Digbeth Dining Club Review.

 

 

Welcome back to my review blog Food Fanatics!

Digbeth, Aaah, Digbeth...
I have been going out clubbing in Digbeth, Birmingham since 1997, I've been to so many top quality nights at The Custard Factory, Air, The Institute, The Rainbow, Boxxed, The Factory, P.S.T and my good friend  (and Digbeth legend )Boogie Dave's "Suki10c". There has always been a good bohemian vibe around the place and always, always a great crowd of people that are up for a good night out and a taste for adventurous new things, whether that's in terms of music, art or food.
You want to go see some live graffiti battles? Digbeth. You want to dance to cutting edge electronic beats all night? Digbeth. You want to sample some of the best street food in the country? yep, you've guessed it, Digbeth.
The first time I went to the Digbeth Dining club was last year with my best mate Andy Stubbs and his partner Donna Church. (more about them later!). I had heard a lot of good things about the street food scene that was rapidly gaining momentum in cities up and down the country, but mainly in London, so was looking forward to some good eats. Unfortunately, as we had got there a bit late, most of the stalls had sold out but I did manage to have an insanely tasty lamb shoulder, feta and rocket toastie from the "Jabberwocky" stall (well, I say stall, I mean an old fully fitted out VW van.)

Fast forward to this year and, with a view to starting up this blog, it was over to Digbeth again  (much earlier this time!) with my mate, author and paranormal investigator Lee Brickley to take loads of pictures and meet some of the people who run the place and trade there.





It's a simple set up really. A bar called  spotlight with not too loud or intrusive DJ's playing some nice chiled beats, lots of old comfy sofas and benches for sitting down, chatting, having an afterwork drink and, of course, eating.

Lee and I grabbed a beer and  made our way
into the fray.











 First stop, of course, was Andy Stubb's  Low n' Slow stall for some of his 18 hour smoked pulled pork.

I can tell you now that Andy is truly dedicated to his craft. After just over 7 months of trading he has become one of the most respected street food purveyors on the scene. He can often be found at Digbeth and various other gatherings around the country and you can guarantee that his stall always has a queue.
I've eaten his food on a number of occasions and have always come away smiling, especially when I bring someone along for their first taste.
Lee had never tried Andy's pork before so we said our hello's
and joined the queue.

When it got to our turn we ordered a pulled pork
cob each.
What you get for your money (£5.50) is a mound of 18 hour smoked pulled pork, homemade slaw, homemade sweet n' heat barbeque sauce and sliced pickled cucumber all served on a secret recipe lightly toasted brioche bun.
As I took some photos Lee dug in for his first bite, it took just seconds for him to get that first flood of flavour and I saw his face physically change to one of complete and utter joy. "Oh my God" he exclaimed whilst in his state of pork fuelled ecstasy. "that's the nicest thing I've ever eaten!".
with that I thought I'd better tuck in myself and, as expected, was totally blown away by the flavour, texture and balance of the sweet mildly spicy sauce, the crunchy creamy slaw and, of course, the pork that Andy takes so much care over. It's not overly smoked,to retain the quality of flavour from the pork itself. It has a fantastic mouth feel, not mushy at all like the mass produced pulled pork you may have tried from supermarkets or chain pubs like Wetherspoons, where the smoke flavour is artificial and the sauce too sweet. You can actually taste the love that goes into every ounce of that pork!
The buttery brioche bun is the perfect vehicle for all of those sumptuous flavours and the sliced pickled cucumber gives an extra crunch and zing to the whole experience.
 Within about 3 minutes we were done. All that was left was a delicate after taste of smoke and sticky fingers from the sauce.

After another visit to the bar we decided to take a look round the other stalls. On the night we went there were 3 more all selling different types of food. We had a chat with the people from  Jabberwocky

who were friendly and informative and had a great selection of freshly made toasties, Lee ordered a simple cheese and ham and was mightily impressed. I passed on this occasion because I wanted to save myself for something else.

I had heard a lot from Andy about Big Daddies Diner
and was looking forward to trying one of his proper Hot-Dogs
 After introducing myself I had a quick look at the menu and
decided to try a "Jeff dog", a large pork and beef  dog with a hint of
garlic and pepper.
Jeff (the proprietor) is another one of those street food vendors who is passionate about his product. He has his hot dogs specially made for him by a secret source and is very easy to chat to. on the counter of his food trailer he had a dizzying array of home made sauces, relishes and slaws to serve with the hot dog. He asked me if I'd like to try some of each and I thought it'd be rude to refuse, so he spooned me out a little of his own recipe Mexican style salsa that I cant remember the proper name for, some jalapeno pickle type sauce and something I've heard of, but never tried before; Kimchi, which is a Korean fermented cabbage with spices. Its a bit like sauerkraut but with added punch and
was totally delicious.
I decided on the jalapeno pickle to go on my hot dog, paid the man a very reasonable £4.50 and took my first bite.

A good snap on the teeth of the skin on the dog and i was into a gorgeously textured sausage. not too smooth like shop bought dogs and not too coarse like a traditional British banger.

I complemented Jeff on his food and wolfed the rest down.










By this time my hunger was completely satiated but Lee had to
go back to Low n' slow for another pulled pork bap as the first one was so good. So, back into the queue he went and ordered up his second one.I can safely say that he liked it just as much as the first. In fact he said about it "you know when you watch a great film and you want to watch it again so you get the bits you might have missed the first time? that's what the second cob was like".

you can't argue with that can you?

Unfortunately neither of us had enough empty stomach left to try anything from the hungry toad
who's Mexican food was flying out and smelled great but I'll definitely be trying it next time.

There are many positive things to say about Digbeth Dining Club then, the food is great, of course but also each and every person on every stall is doing it because they love doing it. They are all friendly and happy to chat about what they do, and are all enthusiastic foodies at heart. The venue is great, the beer not over priced, the music is cool and there's a variety of different stalls on rotation every week, so there's always something different to try so get yourself over there as soon after 5pm on a Friday as you can !

Happy eating then, and watch out for my other review blogs and, of course, my recipe blogs!

Thanks for the support.

Mat.