
Flower Power
Pic Krystina Rogers
It’s no ordinary flower show. The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show – put on buy the Royal Horticultural Society – is the world’s biggest.
On July 4-9, people will flock from around the globe to Richmond-upon-Thames. Sure, they come for the petunias, and the sunflowers, and the hydrangeas. But there’s more to it than that – there’ll be demos, dancing, dazzling fireworks, and, if we’ve got anything to do with it, delicious food.
It’s your most British of British events, so we’re sending over some British Street Food to the show’s Kings Food Court to fit the theme. There’ll be Boxpark and Spitalfields stalwart the Duck Truck, serving up duck breast steak and duck fat chips to delight the green-thumbed masses. Seeing as they, too, have something of a global presence, we think they’ll fit right in: ‘I actually have one amazing customer who comes from Copenhagen fairly regularly,’ says Duck Truck. ‘Just to buy my hoisin sauce in bulk (that’s a secret recipe by the way!)’
There’ll be Harissa & Lemon, whose 12-hour marinated lamb with saffron and sweet paprika never fails to go down well. And who, quite aptly, are taking their inspiration from the world of plants and flowers: ‘We just brought some Ground Bixa Orellana seed powder from Brazil, a flower from the Americas, which goes very well with our lamb tagine. We will also be using some Moroccan Rosebuds on our salads.’
There’ll be Seriously Coffee with some Rainforest Alliance-supported Lavazza Tierra. But here comes the twist – a new item on the menu, tailored to their setting: ‘We are extremely excited to launch our homemade elderflower lemonade for the show (made with elderflower grown on our garden). Something which hasn’t been tested before, but we are confident people will love it!’
There’ll be Thelo, right off the back of appearing at London Food Month’s Night Market, bringing a taste of The Med with their souvlaki wraps. It’s the real deal – the same way they do it in the ‘land of the Gods’ – but with a few surprises here and there. Pomegranate ketchup, anyone?