‘I went to a food festival surrounded by magical bluebells and forest’
E Forest Feastival in Merthyr Mawr can’t be beaten for its beautiful location and dishes, as Abbie Wightwick reports
IF YOU go down to the woods today you’ll nd delicious dishes being cooked up in a secluded spot surrounded by bluebells and trees coming into leaf. e Forest Feastival Street Food Circus in Merthyr Mawr can’t be beaten for its beautiful location and you can’t go wrong with good food and a wonderful site to enjoy it in.
e festival, which opened last weekend and is on for the next four weeks, has become a popular annual event for people of all ages. ere are plenty of delicacies on sale to cover most tastes, from barbecued steak to gluten-free and vegan o erings.
ere’s a cocktail van, bar and co ee shop with two new food zones to help visitors navigate the menu – a “wild re” area dedicated to chefs cooking over open ames and Feasts from the East showcasing Asian avours.
Chefs from Wales and beyond work their magic from trucks, tents and stalls, making it feel like summer is really on the way. Gourmet hamburgers, pizza and hot beef sandwiches are on o er and, for the more adventurous, there are dishes inspired by the tastes of Sri Lanka, the Himalayas and beyond.
If meat is your thing, the re section has pulled pork, ame-cooked steaks and 24-hour marinated chicken, among other mouthwatering menus.
At the other end of the scale, you can feast on vegan bao buns, vegetarian dumplings or charred cauli ower steaks.
ose with a sweet tooth are well catered for, with a selection of dessert and cake vans serving up new twists on traditional puddings, as well as new things for those who want to push their boundaries. Once you have decided what to eat – and that’s not easy with so much to select from – there are plenty of good seats and tables to sit down and enjoy it on nestled in woodland areas.
ere are swing seats and recliners, as well as wooden tables and chairs.
e tempting smells of cooking mingle with woodsmoke, giving the site a lovely feel of a campsite. And when you have had your ll and want to relax, there are circus workshops and entertainers to watch or join in, including a tightrope walker between the trees – but check the schedules each day for details.
So, on one of the rst real sunny spring days of the year and with an empty stomach in preparation, this is what I ate on my rst-ever visit to the Feastival. Choosing which stalls to sample was tough and I will be going back for more, so this is just a taste of what’s on o er at some of the many outlets.
MANDALA STREET FOOD
is stall serves Himalayan-inspired recipes made with locally-sourced ingredients. Dumplings can be just that, dumpy, but these delicate mouthfuls are silky and light with a delicious morsel of lling which has a bite to contrast with the carbs.
e stallholders make them by hand with our and water and other secret ingredients they wouldn’t reveal. I opted for the Nirvana bowl – three handmade, homemade dumplings (pork, beef and vegan) served with slow-cooked chickpeas in tomato with caramelised onion and steamed rice (£14).
e pork and leek dumpling was my favourite – two bites of sheer bliss. e signature beef dumpling has a lling marinaded for a day and the vegan dumpling had a vegetable lling with green spinach blended dough. e chickpeas and rice were a nice contrast but the dumplings were the best bit.
TWO LADS KITCHEN AFGHAN STREET FOOD
is gluten-free rice box (£11) has tender strips of 24-hour marinated barbecue chicken thigh served on slow-cooked Afghan rice mixed with carrots and raisins and topped with black pepper yoghurt, salad and a green “secret” sauce. e generous serving of meat was fragrant rather than spicy, but hot too, which I like, but might not be for all if you don’t like the heat.
A meal to ll you up and the tempting smoky BBQ smells of the stall will certainly help you build up an appetite. ere is also a vegan/veggie version with smoky spinach and chickpeas for £9 and you can swap the rice for chips or a wrap. A great choice to get you in the BBQ mood for summer.
PACKED SARNIES – CHICAGO-STYLE ITALIAN BEEF SANDWICHES, DRIPPING IN GRAVY
is is more than your average beef sarnie. Delicate slices of beef on a roll with homemade pickles. You can have a
bit of gravy (as I did) or literally have the whole thing dunked in it.
I had a small version which was £6 but still one of the mightiest beef sandwiches I have eaten. Great on the go if you want to walk around the site with it, rather than sit down, but don’t get it submerged in gravy if so. A great stall for gravy and pickle lovers and those who want food on the go.
If meat is your thing, the re section has pulled pork, ame-cooked steaks and 24-hour marinated chicken, among other mouthwatering menus
BAO SELECTA – FRESHLYSTEAMED BAO BUNS
Known as “south Wales’ home of steamed buns”, Bao Selecta has a bit of a following and there was a long queue for this one so I had to join in. I had the original vegan beef bun (£6) and didn’t regret it. e sticky, spicy/vinegary crunch of the more than generous lling was a mouthwatering contrast to the soft, pillowy bun. I’ll be going back for more of
this one. And if you think vegan is not your thing, think again with this lling.
PWDIN
After trying so much (with the help of the photographer of course), I could barely t in pudding, but it was too tempting and people need to know what’s on o er, after all. So, in the interests of hard work and doing the job properly, I wandered to the Pwdin truck and tried their Belgian Chocolate and orange tart with orange sorbet, which is also vegan and gluten-free (£6.95).
I’m always a bit suspicious of vegan puddings, but this one really hit the spot. e dark chocolate
lling was smooth and rich without being bitter or greasy and rested on nice, thin pastry which was rm but not crispy.
e ratio of lling to pastry was just right. But it was the orange sorbet that made the treat for me, it was refreshing and not overly sweet – summer on a plate.
e tempting smells of cooking mingle with woodsmoke, giving the site a lovely feel of a campsite