Sunday 29 September 2013

Halal Food Festival review (London)

Salam lovelies.
I went to the Halal Food Festival yesterday Saturday 28th September.
Halal Food Festival London 2013 guide/wristband

I was soo excited especially with all the hype and advertisements. I imagined it to have a vast array of delicious multicultural foods and products. I regularly visited the site to check on the list of exhibitors and all looked promising. Being the organised person I am, I made a list of stalls I wished to visit -around 12 in total. Of those, 4 were not there!! One of them was completely empty (Bobo Macarons) and Exotic Tagine was replaced with something else. An Indian affair wasn't there either.

People were crowded around for free samples which some stalls offered such as chocolate samosas, Malaysian pancakes, cheese and so on. Some sampling visitors wouldn't budge an inch. With that in mind plus the crowds as it was a small space, it was hard to see everything on offer.
Source
I also received a £5 voucher for Sisters Magazine which stated it was no strings attached. But indeed upon visiting the stand it became clear that you were expected to sign up for a subscription before being given a free (old) copy of their magazine with the voucher.
There were non food items such as itr, books, scarves and clothing.

I did purchase some vegetarian sweets from goody good stuff, a scoop of pistachio ice cream, a falafel wrap and a pack of chocolate & nut samosas which I am yet to sample!
All in all, I would give the event a 5/10. They should maybe cut down the number of days to two and work on hiring a larger space and more stalls. I liked the demo classes they held where you can watch chefs prepare different dishes. When we got there it was quails that were being made.

Bhangra Burger Stall
Falafel Wrap

Pistachio Ice cream

Were any of you guys there and what did you make of it?