berlin :: markthalle neun street food thursday

Berlin is a city I've been to a few times, as it's a place a few of my friends were and are living in. The thing with visiting friends in a different country/city (in my case anyway) is that you rarely see each other so you spend most of the time chattering away, eating and drinking and being merry, and not necessarily sight-seeing or doing the cultural rounds.

This recent trip was slightly different - two of my girlfriends and I went to Berlin for a wedding, but we had free days before and after - and although we didn't visit what most would consider the main landmarks of the city (some of which we'd ticked off before), we did manage to do a good bit of exploring thanks to spot-on recommendations by Alix of this beautiful blog. She came to my rescue when I was on the lookout for some off-the-beaten-path suggestions, and I am eternally grateful!

One of which was the Markthalle Neun indoor street food market that they put on every Thursday evening. Needless to say, this sounded like something I'd love, and my friend S too whose birthday it was that day! Perfect.

We made it there around 8:30pm, and it was absolutely packed with people. Clearly it was a popular thing.The crowd was buzzing, the stalls were endless and it was hot and sticky but we made it to our goal!

Food. Really good food.

First up, fried pork dumplings. Not just any old dumplings - they had some kind of sauce/juice inside that took them onto a whole other level.

Followed by insanely delicious bao buns, with pork belly and all the fix-ins. I know, clearly I have a problem when it comes to those fluffy white things, but they are ridiculously popular for a reason. And this one - dare I say it's the best one I've had?

We had a glass of wine, raved about how good everything was, and had gelato for dessert - chocolate for S, black sesame for me. Delicious end to a delicious evening.

If you live in Berlin and you've never been, you absolutely should. If you're visiting Berlin and like this kind of thing, put it on your list! You can thank me (or rather, Alix) later.

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kerb street food

It's probably very evident on this blog that I love street food events. It means you get to try a variety of traders that you might not have known about before, there's a buzz to the atmosphere, and it's a great thing to enjoy when the sun is out.

KERB sets up shop in various corners of London, and when I saw that they were camping out at the Southbank for the weekend, I knew it was time to try out one of their events.

Knowing that each stand came with the KERB stamp of approval, it was tricky to decide what to go for - until we knew exactly what we wanted to go for.

First up, a soft shell crab burger from Crabbieshack.

Messy and glorious.

We wandered around a little, trying to see what caught our eye, sipping on a delicious rose & cardamom margarita.

See why it was so hard to decide?

Anyway, we then passed Bill or Beak, which had a bit a queue (as did Crabbieshack - you know that queues = worth it) and looked fantastic. So we joined the line, and enjoyed an artisan Mojito ice lolly in the meantime - I need to try and make this at home!

We chose the Beak, which was a bun with slow braised duck & pork, coriander, Vietnamese dressing and tempura shallots.

This was my favourite out of the lot.

We also snacked on some triple cooked fries that were pretty good - I mean, how can you go wrong with this golden crispiness?

For a little dessert, we went for two scoops of ice cream - Banana & Honeyed Cashew and Sea Salt Caramel from Sorbitium. The banana in particular was lovely.

A Sunday lunch well spent, in my opinion. Make sure to follow KERB on twitter, so you can keep up with where they're setting up next - they clearly know what good food is about. 

I think they are next around in King's Cross this Saturday, maybe you can fuel up there for an evening of World Cup watching (if you're that way inclined - I unashamedly am, even though I only watch football every 4 years)?

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hawker house: street feast

Having read about this foodie heaven on Becks, Shu and Angela's blogs, I knew I had to see it for myself. Now you know why we were in East London… food was our destination, naturally.

Street Feast is set up in an old factory, creating an indoor street market with 10 food stalls and 4 bars. The atmosphere is lively, the people friendly and the whole set up is casual and colourful.

As for the food, we went to town. We tried something from 5 of the 10 stalls. The unanimous favourite was the pork ribs - so good. Especially since I rarely eat ribs but have been craving them (those who watch House of Cards will understand!). The gyoza was good, E loved them but the chilli sauce threw me off a bit - being a bit of a soy sauce & vinegar purist. The pork belly buns from Bao were delicious (Yum Buns weren't available sadly, but I expect they are similar), and those extremely naughty fried pork belly croquettes (sneakily chosen by E, unsurprisingly)? Outrageous, but undeniably, sinfully good.

Dessert was one weird concoction - a Bacon & Maple Syrup Brownie. E wasn't in love with it, but I thought it was just subtle enough to get away with the crazy concept. The salty & sweet combo never gets old! I do believe that bacon & maple syrup go best with pancakes and french toast though.

All washed down with a bucket of my favourite cocktail, Margarita.

Catch their 10 week run before 22nd March (open every Friday & Saturday), although surely they'll have to come back again due to popular demand?