World Curry Festival 2013

The 2013 World Curry Festival returned to City Park, Bradford, and the whole shebang has got bigger!

A similar set up to last year is as much as stall holders occupy the periphery of the park, with picnic tables and chairs in the middle.  Different from last year was the addition of a large out door theatre - very posh - as opposed to the stage set up in a vacant unit of Centenary Squarer.  This gave the proceedings a much more cohesive feel I thought, and also looked darn impressive.  Also a very good programme was produced for this years event, including some yummy sounding recipes to try yourself.

Due to my hectic diary - always the same at this time of year - I was on a flying visit.  First impressions were of busyness!  Excellent to see so many people supporting the Festival but, from a purely selfish point of view, the prospect of joining some of the vendor queues snaking their ways around the Festival site, seemed daunting!  However, once a few minutes had been spent wandering around, it became clear there were 'popular' stalls, and some perhaps less so?

With this in mind, nestled away was Deespice, and promised Sri Lankan fodder.  Not much Sri Lankan cuisine around these parts I thought so seemed like the perfect opportunity to try something new.  And, to be honest, looking around some of the other stalls, there are only so many Chicken Tikka Wraps you can eat.

So to Deespice it was.  The stall holders were very friendly and offered a 'Festival Special' for £6.  The Special comprised essentially a number of taster portions on a plate, the main draw I guess being Seeni Sambol.  The Seeni Sambol was a very rich dark curry with dried fish.  It was sweet - almost like a chutney - with a sauce comprising abundant onions, which must have been cooked and cooked and cooked, to produce the rich flavour.  The fish appeared to have almost disintegrated into the sauce, providing a quite strong fishy taste, and it was also pretty hot!  The dish was quite different and quite delightful.  Worth seeking out I promise, but I understand Sri Lankan food difficult to come by up north.  The Sambol was served on a bed of very sticky coconut rice - referred to as Milk Rice - and provided the perfect cooling accompaniment to the spicy Sambol.  With all the excitement, the addition tasters on the platter went a little by the by.  I don't think I even noticed the curried mince!  Likewise the aubergines and peppers!  The chickpea with coconut, onions etc was a refreshing little side garnish/salad an offered texture, zing and freshness to the sweet and spicy Sambol.  I enjoyed the whole plate of food and was pleasantly full afterwards.

Deespice Festival Special inc Seeni Sambol (Middle)

Tauntaun Giblets anyone?  Don't worry its Falooda!

However, there was still room for a trip to the Falooda stall.  I'm not quite sure what Falooda is but it's like a dessert/beverage comprising noodles with thin pink milky sauce, basil seeds(??) and a blob of ice cream.  It sort of resembles a Tauntauns giblets! It has a unique taste (in a good way) which is difficult for me to put my finger on, is not overly sweet and is very refreshing.

So that was it - I hit the road.  Another very excellent and seemingly very successful World Curry Festival.  One observation I made was that all the stalls seemed to have 'Festival Specials' on for £5/£6 and seemed to all provide a substantial meal.  Now, that might prove good value but, if like me, you'd like to trawl all the stalls and sample a bit of everything, you were a little short on option.

Overall excellent day out and really worth a trip next year.

World Curry Festival 2012

For 2012, the World Curry Festival was to roll into, surely it's spiritual home, Bradford.  And to the recently unveiled and excellent City Park.  The Park provided a brill location for the Festival, and I thought a vast improvement on last years Leeds city center venue.  Here there was room to move, peruse the stalls, and also plenty of safe space for the children to scamp about, and get wet through with gay abandon.

Bradford City Park

Alas, this year, due to other commitments, we didn't get chance to visit the festival until late Sunday afternoon.   When we arrived there was still loads of people milling about, and some lengthy queues at the stalls.  However, the rain soon came and, by about 14:30, most of the lingering folk had started to depart, and the atmosphere some what went with them.  Rain and cold, and no people resulted in some of the stalls calling it a draw and shutting up shop.  I understand the festival was due to shut up shop about 4pm anyway.

Street from Huddersfield

 Therefore, we made it our mission to make sure we sampled all we wanted to before being turfed out.

First up was Street, from Huddersfield.  They were offering a 3 course meal in a box for £5!  Sounded too good to miss really.  In my box was Spud Scallop, Channa Chaat Spring Roll, Chip Shop Fish (??), Seek Kebab, Tandori Roasted Wings, Chicken Karahi, Creamed Daal, rice and puri.  Also an afters of Falooda was included.  Sounds like quite a feast, and it was.  A bit cool, but all excellent.  I felt a little underwhelmed with the potato scallop, and the Fish Shop Fish (which was just like (nice) Fish Shop Fish - fine on a Friday, but not what I was expecting at a Curry Festival?).  The chicken Karahi was a little watery, but was tasty enough.  The highlight was the Falooda.  Not something I've had before, and was a sort of pink, sweet, noodle, soup.  Quite irresistible.

Lahori Grill

With many places starting to pack up, Lahori - not sure where they are based - started doing a roaring trade.  I went for Samosa Chaat to start with, before moving onto a Seekh Kebab wrap.  Thew Samosa Chaat was OK I suppose.  It was a bit dry, and lacked a bit of punch.  The chickpeas were a touch 'loose' and firm, and the dish just lack a bit of punch.  The Wrap on the other hand was good.  Cooked on the grill in front of you fresh kebabs were meaty, firey and well seasoned.  All wrapped up with sauce and salad made for a tasty snack

Just time for a quick nosy around the theater.  Some bloke was doing a demo and cooking Fish Karahi I think.  We were all cold, wet and tired by now, so we headed for home.

I wished we'd made it to the festival a little earlier on in the weekend, when perhaps a little more enthusiasm and atmosphere may have been apparent.  I got the impression a very busy weekend had been had though, and loved the venue.  I'll be back next year, that's for sure.