Feast 2013: London’s most exciting food event is back

Summer is here (kind of) and the fourth incarnation of Feast’s colourful line-up of London’s top chefs and street food heroes is back, this time at Brewer’s Yard on Brick Lane from 4^th – 7^th July and sees some incredible dishes on the menu for some old and new faces to Feast.

Feast has found itself a new home in Brick Lane Yard near London’s Spitalfields market, the old service yard for the brewers.  The site is bang in the heart of street food London and will make a welcome destination for hungry Londoners. The fourth Feast, running from 4^th – 7^th July, is welcoming an array of new traders such as Spuntino, Flat Iron, James Lowe (Young Turks), Brindisa, Bonnie Gull, Breddo’s Tacos, Big Apple Hot Dogs and Kimchinary joining the Feast stalwarts such as HIX, Big Apple Hot Dogs, Mishkins and Meringue Girls. And is sure to be popular with the last Feast, at Tobacco Dock, welcoming over 9,500 people through the doors in four days!

Angela Hartnett’s Whitechapel Dining Room will have her scallops, bacon, spring onion and radish with truffle chips. Flat Iron’s Grassfed Wagyu Shortrib beef heads over from New Zealand especially for Feast: the meat is cooked at a low temperature for 48 hours then finished over live charcoal to a give pink but charred piece of beef. Kitchenette will feature its Ghanaian groundnut stews, Korean tacos, hearty breakfast burritos, handmade chocolates, wood fired sandwiches or Beijing pancakes. Indonesian Ayam Legend will have a selection of delightful traditional street food snacks, which showcase the exotic abundance of flavour, colour, degrees of spiciness and textures of the mighty Indonesian cuisine. The Asian-Mex fusion that is Kimchinary will draw in crowds with Kimchi grilled cheese quesadilla with smoked Gochujang mayo and fried pig’s ear.

More pork is to be expected from Miss Manchu, most notably five-spice crispy skin pulled pork, Hainanese poached ginger chicken and Miso-infused shitake mushrooms. Fresh Devon crab in a bridge roll with baby gem lettuce is to expected from Bonnie Gull as well as the AAA rated Portland pearls, complete with shallot vinegar, lemon or tabasco. At Spuntino peanut butter and jelly are taken to new levels of cool as an ice-cream sandwich with indulgent jam filling, they will also be serving their award-winning truffled egg toast.

Mishkins will share their festival friendly all-beef corndogs on skewers – a meaty lollipop with a smorgasbord of toppings including sauerkraut, mustard, jalapenos, and green tomato ketchup and Breddo’s tacos is sure to be a hit with their 50-day aged Beef Short Rib Taco, alongside Breddo’s mint crunch fried chicken taco. Tramontana Brindisa will have hamburguesa blanco y negro – a mini burger of white butifarra sausage and morcilla.  They will also be mixing up Fideua with cuttlefish, prawns and flame-roasted garlic alioli, gazpacho and ibérico ham for those of the fish persuasion. Opera tavern will share their five-year old Ibérico ham “salt yard” from Castro e Gonzales, Smoked mackerel, piquillo and marjoram crostini, charcoal grilled chorizo with smoked aubergine, Almond alioli and lastly the meringue girls will go Eton messy with a boozy option of gin and tonic, piña colada or mojito meringue kisses with pimm’s cream, champagne soaked strawberries and fresh mint sugar.

From coconut shies, mini croquet lawn and boule to picnics, deck chairs, banquet style seating, checked tablecloths and a strawberries & cream and prosecco bar the summer Feast promises a unique and memorable day out for everyone. The team are working with undercover architects to build their very own 8m by 12m sculptural hot air balloon! This is going to be the talking point of the weekend. Background bars are designing a bespoke summer cocktail menu and a 15m English country garden bar especially for the festival; Patty and Bun and The Rum Kitchen will be taking over the decks on Friday 5^th and Saturday 6^th. Expect Reggae, Ska, Calypso and some very special guests.  

Jessica Spiro

The Feast festival, Brick Lane Yard, Buxton Street Gate, London E1 5ER, is on from the 4^th to the 7^th July, for more information on opening times and ticket prices visit here