Digbeth Day - Indian Street Food [@NLi10]

 There was a mini festival in Digbeth to encourage people to wander down from Birmingham town centre now that Birmingham council have moved most of the roadworks.  They haven't finished - but that's another story. 

As the shops down here were hit twice, by Covid and the traffic issues it's a great thing to see them being supported.  I went mostly to pop into Wayland's Forge and to see the street food.

I spotted this Indian street food place on the way past so knew I'd be fine, but was shocked to see there were 3 food stalls and one cocktail bar - and that they'd squeezed them in at the back of the carpark.  I know it's probably important to have an area for the vendors to park but it seemed a bit cramped and out of the way of the rest of the activities.

You do get a good view of the old custard factory from here, and as you can wander into Zellig and the Custard Factory courtyard I suspect most people won't have spotted this bit.  

The prices seemed a little on the high-side which didn't put me off, but then I'd just been given a free beer by the team at Bene Culture (t-shirt shop, art space, and general local arts venue) so was more than happy to pay £12 for Samosa Chaat and a sit in the sunshine.  The other stalls had similarly event pricing.

Both the beer and the crunchy Indian street food were amazing.   You got two fat samosa, lots of chickpeas, and the noodle and veg mix on top and the sauce beneath. The sauce had most of the heat, and the rest had the fragrant flavour - just how I like it.  And it was a good lunch-sized portion.  I've had food-festival portions before that left me wanting more - but this satisfied.  And the beer is one I'd want to have again - very light and summary.

Digbeth is still only half finished so I'm not surprised this was a smaller than expected thing. And Queens Heath Pride was the following day so a lot of people will have saved their cash and energy for that.

There were loads of stalls for people half my age to buy clothes, art and accessories and most seemed to be doing a good trade.  It's just a shame that the food area wasn't more of a focal point for the music and activities - especially as the weather was decent.

Opposite the event the buildings have gone, but nothing has come to replace them.  The delays to the road & tram here have removed all the interest until the new development between the two is finished.  Until then I guess Digbeth is it's own little village hiding just out of reach.