At the VIP launch party** for Kerb Camden, it was a bit like going to an old school reunion. Our Babe papa, Big Apple Hot Dogs, is an alumni of Kerb from its original incarnation as Eat St, right through to its evolution into one of London’s best known collectives of street food traders.
Following on from the uber popular Kerb at Kings Cross, among other venues around London, Kerb Camden is its biggest opening yet: offering 7 days of street food served by 35 rotating stalls.
I love taking the babes to Camden: it’s such a buzzy area, even in these days of gentrification, and I get flashbacks to my uni days when I shared a flat here as a student. Kerb has brought a fresh new flavour to the market, with an exciting range of goodies from across the globe. The market is right by the canal where you can hop on a quick ride via the London Waterbus company.
We arrived quite late to the Kerb Camden party and had a moment of ‘so much food, so little time’ panic. There are loads of new kids on the block at Kerb, an almost dizzying amount of options, but it didn’t take long to find something yummy.
The babes grabbed some Crispy Southern fried chicken strips and Cajun chips from Mother Clucker and were deliciously silent for a good 30 minutes as they munched.
I was drawn to the Colombian stall Maize Blaze, having first sampled Colombian street food at an Islington pop-up — including barbecued meat on a stick that resembled our native Nigerian suya (the ultimate street food, if you ask me).
I ordered the Colombian Marching Box and here’s the website’s full description of what it contains: ‘Succulent grilled chicken steeped in our Colombian sauce, smoked paprika chorizo, sautéed mini potatoes, sweet fried plantain, garlic rice, slow-cooked mini potatoes, guacamole and balsamic red cabbage on a bed of our mixed leaf salad.’
Yada yada. Let’s just say the combination of textures and flavours blended so well together, I was in a state of bliss. At some point I will make my way to Colombia and eat this every day.
Although my first dish was filling, I couldn’t resist trying the Salt and Szechuan fried squid with smoked chilli mayo from Ink. They had some of the biggest queues throughout the event and it wasn’t hard to see why. Mouthwateringly good.
The boys couldn’t go without having some vanilla ice cream and soft-batch cookies from Blu Top Ice Cream, who are touted as having the best ice cream sandwiches in London.
Kerb Camden: More Hot Picks
Square Root aka Hackney’s soda kings, for all natural colas and fruity flavours, including a pineapple blend that goes down smoothly with gin.
Crabbieshack for soft-shell crab burgers and lobster rolls.
Bian Dang for filling Taiwanese lunch boxes with pork chop rice, sweet potato chicken breast or oyster mushrooms with steamed rice.
Oli Baba’s for the original Halloumi fries. I repeat, Halloumi fries!
Cupcakes and Shhht for raw, vegan and gluten-free treats, including cupcakes, shakes and bakes.
Kerb King’s Cross
Just this week, my friend Meena invited us to Kerb King’s Cross to try another of their traders, a Sri Lankan food company called Kothu Kothu. The food boxes included chicken or mutton with shredded Godhamba roti, veggies, onions, egg, coconut, all stir fried together in a sensational mix of curry spices, with a chilli kick. And it’s all cooked fresh on site. Extremely more-ish.
Ezra’s comments: ‘Mum, this food is gooood. Yum. Mmm I’ve never had Sri Lankan food before. In fact, I think I want to visit Sri Lanka now that I’ve tasted the food.’
So there you have it. Babes about Town global food tour: next stops, Colombia and Sri Lanka!
Kerb Camden is at Camden Market, Camden Lock Place, NW1 8AF (Camden Town tube/Camden Rd overground) on Mon-Thu (11am-6pm), Fri-Sat 11am-10pm & Sun 11am-7pm; bar Fri-Sat 12pm-10pm. Kerb King’s Cross is at King’s Cross Boulevard, N1C 4BH (King’s Cross St Pancras tube) on Wed-Fri, 12pm-2pm. For more locations and timings visit www.kerbfood.com
**press event
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