Feast 2014, E1W

Feast London

Feast bills itself as the pre-eminent foodie event of the year. This year they found a killer venue: Tobacco Dock. It used to be THE bonded dock for, unsurprisingly, tobacco. That means it dealt with huge money back in the day and is pretty astonishing.

And MASSIVE.

Feast takes up two levels and there must be dozens of stands. I still got the feeling that it was barely using up a tiny corner of the place. It’s that big. When a place warns you against cycling on a sign which is INSIDE, you know that it’s pretty expansive.

It’s all huge vaulted ceilings and fountains surrounded by exposed girders and brickwork- a weird mix of grandeur and workaday efficiency. It’s impressive, but doesn’t quite have the same kooky charm as somewhere like Model Market; it’s too big, too polished and doesn’t feel ‘found’ enough. Some markets feel hidden, some feel pop-up. This one feels far too shiny for that.

Take a food market and then have it grow up a bit. That’s Feast.

So it’s an impressive venue, it just takes a bit of getting used to to not be in a car park or derelict building.

Anyway, onto the food.

The Cheese Truck

Guess what these guys do?

Yeah, huge cheese toasties. Which is of course the perfect thing to wolf down at 11:30 at the beginning of a long afternoon of nomming.

They do an interesting range of toasties, from the relatively standard cheddar, Ogleshield and onion to the fancier goat and walnut via chorizo and chihuahua. Apparently that’s a Mexican fresh cheese. Nothing to do with the dog.

It was a little early to get fancy with the cheese, so we went basic and had the cheddar and Ogleshield jobby. With added bacon to make it more breakfasty.

Damn that looks good, even now. It’s cooked on a proper flat-top with those weird iron press things to ensure a crispy crust and properly melted middle. There’s also a huge amount of butter going on to help that crispiness. They have a butter brush to apply it with. It’s not a pansy little pastry brush. It’s the sort of brush you’d paint your living room with.

Good signs.

It was salty, crispy, gooey with sharpness from the onions. The cheese melted beautifully without any oiliness and a satisfying string to it. This is right up there with the magic of Kappacasein at Borough Market. With more bacon. My first thought was that it tasted a bit like a cheese and bacon burger. But without the burger.

A weird description, I know. The point is that it had far more flavour that I would have expected. I wish my toasties tasted anywhere near this good.

8.5/10 – Cheese. Bacon. Sandwich. Winner.

Julia’s Brownie Bar

Ne’er was a truer word spoken. Brownies are archetypal comfort food – simple, satisfying, horrific for you in anything but the smallest quantities. I really wasn’t planning on getting down eating the sweet-stuff so early in the day, but there was a peanut butter and pretzel number calling out to me.

It was gooey, squidgy goodness in the middle, set off by crispy pretzels and a salty-sweet kick from the peanut butter. I normally abhor smooth peanut butter but in this it worked nicely. Tasty, chunky portions and really nicely made. I tend to prefer a little more dark chocolate in the mix, but that’s a weirdly specific thing to want in a brownie not made for me.

7/10 – If I were a sweet lover this would be a 9, but I’m not.

The Fat Bear

The Fat Bear does po’ boys. We didn’t have the po’ boys though, because we had already had SO MUCH FOOD. They did have something else on the menu though – their ‘caviar of the South’ aka pimento cheese. It’s effectively cheese with some peppers, mayo and seasoning all whipped together into a spread. That doesn’t sound that appetising.

It is though.

It’s salty, a little sweet and a wonderful appetiser. It’s an idea I’ll definitely be thieving for dinner parties. Not something I’d expect to have found going around a food festival, but certainly a nice surprise. My one beef is that it’s crying out for a piece of crusty bread but gets served with crackers. A personal taste thing, but I would’ve killed for a piece of a baguette to smear this stuff on.

7.5/10 – A nice little nibble.

Jubo

I was dreaming of bao before going to Feast. They’re my favourite street food at the moment – a fluffy little cloud of a bun sandwiching rich meat, pungent sauces and a sprinkling of fresh toppings. They punch way above their weight typically.

These did not.

The bao dough was a bit like cotton wool. It was still soft but felt a bit overworked. The sauce was nice enough but not evenly distributed. The meat was solid. The toppings consisted of a slice of cucumber and some Sriracha. Where was the spring of coriander or dusting of peanuts? The radish and homemade hot sauce?

It was fine, but nothing to get excited about. Which is what bao normally do.

5/10 – Meh. Meh. Meh.

Dirty Bones

Went for the Classic Yankee because a good dog needn’t be inundated with toppings. Sometimes you want a giant chilli dog with lashings of cheese and salsa. Sometimes you want something simple so you can appreciate the simplicity of a well-made wurst.

Dirty Bones gets a lot of Twitter love; it’s well deserved. It’s a solid dog and the bun is one of the best I’ve come across. I’ve got to profess that the dog itself didn’t blow me away though. I’m not going to go into too much detail – there’re too many potential pitfalls with sausage euphemisms.

The BBQ sauce is something a little bit special. It’s made with marshmallows apparently, so the sweetness is a fairly sticky one, which is about perfect for BBQ sauce to go with a savoury, salty dog. It doesn’t come as standard though so be sure to seek it out. And try not to have the problems I did with the dispenser. Looked a bit of a mug.

Then proceeded to get the mustard and BBQ all over my face. Thankfully they have wipes. Although don’t like your lips after wiping your face. It tastes funky.

7/10 – Solid, but the dog is outclassed by the likes of Dogtown.

Dough Bro

Proper pizza seems to be making headway into the London food scene. As someone who spent the vast majority of their childhood holidays eating pizza in Italy, it’s a welcome change. Sure there’s always space for Papa John’s when you’re hungover and want someone to bring food to your door. There’s also a big space for places like Pizza Pilgrims, Bravvi Ragazzi and Franco Manca in a world otherwise dominated by the Pizza Express-Strada-Zizzi triumvirate.

Dough Bros are definitely in the former of those two categories. It’s a proper, fluffy dough and simple toppings. To my mind a pizza needn’t be bogged down with bloated toppings. If the dough’s good and the sauce is fresh then you don’t need much else than maybe a little mozzarella and basil. Maybe some n’duja if you want to get crazy.

The dough here is good. Very good. Very very very good. It’s got good crunch to the base, which was fluffy and full of good-sized air pockets. The sauce was a little sweet for my tastes, but the quality of the tomatoes was indisputable. The mozz was fresh, had just enough pull and bite to it. It was a beautifully executed pizza which required zero adulteration.

All it really needed was to be eaten next to some water with a nice carafe of Bardolino.