishing dehydration, was cheaper than water. You could buy containers in the 330ml, 500ml and 1L ranges for killer prices.

Have I mentioned I'm an ice cream fiend? This is Purbeck Ice Cream's berries and clotted cream flavor. It was a dense cream with subtle flavors, only a hint of berries. I enjoyed it, but wish the berries were more present.

These are sobering nachos, so called because they refueled three very drunk women the previous night. The Flaming Cactus van had at least two locations serving grains, spicy salsa, and meat to the slavering masses.

A slight diatribe of an unpictured Churchill sausage from the British Sausage Company: If your bun crumbles while eating a delicious peppery sausage, the overall effect leans toward negative. Dear sausage vendors, provide buns with the proper firmness ratio to sausage size.

Meet the bacon wrap from Smokin' 12" Wraps. This baby cost £5 and I asked for everything on it. When in doubt (or not), go crazy. I wasn't (in doubt), I am crazy. Fresh bursting vegetable flavor, smokey peppery bacon, everything works. Salute to bacon and going ingredient crazy.

Bestival is coming to an end and I'm sampling more. Thank goodness for friends. Here is the mixed platter from Falafel! The hummus was creamy, less than I'm used to, a bit watery. The falafel was front loaded with cumin, dried out the palate. The kalamata olives were a bit tough and the lettuce had minimal texture and was also watery. The dolmades got a not bad. Overall, the middle east foods disappointed me at Bestival.

For my friend, the coffee connoisseur, Bestival sorely disappointed. In true British fashion, the Aussie stated "not bad". This meant the van on the rightmost hill rated highest.

Sausage Heaven featured some of the best sausage at Bestival. I had the Calabrian with fennel and chilli. It was spicy and juicy throughout. The bun was perfectly solid, tasted of whole wheat. Proper ratio win.

Way past saturation and plump, I was still curious for the Meatwagon's Dead Hippie burger. Featuring white onion, special hippie sauce, and pickles, it sounded tempting. Don't get it! The meat isn't flavorful and is dependent on the extras. The only thing special is its name. Other than that, do you want to eat a burger that smells like a hippie?

Think of this when the UFO send seeking lights across the night time sky. The food doesn't make Bestival, the music does. But the food makes Bestival for non-music loving attendees who can't tell the difference between Florence and the XX. So, try to keep your taste buds relatively free from all that nasty smoke and cheap smuggled booze, and enjoy the variety of food.

Dabbous - London, England

Meet London's newest highly acclaimed restaurant, Dabbous. Foodies crush on them, reviewers adore them, in-flight magazines feature them. This media hype makes Dabbous superbly sought after. When I last checked, they were booked for dinner until March, 2013. Lunch is more accessible, the bar even more so.

When we walked in, I asked if there were any walk-in tables available. The main restaurant only has 14 tables, so spots are at a premium. However, sometimes people cancel last minute or don't arrive, and others eat faster than expected. Keep that in mind for the future. The upstairs was full, so we headed downstairs. As you can see, the bar was pretty quiet. Given our choice of varied seating (benches, low chairs, and bar), we chose the bar. My friend encouraged this since I'm given to asking questions and enjoy watching cocktails prepared.

Charlie, our main bartender, handed us our menus. The bar menu is cocktail focused, so if you're hungry, look at the very last page. Otherwise, enjoy perusing their selection of martini cocktails, long drinks, short drinks, beer cocktails, spirits, wine, and more. I began the evening with two inquiries - what can you tell me about your cigar syrup and what is Greengage liqueur? Without prompting, I was immediately sampled on both. Then I learned the chefs make the cigar syrup process easy, though it sounds involved. And that Greengage liqueur is a slightly bitter green plum liqueur.

My friend started with the Giddy Up. It features Tapatio Blanco Tequi;a, elderflower cordial, bramley & Gage Slider, lemon juice and camomile-infused acacia honey and was topped with Sierra Nevada IPA. We were both impressed with the silver stein.

After sampling the cigar syrup, I wanted to try a cocktail featuring it. This is the Mellow Yellow with Tapatio Blanco Tequila, cigar syrup and lime juice mellowed by yellow pepper and served in an Ardberg whisky rinsed Martini glass. The yellow pepper smell was the most prominent feature as you lifted the glass to sip. Then a bit of sourness came through, followed by a slight smoky finish and gritty finish (tobacco leaves from cigar syrup process). The bell pepper taste lingers. My favorite tastes were when I rolled in around and let it settle in the back.

We decided upon a three course approach to dinner this evening. The bar menu has a limited selection from the main restaurant's starters, mains, and dessert menus. We ordered 5 of the 8 selections available. This is the Coddled free range hen egg with woodland mushrooms and smoked butter. It is coddled and then is returned into the shell where it sits in a lovely nest. This dish invoked some memories of my grandparents's farm, working during a sunny day throwing hay bales onto the trailer. It was a delightful savory warmth.

Afterward, we split the Barbecued Iberico pork, savory acorn praline, turnip tops, homemade apple vinegar. The pork was so rich. The nutty meal tempered with some sweetness was the perfect accompaniment. The turnip tops in vinegar were a great snack to reset our palate between bites.

We finished our meal with Artisanal cheese from the British Isles, baked apple and toasted sourdough. They ranged in texture and flavor. 3 out of the 4 were from the UK, one from Ireland. The baked apple tasted like toffee and the toasted sourdough featured figs. I also appreciated the slate board presentation.

And I did have one more drink. I asked about a bottle behind the bar I hadn't seen before and sampled it. It was Kamm & Sons ginseng spirit, a bitter herbaceous spirit similar to bonal gentine, but much stronger. The Roots Manuka is pictured above. It features Kammerlings Ginseng Spirit, Qi Orange Tea Liqueur, manuka honey, rhubarb bitters, lemon and guava. The sweetness from the guava hits you first and lingers there. The bitterness comes in the middle and barely wins in the end. I would have preferred a more bitter forward drink and less guava.

The 4th and 5th items we had were the Nocellara del Belice green olives (wonderfully meaty) and the Roast cashew nuts with smoked salt (no distinguishing characteristics). These were enjoyed before, throughout, and after the meal.

Overall, we had a great time downstairs. The bar staff was very friendly and helpful. They must have been bored because they were running through a list of Robin Williams' films including Mork & Mindy, Jumanji, Flubber (I suggested she sees the original), and Good Will Hunting. As we were leaving, I even got some tips from the restaurant manager on how to get a table in the next two weeks. Are you interested as I am?


Dabbous
39 Whitfield Street,
W1T 2SF

The Hawksmoor - London, England

It's another brilliantly gray day in London. Saturday's scorcher started with the Sunday gray which turned into pounding rain. Fortunately, the Hawksmoor - Spitalfield was nearby.

Oftentimes, my food adventures begin with a mission. This was no different. Poutine has been on my mind recently. A certain New Yorker is obsessed with it and I had some in Rochester. Could I get poutine in London? Yelp returned with many hits, but most proved fruitless (fix your search engine). Timeout London gave me nothing. After searching through the Hawksmoor multiple locations' menus for confirmation, I finally messaged them via Facebook. The poutine was confirmed, but only at the Spitalfield downstairs bar.

We placed our drink and food orders. I ordered the oxtail poutine and the Hong Kong Phooey Reloaded (above). I'm a sucker for peer pressure. Why else would I have a cocktail that blends 7 different spirits and tastes like vitamin water. That list: vodka, gin, tequila, rum, chartreuse, midori, lemon and champagne.

My friend enjoyed her Marmalade Cocktail. It first caught her attention online and features: Gin, Lemon, Campari and Marmalade.

Here is the focus of my trip, the oxtail poutine. The oxtail poutine was delicious. I was hoping for cheese curds, but at least there was some cheese. The focus clearly was on the savory and spicy oxtail soaking the chips with its delicious juices. In the end, I was using triple cooked chips to clean the iron dish spotless. Quick notes: I'm still hung up on the missing cheese curds. This can also come with an egg for an extra pound.

The chilli cheese dog delighted my friend. She especially enjoyed the cheese on this hearty dish. I can concur based on my small sampling. The chili gave such a great little kick too.

This is the Spitalfield location's bar menu cover. Please note that the upstairs and downstairs menus are different because they have two separate kitchens.

Here is the full menu. Overall, the Hawksmoor was a great experience. I hope to visit again to taste their reputable great burgers.

Hawksmoor
157 Commercial Street
London E1 6BJ
UK

The Broadway Market - East London

Welcome to the Broadway Market, a cornerstone of East London since 1888. As I rode the bus toward another food adventure at E5 Bakehouse, my friend and I passed the street above. She told me about the market's varied vendors and stalls and said I needed to visit. When she heard I was coming back to London Saturday morning, I was urged to hurry to the Broadway Market. And hurry I did! Considering I just landed from Zurich, I made remarkable time.

Let's welcome East London's unusual denizens. The vintage and used clothing racks attract the wild and free to the staid and frugal. Clothes ranges from brightly knit threads to sturdy Barbour jacket to denim Levi jackets. Further up there was even a stall selling vintage ties and mens bathing suits. I may have even spotted a vintage 40s bathing suit from Jantzen (made in England).

However, food was my mission. It's always my mission. It's true I was hunting for my friend, but why let a small thing like that sidetrack me from what matters? Here's a colorful stall from Gujarati Rasoi advertising traditional indian food. Bhujia, a fried treat consisting of gram flour, spices, and vegetables, were £1, so I grabbed a quick snack and kept hunting.

My friends were waiting for the above to happen. A band was promoting an event next Saturday using Swing Patrol London dancers. They were taking their sweet time moving to Broadway Market and I was getting antsy. There was so much to be explored here and I was waiting for some sort of parade (note: it wasn't a parade).

At the topmost point of Broadway Market, near London Fields, hang a right for more stalls. My hunger could be sated and I was close enough to the road to hear the band coming. I headed straight to Don Arancini for their risotto balls. Two flavors especially caught my eye - the chorizo, saffron, and chili and the goat's cheese, sun dried tomato and basil. However, there is a deal. If you buy three, it's £3.50 where as one is £1.50. What a great deal! I asked for a suggestion and he went with a new selection, the feta, olive, and spinach. I left happy with my three arancinis and more red onion jam.

It's easy to get sidetracked by Olympic fever and a sign boasting that Usain Bolt ate here. My hands were rather full with arancinis, but they were advertising plantain. I hadn't had those in a while, so I inquired about getting those as a side. This option isn't advertised, but I was informed it would be £2.50. Once agreed, they took a small takeout box and loaded it up with plantain. They were sticky, slightly sweet, and could be eaten with my fingers. I was very happy.

Whereas the parade was lame, the ice cream wasn't. Chateaux Gelato appeared with their bicycle toting frozen sweets. I had to have the orange zest, rosemary, and honey ice cream. A bit of citrus, but something lurking beneath, something herbaceous. Rosemary added a great balancing touch.

I was slowly filling up on savory and sweet morsels. Then this pie shop temped me with their inexpensive mini-pies. One apple and blackberry pie was inhaled.

The Northfield Farm allowed me to stand in front of the grilling hamburgers and sizzling bacon smoke. I would have loved to sample their menu, but I was too full.

Same thing here. I loved Scotch Eggs and they even had a Thai Red Curry Pork Scotch egg, but I passed. I want to consume immediately and not wait. The food was meant to be enjoyed willingly and the full stomach dost protest.

Slices of wild board, venison and blue goat's cheese hard cured meats don't count.

Roast Hog was at the market.

Musicians were playing the blues on the street corner. One of them works at Passing Clouds.

So the market comes to an end. It did wonderful work- providing me something sweet, something savory, and something to keep away drafts (Harris Tweeds, etc). If you're in London, definitely check out this market.