Lights, Camera (Backyard) Action! The Backyard Cinema chaps return

As a fan of the big screen, I’m taking full advantage of the ‘pop-up cinema’ epidemic that seems to be feasting on London.

cinema time! They have popcorn!

So far one of my fave offbeat film nights had been hosted by the Backyard Cinema guys (@backyardcinemas). So when I heard they had a weekend films fest a-coming, I was lured back to the London Fields Brewery for another showing, this time in the form of The Life of Pi.

Ahoy I see yer!

For all you folks who haven’t seen Pi, I would totally recommend it. Its got a bit of twist at the end (I didn’t see until it was explained, then it was proper obvious!), but what sticks out is the vivid colourful cinematography. It beautiful. I wont spoil it, take a gand its worth it. But the fab film wasn’t the only part that made the evening! So me being a massive derp thought the film started at 9pm (don’t ask), but it erm actually was 7.30pm. Luckily we were planning to get food before so turned up about 7.15pm. We quickly ordered a cheeky whirly sausage bap from the Cheeky Italian (@Cheeky_Italian) (see what I did there :), with salsa and rocket, ah delish!!

sizzling sausages on the barbie 🙂

the cheeky Italian wagon

To try as much as we possibly could we also ordered ‘The Dude’. A chorizo, parmesan and rocket pizza slice each from The Britalian Job (@britalianjob).

oooh I was in the mood from pizza 🙂

so much to choose from!

They are made fresh to order, but we were worried we would miss the start of the film! Never fear the Backyard guys bought it in for us, what awesome service! They literally bent over backwards for the guests. I don’t think I’ll ever want to go back to the normal flicks!

no more sore bums! its time for deckchairs and beanbags

The food was worth the wait. Berjabbers, topped with rocket with a little sprinkle of salt and dash of olive oil, magic! Sadly I couldn’t get a pic as the cinema was ambiently lit. So after a little intro from BYC’s Dominic it was time to get watching!

get ready for it

After our fill of Pi, the ace evening didn’t stop there! Backyard Cinema always have some jammie entertainment up their sleeve. Apparently Saturday night is the biggie, but Sunday was still a cool and super chilled affair surrounded by live jazz music. Beer in hand, balmy summer eve, Sunday night sorted 🙂

pre film drinks…..

to post film jazz:)

Verdict!? Again Backyard cinema has put on a great film set, with lush street food and ace people. So much more intimate that your standard cinema experience, I’ll never look back. I got to chat to Dominic from the team (you never chat to the guys at the Odeon do you!?) and he said they just wanted to create a comfy/great food/cracking films/generally awesome cinema experience. So what started in a North London back garden grew into Backyard Cinema.

roll up guys!

The best part is because the guys are so lovely you REALLY want them to do well. Plus its not hard as the guys are totally achieving what they set out to do 🙂 Smashing evening. If you are gunna go to a film screening this summer do it Backyard style. London Love xoxoxo

Heading to Camden!

The chaps are heading to Camden Lock for their next event, be there or be square. (Or go loads and get square eyes, either way you can be square). Get your hands on some tickets at:

http://www.backyardcinema.co.uk/#!tickets/c1jgi

Various dates 25th – 29th August

Almost Famous, Die Hard, Stand by me, Evil Dead 2, Made of Stone, Human Traffic

Camden Lock closest tube = Camden Town (Northern line)

London Fields closest trains: Haggerston, Hackney Central (both Overground) & Bethnal Green (Central line)

Street Feast – Tuck into Dalston street food style

I love east London. With its nutty bars, rooftop venues & bizzaro style there’s never a dull moment. I’ve had generous handful of good evenings there in my time in London so far.

So imagine my excitement when I discovered ‘Street Feast’ was heading to Dalston Yard for a 9 weekend stint! Anything with the word ‘feast’ in it has to be worth getting enthused about right!?

9 weeks of nosh!

Street Feast (@StreetFeastLDN) is basically a eclectic market full to the brim with food, booze and music that runs on a Friday night (but kippers more than welcome!) and a Saturday (all day feast) from the 19th July.

Couldn’t miss it 🙂

As mother Glencross was up visiting from Cornishland and I was in ‘off the beaten track’ London mode, we moseyed on down for the opening night ~6pm, tummies rumbling and ready for action! Luckily for us the Yard is plonked right near Dalston Junction (Abi’s navigation = zero), and we were pointed in the right direction by a friendly chap.

Street feast time!

The yard was already starting to fill when we arrived, we were quite surprised by the security! Buuut they were friendly happy chappys. So in we went, and immediately split up in search of two top notch noshing establishments.

Where do we start!?

There was a diverse yet not overwhelming choice (my decision making is bad at the best of times), but out first port of call was an easy selection.

Anna Maes – Southern Street Food (@Anna_Maes)

Mac N Cheese, Kanye Western – £6.50 – Good old mac N (3) cheese, topped with hotdogs, bacon bits and BBQ sauce. SOLD!

I have to say it didn’t disappoint. Creamy mac N cheese with a tangy BBQ sauce, awesome!

I wacked this in as I loved what they did for Movember 🙂

The second choice was a bit tougher. There was delicious smelling naans (@RolaWala), spicy jerk chicken (@Mamasjerk), salted beef bagels @brisketbel) and Man vs. Food’s Adam Richman’s recommended ‘The Rib Man (@theribman)’ (I am literally in love with this guy, much love @AdamRichman 🙂 to name but a few.

Nice bit of outdoor dining here……

Some more here. A view from the balcony!

But after scouring the yard our dessert craving got the best of us and we headed to…..

The Sweet Tooth Factory – Sweet Treats! (@SweetToothFctry)

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, Raspberry cheescake brownie. About £3 a pop.

Something I’m too lazy to make, so good!

Carrot cake, mother Glencross’s fave!

Blimin’ good dessert I have to say. Sadly the stand was set up in the corner so I am not sure they got the exposure their food and service deserved!

Ahhh it looks amazing!

One thing I noticed was the camaraderie between businesses. When I walked over The Rib Man was swapping his rib sarnie wares for a pudding at The Sweet Tooth Factory. It was great to see a bit of light hearted bartering 🙂

The rib man got busy, this is where i’ll be sampling next time!

or will it be Rola Wola?

or Bell & Brisket?

or Sorbitium!!???

Verdict!?

Music, food and sunshine. What better way to spend a Friday evening? Street Feast brings together old and young alike to chill after a busy week in the city. The delicious aroma of food & buzz of conversation fills the yard. I’m looking forward to taking a few friends down there next week, sights set on the Rotary’s £10 ‘bucket’ cocktail 🙂

It started to get really busy about 7.30pm

Oh and a massive bonus (this is important for when the ‘seal’ is broken), the loos were proper clean and appropriately decorate 🙂 top stuff.

Nice clean loos

After Hours:

Maybe head over to the Arcola Theatre and see a unconventional performance? We watched E8EH’s ‘The Vacuum Cleaner‘ (@VacuumTheFringe). An interesting mix. Half the time we didn’t totally understand what was going on, the other half had us crying with laughter! Or if you’re about with a group of chums and are feeling summery head up to Dalston Roof Park (@DalstonRoofPark) for a drink and a surprise evenings entertainment (maybe some fat Buddha yoga??).

London Love

xoxoxo

Street Feast runs for 9 weeks from 19th/20th July

Friday: 5pm – Midnight

Saturday: Noon – Midnight

Closest Train: Dalston Kingsland (Overground)

http://www.streetfeastlondon.com/

X marks the spot

p.s

This gem is on for 9 weeks BUT on the 4th/5th of July maybe take a gand at Truck Stop (@TruckStopLDN) in Wood Wharf for more chomping escapades? With the likes of Anna Maes, Cheeky Italian (@Cheeky_Italian) & Mother Clucker (@cluck_you), this weekend is set to be munching bliss!

Maybe take a weekend out for this bad boy?

EVENT NOTICE – Backyard Cinema Round 2

After the mahusvie success of their last event at the London Fields Brewery, the chap and chapesses from Backyard Cinema are hosting another round of alternative cinema screenings.

LONDON FIELDS BREWERY

Round 2!

The first is to be held again the Brewery on the 20th and 21st July. This time they are hosting a 2 day film festival showing the flicks: The big Lebowski, Trance, Tremor, The Hobbit, The Life of Pi, Four Lions & Jurassic Park.

Tickets are £10 a pop, £15 with food/drinks or £19 with food & drink (The food was pretty darn good last time!)

Jamming and tom foolery continues well into the night with an array of DJ’s and bands. This is one cinema experience that doesn’t end with the film! So sack in the un-comfy seats at the Odeon and head over to Backyard Cinema to chill on the beanbags & deckchairs!

Sit back and reeelllaaaxxxx

CAMDEN LOCK

The second set of screenings are to be held outdoors in Camden between the 25th July and the 29th August, where the Lock Market plays host to an array of classic screenings. Expect to mooch on comfy seating, stuff your face with street food and indulge in a cheeky cocktail tipple.

All tickets are a tenner, cheaper than a trip to the Leicester Square flicks. So get on it guys!

Oh Camden I love you so….

See you there film fanatic! 🙂

London Love

xoxoxo

Tickets are available now for both events at: www.backyardcinema.co.uk

Purple = Camden Lock Market
Red = London Fields Brewery

Camden Lock closest tube = Camden Town (Northern line)

London Fields closest trains: Haggerston, Hackney Central (both Overground) & Bethnal Green (Central line)

The Rave Diaries Part I, II & III

So ever since chatting to my older cousin Little Hil last summer about her time in London, I’ve been itching to get to one of those renowned raves!

In my head I envisaged a proper 90’s underground dirty bad boy. The beat so loud you cant hear yourself think, people rammed in with very minimal florescent clothing and where the only thing distinguishable are strategically placed ‘glow in the dark’ bands. Underground. Illegal.

this is what i had in my head…..

So I typed in ‘London Rave’ into Google (underground and illegal quickly diminished). Booked one for Jeni and I on Resident Advisor (you cant just turn up now they sell out! @residentadvisor ), so ~£10 later off we went.

TAKE I – FLUX presents at THE SIDINGS WAREHOUSE, 53 Southwark Street, SE1

So Jeni and I headed down on Friday 5th April for a evening of late night raving. I don’t think we got there til about 1am as we had been out for Beer-Pong’s birthday at the London Cocktail Club (@LDNCocktailClub). I have to admit I was slightly tiddly by this point which was lucky as it was freaking freezing outside and we bloody had to queue!

Queued like sardines

When I said Q, I meant it! We were absolutely rammed in, I had to like cage poor Jeni she’s only small!

We could see the entrance, buuuut stuck

So when we finally got inside we tried to get rid of our coats, and were greeted with yet another queue. So we sacked it off and squeezed into the main hall. In the first 30 mins we were there I think I was asked if I sold drugs about 3 times, and also asked if I wanted some pills. Fantastic, and errrr no. We were then chatted up by a med student and his wing man and couldn’t sort of get rid of them! (we were trying to be polite but we just wanted a bit of a jam.) SO about an hour later we got bored of the predominantly drunk under 18’s and left feeling old.

Consellation? These…..

the light were pretty cool

Stroke lighting! Not so great for the epileptics in the crowd….

Verdict?

Shit, go if your in a massive group or are super keeno to get pills. Or sell pills.

TAKE II – MUTANT DISCO WAREHOUSE PARTY – 588 Kingsland road, Dalston, E8 4AH – 20th April 2013

Ummm Beer-Pong and I never got to this one. We went out with her friends from the bank to DSTRKT. Most horrible place ever, never again. Felt proper out of place. To discuss. So ended up in the grimy Obar (@Obarsoho) where a chap was sick on the bar. Loved it 🙂

After exiting these places we sacked off the rave and went to McDonalds instead. Try their new criss cross fries, magic.

TAKE III – SHOGUN AUDIO – SOUTHWARK WAREHOUSES, SE1 0NR – 26th April 2013

So after a bit of a cock up on my part teamed with Wahaca’s (@wahaca) dodgy signal. Athena and I didn’t make it to this one as a team, but I went for a couple hours with G beard on the way home (on the way home, as you do. Head home after dinner, go to a rave……only in London)

So with expectations considerably lower than last time and fueled with food rather than alcohol off we trotted. The line up I knew none of. Well I thought I knew Alix Perez, but I got him mixed up with Perez Hilton…..

Alix Perez? Notorious gossip columnist?

When we entered (about 11.30 pm) it was still quite empty. There were like 3 arches, one with more life than the others. However come 12.30 pm the beat dropped and it picked up! Everybody danced and it was actually well good like a sort of concert on speed (with pill fuelled people, older than 16 opening sort of mosh pits).

Pretty groovy graphics

To be honest I just saw it as an opportunity to wear my new crop top 🙂 oh and I was more impressed with the ‘neoness’ this time….

See!? all dark save some neon tubes

So about 2 am we were dog tired and headed home. Not quite the crazy mind blowing experience I had pictured when someone had originally said rave, but a pretty good evening nonetheless.

Aaaaannnnnnddddd………..

We are off to another on Saturday. Stay tuned :-O

London Love

xoxoxo