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Following its launch last month, Euston’s The Drummond Streatery project is throwing a totally free summer street party.
It’s taking place on Thursday August 5 from 6.30pm to 9.30pm, and the legendary Drummond Street will be closed to traffic and host a celebration of the road, its food and its culture, with a set from BBC Asian Network DJ presenter AJD, artist RIKA and Bhangra star H Dhami. There will also be henna artists and dancers from The Bollywood Co as well as food from the street’s many traders, including a £5 taster menu available at all of Drummond Street’s South Asian restaurants, highlighting their star dishes.
Drummond Street’s South Indian vegetarian restaurants are a vital part of the fabric of London, with many of them there for over 40 years – Diwana opened in 1970. Yet HS2 works at nearby Euston Station, not to mention the legacy of various lockdowns, have rendered the road a site of near constant chaos.
The Drummond Streatery is initiative that will inject some love back into the area. As well as a new outdoor dining set-up, there’s a summer of events based in and around Drummond Street, plus some brand-new murals and a shared garden space to tart the place up a bit.
It’s an important place for Londoners. In fact, the easiest way to make eight-year-old me shut the hell up was to take me to Drummond Street and either Ravi Shankar or Diwana – whichever one happened to have a shorter wait for their legendary buffets.
I would pile my plate high with mini dosas, heaps of mutter paneer, dollops of cucumber raita, endless pakora and poori and then go back for more – and more – before finishing with an excessive amount of syrupys gulab jamun. Absolute bliss, and – in an era before vegan and vegetarian restaurants in the capital were a thing AKA the 1990s – one of the few spots in Central London where you could find a reasonably priced veg-centric meals.
Says Sultan Chowdhury, owner of Ravi Shankar restaurant: ‘Drummond Street has had a very challenging time, but we are determined to make this neighbourhood a success – it has so much to offer in culture and cuisine. We are a group of independent businesses with our own specialties and authentic family recipes, and the opening of the Streatery is a turning point for the area – it has made the street exciting and beautiful, to match all the delicious food available.”
Drummond Street, Camden, NW1 2HL.
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