About a month ago we went to an incredibly meaty foodie festival and boy did we have a good time. Incredible live bands, giggles and chatter echoed throughout the venue, creating the hustle and bustle we absolutely love. Smoke, heat and love poured out of all the BBQs (mind you there were a LOT of them) right into our hearts and souls.
We ended up going on the Sunday to experience the final day of this magnificent festival. With over 25 incredible chefs from 25 restaurants we were really spoilt for choice. We obviously couldn’t try everything and thus had to narrow it down, which was excruciatingly difficult.
First up we decided that we needed to hit up Smokestak because we’ve heard such great things about these guys and had to finally try it out for ourselves. We knew it’d be good because that line was looooong, but it was definitely worth the wait. David Carter of Smokestak was offering up a real treat with his infamous beef brisket served on a bone-marrow butter bun with pickled chillies. The meat was tender, juicy and too good, where those chillies added that extra oomph to the dish, making us fall way harder in love. I could honestly eat about 5 of these and not get sick of them – it was just that GOOD! After we gobbled down these beauties we figured we’d get a bevvy to cool off those meat sweats. We ordered a pint of Frontier’s lager, which was cold, refreshing and bright in flavour; exactly what we needed.
One dish most certainly wasn’t enough, so the hunt for the next one continued. We ended up at Hawskmoor and got to try Richard Turner’s beautiful tomahawk steak with garlic and fennel hollandaise on flatbread. Honestly the pictures speak for themselves – look at the colour on that meat! The meat wasn’t the only star of the dish because that garlic bread was also to die for.
What’s that we spotted in the distance? It was Bleeker Burger and Zan Kaufman was grilling up a storm. We couldn’t not get a Bleeker Burger – we’re not monsters! So we queued and queued until we finally got to the front and ordered 2 of the best burgers in London Town because what’s better than 1 Bleeker? DEFINITELY 2!
After we devoured those little bundles of joy we headed back downstairs to scout out a new glorious place to try. We came across The Ox, where Todd Francis was cooking up a shoulder of lamb kebab with pickles, tahini and rose harissa. We figured we’d give this spot a go, since the dish looked fresh, zesty and really beautiful. Thank god we decided to try this place out because the wrap was reaaallly good and one of our favourite dishes of the day. The lamb was tender and that accompanied with the pickled veg was insane. The Ox is usually based in Bristol so thank God for Meatopia for bringing some of the very best to London.
Our last meat dish of the day was from Roka! We had to try out those Iberico pork ribs that everyone was queuing for! The sauce was tangy and the meat juicy, so once again these were gobbled up – very messily I may add (may have ended up with sauce all over my face… may not have… who knows).
FEAR NOT, we couldn’t leave without having some dessert! Fatties bakery was there serving up their celebrated brownies and since we’d never tried this place we couldn’t leave without doing so. We ordered their s’more, which was a brownie with salted chocolate cookie crumb (destroyed us), marshmallow fluff and salted caramel sauce. This was the PERFECT end to a magnificent afternoon; we ordered our goodies, sat down on a bench and reminisced about all the dishes that we got to try that very day.
Our dish of the day most certainly was Smokestak’s beef brisket so now we can’t wait to actually hit up their restaurant and see what other goods they have in store. With our meat sweats in full force, we trekked out of the Tobacco Dock and through some windy streets back to the station where we headed home – already excited for next years event!
S.B.
PS – Smokestak, hit us up 😉
NibblingLDN 