Ooh I’m feeling a little bit hipster again! Finally, and again, yes I know I am way way behind on this, I have actually had some proper London street food. It’s not that I’ve not wanted it before, I just can’t stand queuing for stuff. I love the idea of going to all these foodie festivals and tasting all the food out of the trucks until my belly is the size of a beer barrel, but in reality I go, I queue, I whine, get hungry and end up not enjoying it because it took so long to reach the front of the queue. Rant over!
I happened to find myself in just off Brick Lane at around lunchtime yesterday and was finally hungry after my amazing tasting menu on Monday night (still typing that up). So thought it only right to get some grub. On a random Tuesday afternoon only a handful of stands are about, so we divided and sort of conquered.
The Buffalo Orange was my stop, their classic chicken wings with medium sauce, celery sticks and a blue cheese dressing for £6. Not bad value in my book, 7 or 8 wing bits cooked to order and completely covered in the signature spicy, vinegary sauce. The celery sticks and blue cheese sauce, although seeming a little pointless actually work to diffuse the spice of the sauce. I’m going to go out on a limb here and risk it by saying the sauce was nearly on a par with the Bingo Wings at Meat Liquor, so tangy that you don’t know whether to laugh in triumph when you make it through the whole plate without your eyes watering, yet so moreish that you can always always find room for more!
The other dish we went for was a burger from Turner & Roast. Nice, very nice indeed. Again, cooked to order, very juicy with some sort of mild chilli hit hiding somewhere with the red onion, cheese and lettuce. My only and it is the only slight gripe was that the cheese wasn’t man enough for the chilli, had i not seen a little meltiness dripping down the burger i wouldn’t have known there was cheese in it. The all important brioche bun was also perfect, no need to toast it as there was so much juice to soak up. Chilli & paprika rubbed chips with mayo came with it too. This was a little more expensive, but then, if it wasn’t I’d be very worried about the beef quality (such a detestable snob I know). £8.50 for the cheeseburger & chips.
We demolished these dishes at an alarming rate. I will Certainly be heading back to sample more delights of the Truman Brewery street food scene. Who knows I might even queue up for some super cool hipster grub one of these days!
I was there yesterday too and had an incredible burger from Mother Clucker: http://chillimarmalade.com/2013/08/07/mother-clucker-east-london-food-truck-fried-chicken/