Auction Against Hunger

Who says famine has to be depressing?

22 May 2014 - Dalston Yard

What a difference a couple of weeks (and flushing toilets) can make… After the gripes we had with Chilli Chilli Bang Bang, we returned to Dalston Yard for the Street Feast/Action Against Hunger charity food-fest that is Auction Against Hunger. And it was a-bloody-mazing.

The event was, as the clue in the title suggests, ostensibly about an auction to raise money to help end child hunger around the world. Chefs, restaurants and celebrities donate their time and expertise to form unique experiences (lunch with Wogan at Merchant’s Tavern, anyone?) that the great and good bid on in both silent and live auctions that form part of the evening’s entertainment, which included a DJ set from Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

And this being a Tweat Up shindig, that is only part of the story – the evening is also about getting in an exciting line up of chefs to cook up a street food storm, all included in the ticket price, along with a healthy dose of vibes (and/or booze) on the side.

This time we were among the first through the doors.  That was even half an hour before food was served, so it gave us a chance to scope the lie of the land, enjoy a couple of drinks and secure ourselves prime position to get stuck straight into the food.

Just a couple...

And that involved sitting next to Ben Tish serving up the Opera Tavern’s Iberico Ham & Foie Gras burger to beat the inevitable queues. 

The burger was a previous occupant of Young & Foodish’s London top ten, so we were excited to give it a bash. Based on the patty, I can see why this was on that list – beautifully browned on the outside, perfectly pink inside, with the foie gras adding richness and juiciness, if not a huge amount of flavour. It also had a tangy sweet onion relish and parmesan shavings adding savoury saltiness. Plus, it was served with a pickled chilli. And I love those things. However, the bun was hard and dry. Maybe that’s one reason why it’s no longer on Y&F’s list… But that said, we were off to a strong start.

Next up we had the Korean pulled pork with apple kimchi by Neil Rankin, fresh from his stint on Great British Menu. And this was possibly the savoury dish of the day. Soft and juicy pork that was sweet and spicy, with strong smoky notes. This was contrasted by the sour and crunchy kimchi. A delight of textures and flavours.




Mr. Eatings has been a big fan of Neil Rankin’s work since his days as head chef at PittCue, and had one of the best roasts ever at Smokehouse N1. The pork is a side dish on the menu there, so would be well worth checking out if you find yourself in the area.

Mixing it up with seafood next, we had krupuk-coated soft shell crab in a Singapore-style sauce with pickled cucumber by Anna Hansen from The Modern Pantry. We had never heard of ‘krupuk’ before, turns out that they are deep-fried Indonesian rice crackers. And on this evidence, we hadn’t missed much. It was like eating something (exactly what, was up for debate as the delicate sweet seafood flavour you expect of crab had gone AWOL) covered in stale Rice Krispies and cardboard - exactly as tasty as that sounds.

But, onwards and upwards. And another strong taco from Breddos: 10hr chipotle Dexter short rib with bone marrow pico, smoked morello cherry jam on a blue corn tortilla with pickled habaneros. 

The beef was tender and, well, beefy, with the smoke-notes you’d want from anything cooked for half a day with chipotle. It had parmesan stirred through it when re-heated here, which added depth and an extra-savoury saltiness, offset by the sweet jam. There wasn’t much chilli fire throughout the meat, but adding the pickled habaneros laid out in a fiery bowl for personal taste and adjustment, fixed that - and the gf went big with these - so our tacos were pretty piquant, which made me happy. And made us hiccup. The blue chip tortilla added a visual twist, but could have used a few more seconds being heated through on the grill, as it was cold and stodgy. Overall, this was reminiscent of their Taco Wars 2 winner, but didn’t quite hit those heights. However, there’s no shame in being outclassed by your own champ.

Then came a crab doughnut from Nuno Mendes of the Chiltern Firehouse. The crab was well executed, but the doughnut wasn’t much to write home about in our view – just a bit bland and dry. We’ve since heard people rave about these on twitter. We weren’t enthused. Horses for courses.

Sat Bains’ Chicken Liver Muesli up next. We'd first come across Sat when he was on Masterchef: The Professionals (the thinking man’s Masterchef), challenging the preconception that in this country, to be a head chef you must be a temperamental dick. 

Here he was showcasing one of his signature dishes: nitro-frozen chicken liver mousse mixed in with crunchy oats, grains, and cranberries, with a little apricot jam hidden underneath. ‘A deconstructed liver pate and toast – all the ingredients of a dish you recognise but yet somehow different’, Bains described it as to Mrs. Eatings. A mad mash-up indeed of textures, temperatures and tastes that was a confusing yet rewarding experience. 

Our final savoury dish was 'Marmite Royale' by Pascal Aussignac of Club Gascon. Top marks here for the presentation, dishing up a duck flan that was as light as a (duck) feather, smooth like silk and creamier than, um, cream, in a marmite pot with crusty brown bread fingers to dip. This was an indulgent delight. The yeasty, iron-rich marmite sauce layered on top adding an umami unctuousness to the mousse (which is what it was more than a flan, IMHO). Mr. Eatings is usually ambivalent about marmite, but this was special.

That rounded off our savouries nicely, and the first part of dessert was by far and away the best: 1235 Donuts. 

In an unusual twist they were square. Square? Those crazy fools! And some of the best donuts I’ve had the pleasure of stuffing in my gob. In your face, Krispy Kreme! Soft and light like square sugar coated clouds, and also almost completely grease-free, so maybe weren’t quite so bad for us. Maybe..? Unfortunately, the salted caramel was too close to being burnt with an unpleasant bitter after-taste. But the lemon curd was creamy with a real fresh citrus punch.

And then to finish; Paul A Young’s chocolate creation, which we heard someone describe as being a pub in a tub.

The best part was the perfectly executed chocolate sauce poured on top (if a little meagrely); it was glossy and loaded with cocoa. The chocolate covered pork scratching was also enjoyable – very similar in idea to a turbo-pretzel flip. But porkier. Less mind-bending was the lolly. Given the power of its peanuts, we really weren't feeling it. Then, finally, we come to the BrewDog 5am Saint ganache, which we’ll file under ‘must have seemed like a good idea at the time’. After a life-time of experimentation, Mr. Eatings is yet to be convinced beer and chocolate works. Instead, here he was just reminded of a time at a party aged 17, he thought he’d invented the next big thing by sticking instant hot chocolate in cans of lager. And then woke up the following day to find the house littered with open untouched cans of chocolate beer-shake.  Not a food memory he particularly wanted to relive…

So that was our action at Auction Against Hunger. All that was left was to soak up the vibes, and in the process we learned a couple of things: first, Sophie Ellis-Bextor taught me that if standing around playing on your phone looking bored is DJing, then we must be the next Carl Cox; and the second is that the going rate for dinner with Wogan is £3,000.

We're still not sure there isn’t something intrinsically ironic about trying to fight global hunger by getting a load of chino’d Londoners together to eat and drink themselves stupid. But as the night raised over £100,000, we'll gloss over it. And the eating and drinking was a lot of fun. Which is what really matters, right?

Oh, and this finally happened: