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?

Eid in the Square: 17th August 2013 (Review + Pics)

This Saturday just gone, I attended an Eid celebration in Trafalgar Square. There was a stage with a variety of guests and performers such as Adam Ali, Saif Adam and Darren Cheesman and a few others.

Stalls were also set up selling food from different cultures, they had Turkish Delight, Baklava, Koshari, smoothies, waffles, chicken satay, biryani etc. Huge crowds surrounded the food stalls, so it was a bit difficult to see everything that was on offer.
Having never tried Malaysian food before, we decided to go for the chicken satay (see pic below) which came with peanut sauce and (plain boiled) rice cubes. Although the flavour and seasoning of the chicken and peanut sauce was delicious, some parts of the chicken were pink so we didn't get to finish the dish. However, there was quite a bit of a crowd so they must have rushed to make the food and I'm sure if you were to go the their restaurant, they would ensure the food is cooked through properly.

As well as food stalls, there were stands selling Islamic books, costume jewellery, party handbags and itr.
Here are some pictures of the event:

Stage

Crowds of people and food stalls

Fountain

Costume Jewellery

Chicken satay with peanut sauce and rice cubes from Nur Muhammad stall

I purchased this lovely smelling purse/pocket spray

Cute illustrated children's book of stories from the Qur'an

Regents Park Mosque Post Eid Family Fun Day

Salaam! Hope you all had a magnificent Eid.

Just got back from RPM's Fun Day and it was packed! (Not surprising, the weather was good).

Entrance was free and there were many stalls, mainly catering for us ladies and some for children too. You could pick up hijabs, abayas, long skirts, maxi dresses, kaftans, shalwar kameez, hijab accessories, perfume, rings etc. There were toys, activities and cakes/sweetsfor kids (and adults!) too. They had stalls in the courtyard as well as inside. The event lasted from 11am-8pm. They were supposed to have calligraphy learning sessions according to the poster, but I never saw that :(

I ended up purchasing one hijaab, and homemade chocolate cake and mango/cream milkshake from Moreish drinks (don't have a website). I also got a henna design done on my hand for £5!

Henna from Regents Park Mosque Fun Day 2012 (By Fiza Mehndi)

The lady who did the henna had a banner which said Fiza Mendhi and this is the website I found when I googled it. It says she is "currently the world's fastest henna artist", don't know if that is still valid, but it took just over 5 mins for her to do this design - it would take me like 1 hour + haha!

All in all it was a good family day out.