Looking for something to do this Bank Holiday Monday? Perhaps just to celebrate that our trains are running or to grab a spicy hangover cure? Head down to the Southbank Centre to their Alchemy event (an annual festival showcasing the best of dance, music,
theatre, design, fashion, comedy and literature from the UK and South
Asia).
Street food heavyweights - KERB (@kerb_) are providing a fantastic pop up market celebrating the best of South Asian food - cuisines from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afganistan.
Here are a couple of highlights that we tried today.
I am obsessed with Dosas - a thin, crispy pancake made from rice batter and black lentils, and Dosa Deli always deliver on the goods. Today we had their Chilli Cheese Dosa, which is so moreish and delightfully crispy!
Ladle & Skillet had a great Afghani offering - Bamyan Lamb or Kabull Chickpeas. We went for the lamb box (griddled lamb neck, slow marinated in garlic, lemon, coriander and chilli with peppers and onions), which was served with a gorgeously soft organic flatbread. The lamb was beautifully tender and even the salad was soaked in rich lamb juices.
One of my favourite dishes came from The Peckish Peacock in the form of a Pakora Snack Box. Most delicious pakoras I've ever tried - crunchy, buttery, rich and lip smackingly good.
There's a great selection of drinks to finish your May bank hol - a cocktail bar, a selection of refreshing beers, coffees and Square Root sodas. If you're a tea lover like myself, there's Good & Proper Tea or Teala to choose from. With today's warm weather, I tried Iced Teas from both stalls. The Classic Southern Iced tea from Teala was refreshing and tangy with black tea, whereas the Iced Tea made with Darjeeling and a splash of Elderflower from Good & Proper was sweeter and milder.
We finished off with a couple of sweet treats. Good & Proper Tea have a nice little selection of baked goods - we went for the Coconut Barfi, little squishy morsels of coconutty goodness.
Spotting the words VIETNAMESE ICED COFFEE, we also grabbed ice lollies from The Ice Kitchen. Their Vietnamese Iced Coffee lolly was the best ice lolly I've ever had. Rob had the fresh mango lolly, which he described as frozen squished up mango. Win win.
So get yourself down to Alchemy tomorrow and try the fantastic food and bevvies they have to offer! Special mentions also to Kothu Kothu, who do incredible Sri Lankan Rotis - try the Mutton, and Horn Ok Please who offer a great selection of delish veggie street food.
