All American 4th July

I had my first Edible Experience tonight care of a Monkey and Molasses pop-up:

Deep South (London) hospitality, good ole home style cooking, three lip smacking courses and a pitcher of homemade spiked Tennessee sweet tea to lighten the mood!

Come on down to Blue Mountain Cafe in Penge to celebrate the 4th of July with us Southern Style. Think cornbread, Southern fried chicken....there'll be mountains of food and plenty of Mississippi charm to keep everyone entertained all night....we might even throw a banjo or two in to the mix!

Well I do declare, all this for just £25 and BYOB too!

K was convinced to join me by the delight of a night in Penge. We had a sweet tea to kick the evening off which was a welcome beverage on a warm summer's evening. It put me in the mood for some Long Island ice-tea, but we made do with a nice bottle of red that K had brought along.

The food started with creamed corn and ham hock with a pineapple and chilli chutney and a Parmesan crisp. The corn was incredibly sweet but the ham and Parmesan served as suitable foils. The chilli offering a pleasant kick.

The main event was fried chicken, mac 'n' cheese, collard greens with chilli, and corn bread with onion and jalapeno. The chicken was phenomenally crisp and yet succulent. Simply superb. The macaroni cheese was bit dry for me but that's just my taste; I like it saucy! The collard greens were good (I think they were spring greens, but I could be very wrong) and were a welcome vegetable side. The corn bread was very sweet and dense. The onions and jalapeno went some way to making it more enticing, but ultimately it proved too much for both me and K.

The pudding was sweet potato pie with key lime cream. The best thing about this was the cream. Unfortunately the pie was just a one-note blandness of sweet potato with a bit too much cinnamon. The cream helped invigorate things but neither of us had the enthusiasm to finish our generous slices.

The food did seem to represent what I know of deep South cooking. Plenty of carbs and plenty of sugar. However, the execution was excellent.  The Cafe had bags of character and despite packing the tables in the atmosphere was friendly and hospitable. I'd definitely go back to sample some of the Monkey and Molasses magic.