East Dulwich Market (again)

I might have mentioned about my pseudo love affair with East Dulwich, and this weekend I had the opportunity to illicitly flirt with my concrete Mistress once again. An afternoon free from wife and child meant that I visited all the corners, crannys and market stalls I could handle. Joined in this endeavor by my aforementioned not-quite-brother-in-law, I ate, drank, sniffed and caressed to excess in this urban garden of temptation.

Although coffee and beer featured prominently in the day, I want to focuss on two specific experiences; The Dogfather and Drum And Kettle Popcorn. These two market stalls are renowned in blogs from far and wide and I had been itching to give them a good going over.

The Dogfather

'I don't normally like <insert food type here>, but I love this', is a phrase that usually forces me to me to scoff like a public schoolboy, uncontrollably and without mercy. However, I found the phrase forming in my brain like a poisonous cloud of cliche as I munched through the sausage and unusual toppings. I opted for the signature 'dog and was glad for it. Soft onions, sauerkraut, chorizo, cheese, jalapinos and tomato-y sauce were placed on and around the beef hotdog which wasn't nearly as disgusting as your usual boiled, artifically smoked, flacid, pink frankfurter. In fact, the more I ate, the more I decided that it wasn't disgusting at all. It was nice, really nice. So now you understand my problem, do I commit the ultimate sin of hipocrisy, or keep silent and flagelate myself later for not expressing my true feelings. In the end, I found a third way: I muttered it conspiratorially to my almost-b-in-l while sitting on a wall and stuffing the sausage, bun and top combo into my gob. In conclusion, you should buy one of these - they ain't cheap, at over 6 quid for a hotdog, these are pitched at those of you who simply can't resist. But after eating one, I count myself firmly in that number.

Drum and Kettle Popcorn

Having been a fan of the saltysweet popcorn mix for a few years now and introduced countless family members, friends and randoms to its many pleasures, I watched this corn being freshly popped and flavoured with excitment and growing desire. The corn was bagged and took it's place as a single brick in a wall of popcorn that marched across the side of the stall. I chose the smaller of the two bag options and enjoyed hugging the still warm stretched plastic as we wandered up the road. I managed to keep my hands out until after my Dogfather but then I started munching. A salty caramel mix, they were everything I had hoped. The perfect accompanyment to a movie night in, these beat the socks off the standard Cinema version - fully recomended.

So, goodbye East Dulwich. I will return soon, and we shall dance again.