India vs. The West Indies – round one

Last night we were offered some fantastic global food at The Glad Cafe from Babu Bombay Street Kitchen who, as the name implies, make the sort of salivating spicy street food you would find on the streets of Bombay, and Fire In Babylon who specialise in Caribbean tastes from Trinidad and the West Indies – two flavoursome cuisines from opposite ends of the world pitched together to do battle, with the diners deciding what dish was the tastiest on the night! This was the first of hopefully many more street food battles to come in Glasgow.

Getting ready…

The menu:

The starter:

Sev puri

Really strong flavours – onion, garlic, tamarind and fresh coriander with a good warming kick from chilli, served on six crunchy crisps – a bit like water-biscuits – and topped with tiny lentil vermicelli – I believe the first time we’ve ever tried that – very unusual but full of flavour and also vegetarian-friendly.

The mains:

There was a choice of 2 from 4 main courses. Here are all 4…

Babu Vada Pau

Another unusual snack that you’re unlikely to find anywhere else in Glasgow!  Indian street food with a Scottish twist a potato burger with spicy chutney served in a Morton’s roll – a bit like a potato fritter actually and another veggie-friendly dish which would go down well in Glasgow as a after-drinks snack.

And this was the other main course offering from Babu Bombay Kitchen…

Babu Butter Chicken

My favourite dish of the night – tender chicken marinated in a mixture of spices. Full of flavour and served with rice, onions and of course coriander!

Babylon Curry Goat

We’d had this before at the Kiltr Street Feastival not so long ago – succulent goat meat curry with rice and more of my favourite herb – coriander!

And Fire in Bablyon’s other offering:

Babylon Doubles

Proper traditional Trinidadian street food – spicy chickpea and potato channa aloo wrapped in two fried breads and served with rice. Our other favourite dish of the night – veggie-friendly and full of yum!

Dessert:

Jamaican Ginger Cake

Double-team effort: a rich ginger cake covered in a stick dark rum glaze from Babylon served with a strongly cardamom-flavoured Chai tea from Babu.

Ding-ding!
It was a closely-fought contest but Fire in Babylon narrowly won this round.

The Streetfood showdown is running until this Sunday (19th) with 2 sittings on both Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th at The Glad Cafe, 1006A Pollokshaws Road, Shawlands, Glasgow G41 2HG | 0141 636 6119

£5 advance ticket (includes a traditional Caribbean rum and mango punch)
£15 for 4 course meal (1 starter / 2 mains / 1 dessert – payable on the night)
Two sittings per evening: Fri/Sat: 6.30pm/8.30pm | Sun: 5pm/7pm
Advance booking essential – tickets available from: http://southsidestreetfoodshowdown.bigcartel.com/