Food Glorious Streatham

The Streatham Food Festival

gets under way on Thursday. Despite living here for over 7 years we haven’t been to this event. We’re often away when these local jukes are on but this weekend we’ll be around so I’d best get my eatin’ trousers on!

I was noodling around the website and drooling over all the restaurants we haven’t visited - although I was delighted to see that our local pub The Railway was first on the list of great places to eat in Streatham.

There were so many places I’ve seen from the top deck of the 159 bus but never thought to visit, but now I’ve read about them I have a long list for payday suppers (Lamberts again this Saturday).

I was sufficiently intrigued by The Elephant Bakehouse to pay them a visit today. Hidden away in a cobbled mews I didn’t know existed, off Streatham High Road and surrounded by car repair shops (or was it the same car repair shop that had spilled over into the adjacent buildings?). I love it when I find some new place near where I live that takes me off my beaten tracks.

I rolled up around 1 o’clock and spotted Nicole toing and froing between the bakehouse and a car. “Are you looking for some bread?” she asked. I must be in the right place. The half stable door was open with industrial flyscreen strips obscuring the inside. Duncan peered out between them. “Wotcha got?” I inquired. “Just some white sourdough, want to give it a try?” I certainly did. After a brief chat I parted with some cash and went walkabout to explore the surrounding streets. I was surprised by how many large Victorian houses had ‘Sold’ boards outside and evidence of refurbishment going on. Looks like the gentry are moving back to Streatham.

I wandered home across the common to try the bread with some Italian cheeses and salami I’d bought in Lidl yesterday. It was utterly lovely.

I hope the ancient curse I alluded to in the previous post doesn’t scupper them.

Yin Yang

Success and Failure

I sometimes think I carry an ancient curse around with me. I discover something amazing and it promptly disappears. Perhaps it’s an aspect of that universal rule that fills the world with an abundance of something, until you want some, when it promptly vanishes from the face of the Earth.

My delight at discovering Korea Foods in Mitcham was short lived. On most of my visits I was the only person in the cavernous warehouse - apart from the staff. This did not bode well. On the last visit I was cheerfully and politely informed by the young woman at the checkout that they’d be closing on Sunday and I was welcome to visit them in New Malden. “But I’ve just found you!” I wailed.

Either the people of Mitcham have no taste or - I suspect - there were a lot of people like me who didn’t even know the place was there. I wonder how many other enterprises fail due to a lack of blowing their own trumpet. Now think on…

Oh My Seoul!

I can officially declare The Great Kimchi Experiment a success. It’s been doing its stuff for just over six weeks now and I’ve sampled it regularly during the process. It seems to have settled into a stable state - having gone through the “crazy” stage (as one Korean grandmother called it) when I thought it was destined for the bin.

On my last visit to Korea Foods I bought a pack of poggi kimchi to compare and contrast and the verdict was - as usual when homemade is pitched against manufactured - homemade triumphs every time.

The stainless steel milk churn container that seduced me proved to be impractical as long term storage - partly because it took up too much space in the fridge and partly because it’s not entirely airtight and the stench was tainting everything else in there - in the same way an over ripe Camembert does.

I was going to invest in some Kilner (Mason) jars but a brainwave had me heading for Lidl. I have a variety of dry ingredients stored in dill pickle jars but I didn’t have enough to house the kimchi. A jar of dill pickles is half the price of a Kilner jar and you get dill pickles free inside! Bonus! The pickles are now happily resident in the milk churn (which also makes for easy and healthy grazing) and the kimchi is in the pickle jars, in the fridge - which now smells like a regular fridge. Sorted.

Kimchi is great as an accompaniment but fantastic in soup. Plop it in a few minutes before you serve so it retains its crunch. The soup dampens the kimchi’s fire and is suffused with that certain kimchi je ne sais quoi.

I’ll definitely make some more once I’ve munched my way through this lot. It’s one of those things you can fiddle with until you have your own style.