STREET FEAST: DINERAMA

A meal made possible by a confusing Friday evening.  An impromptu birthday drinks, an arrangement to eat with a friend, birthday drinks clashing with prearranged pub drinks, pub drinks clashing with eating, post-pub central drinks clashing with birthday drinks, drinks in central being cancelled, friend flaking on birthday drinks...  And the result was a lovely evening spent at East London's newest Street Food venue, Dinerama.

The first surprise was that there were more food stalls than expected, therefore more untried foods than expected.  I had previously tried Bobs' lobster at a former Street Feast incarnation, Hawker House, where the crab roll had been really nice...if pricey, lobster roll sold out, and the famed 'lobster mac n cheese', which had looked so tempting through instagram filters, was in fact so utterly salty that the taste needed to be doused by one of the £10 cocktails.

So on to Yum Bun.  This was a repeat of a Hawker House purchase (ashamedly purchased at two separate Hawker Houses), but in our defense it was purchased as a kind of food buffer; something to chew on whilst we decided which new food to try.  Needless to say, Yum Bun's pork bun is always a solid choice, (though we swore it was smaller than last time...) with a fluffy bun and tasty filling.  Also, my Taiwanese companion gave it the thumbs up, which obviously means that the whole of Taiwan accepts this as a completely valid substitute for their home country's street snacks.

Then to BBQ Lab, with its extravagant stall that they've put a tremendous effort into, which only 10% of diners will ever notice, as there is little point competing with the excellent looking food they roll out.  In fact, we stop for the 'award winning' Chipuffalo wings, in a ridiculously peppery gooey cheese sauce, and can't help but be distracted by the look of the ribs whilst we are mid-eat.  See?  Even your food can't compete with its own good looks.  Back to the wings; crunchy and delicious, in the kind of sauce that you will find yourself craving the next evening.  The ribs meanwhile told no lies with their looks.

But then we get distracted by the delicious-looking £10 cocktails, which do tell a lie, because really they are sour and strong, whilst looking sweet and dainty.  A long time is spent consuming these liquids, and soaking up the atmosphere, which is actually truly pleasant.  You would think its pretty easy to create 'atmoshphere' when you have food plus drink plus a location near Old Street, and that the situation should write itself, but the reality is often overly busy, becoming a stressful race for food and seats.  Dinerama somehow feels relaxed, with a plentiful bounty of food and drink. 

Then, finally, on to dessert.  We have chosen YouDoughnut's salted caramel doughnuts with a banana ice cream.  Salty and sweet is always a winning combination, and the addition of the sticky sauce and crunchy walnut topping makes for a fittingly successful end for our time at Street Feast.  After which, I go to those pub drinks, knowing that, whichever arrangement happens now, the evening has already hit its high.

Street Feast Dinerama is at 19 Great Eastern Street to 4th October