Tag: leather lane

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Wall of Flame

I really do enjoy visiting street food markets. It’s something I have missed during the pandemic and lockdown. I have been virtually working from home every day since lockdown in March 2020 and therefore haven’t needed to go out and grab some lunch. I’ve gone out, just not for lunch.

With some in-person meetings and really an opportunity for a change in scenery and routine I spent part of last week up in London, only the second time in London since March 2020.

It was a nice and sunny Monday so I headed out for a lunchtime walk and get some lunch from the Leather Lane street food market. I had enjoyed the Samba Box from the market a few weeks back, so I went to see what was available. I was tempted to visit the Samba stall again, but I decided I would try something new and different.

My first choice was the Yum Bowl, however the queue was quite long. I had queued for a while for a crispy pork bowl, but it felt that I might be there a long time. So changed my mind and went to the Wall of Flame for chicken.

It was a portion of coleslaw, chicken and fries. Well though I was looking forward to it, it was a little disappointing. 

The chicken was a little overcooked and dry. It had been cooked on a rotisserie and had been “marinated for at least 24 hours” in their special sauce. Though the skin was tasty, the rest of the chicken was dry. The coleslaw lacked dressing. I was looking forward to some crispy fries, but these were soft and lacked flavour.

Overall a real disappointment. I should have queued.

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Time for a Samba Box

I really do enjoy visiting street food markets. It’s something I have missed during the pandemic and lockdown. I have been virtually working from home every day since lockdown in March 2020 and therefore haven’t needed to go out and grab some lunch. I’ve gone out, just not for lunch.

I have visited our offices in Bristol now and then, but have only had a couple of meals from the street food markets, some great paella and a delicious bento box.

With some in-person meetings and really an opportunity for a change in scenery and routine I spent part of the week up in London, the first time I had been working in London since March 2020.

It was a nice if a little grey day, so I headed out for a lunchtime walk and see what there was around.

In the part of London where our office was, it felt quiet and empty, again compared to Bristol which is much busier and more crowded. The streets were deserted and there was very little traffic. I was not surprised to see many of my coffee haunts and places I would go for lunch were either shut or had closed down. However there were still some places operating, but a lot less busy than eighteen months ago.

As I walked around I did wonder if the Leather Lane street food market was up and running and I was pleased to see it was. There wasn’t as many stalls as there has been on previous visits. It also didn’t help that I was having a late lunch, so many of the stalls were either shutting up or had run out of food.

After browsing the stalls I took the decision to have a Brazilian Samba Box. I had to queue, and then it started raining, but I stuck with it and stayed in the queue.

I chose the chargrilled chicken thighs which were served with Rio rice, black beans, coleslaw and lettuce.

It looked great and was very tasty.

The chicken was still tender and moist, I thought it might be a bit dry (as it was a last minute thing) but it wasn’t. The chicken was full of flavour. I liked the salad and the rice was nice as well.

I had mine served with chimichurri which was a nice accompaniment.

I really enjoyed the whole box and it was so nice to have something different, fresh and tasty.