The Digbeth Dining Club is Birmingham’s solution to a growing British demand for Street Food. It’s also the first Street Food collective within striking distance of the Beast, so it is the kind of opportunity where I have to stop myself getting all giddy as my imagination sets off on glorious plans for the future, and at least try and be realistic about what it could mean for the Jabberwocky.
The event is organised by a group of people who are passionate about food, and backed up by NCASS, the National Caterers Association And Two Extra Ss’. Looking at their nice clean website and having run into them and their online presence before I had decided they were probably The Man. We have issues with The Man. The Man is trying to get an oar into Street Food, the last free market for a tasty, chain-free meal, and if you were to stick a pop-up pizza chain van next to us then experience shows that the many people will choose to eat there.
It was therefore a huge treat to learn that NCASS was in fact 4 guys who love street food and just want to help. They also seemed very drunk enthusiastic about the idea of the Jabberwocky and the provision of superior toasties within the Birmingham area.
Digbeth Dining Club is held out the back of the Spotlight club just round the corner from some of Birmingham’s biggest nightclubs. It’s full of people who are genuinely excited about the idea of epicly good food and who are (praise their cock-eyed trilby hipster hats) really keen to try something new. The mood was excellent and the three food-traders were all doing really quite wonderfully well.
The plan is that each week there will be different traders with different meals, so that the street connoisseurs of Brum keep coming back for something new. If we might have possibly, finally found a place where people will try something new then we need to grab that opportunity and let Barny go nuts on the toasties, because we might just have found the right crowds for them (and our expansive 90s film trivia knowledge).
Last Friday the Dining Club hosted chilli wraps, burgers and Paella (@TheHungryToad, @Las_Paelleras and @OriginalPattyM respectively). We have met the Hungry Toad in the past, at Barefoot Festival, and I would universally recommend their food should you ever encounter them as it has only ever been great. We didn’t get a chance to try the Paella as they has already sold out, but they stopped for a chat and were lovely, so we will have to catch up with them again. We got a burger from the Patty Men as they battled with a tiny grill and a huge number of orders. It was only their second ever event, so all things considered I think they managed it with a lot less chaos that we did.
I have yet to meet a street food trader I’ve not liked, so forgive me for having just technically advertised for the competition. We met loads of lovely food folks that night, as most of the Birmingham contingent had turned out to find some dinner and take in the competition. Not that I’d really call it competition. Street food will only survive if we’re all in it together; we need each other in the same way you can’t have a high street with only one shop on it. Instead of competition, I would like to think of it more as a really friendly community of nutters who just love a good meal.
More details on the Digbeth Diners Website. Pictures are theirs, as I was so caught up in the whole thing I took none what so ever.
Sounds like a great platform. What could you see arising from a successful presentation at the digbeth diners association? Would it be to create custom or is it more the potential for a gig a year/6 months?
Fantastic! Yes, streetfood works for it’s diversity!
[…] the facts! This will be a small, rotating gathering of street food; rather like Digbeth Dining Club for lunch. Attached onto that are a few stalls selling some lovely local produce for lunchtime […]