Cool for Kat-Su
Currying favour: Alley Kat-Su at Hackney Homemade Food Market. Photograph: James Laird
London’s street food scene certainly isn’t short on success stories to inspire would-be purveyors of pavement-based gastronomic goodness. Of course, this also means that new arrivals have a certain standard to live up to. Fortunately for the reputation of the new generation, there’s Alley Kat-Su – the highlight of my tarmac trawling eating expeditions this summer.
Trading primarily on Saturdays at the Hackney Homemade FOOD market, I was immediately smitten when I encountered their wares. It really blew me away, so much so that other trays of food seemed lacklustre by comparison. The premise is simple enough: Japanese katsu curries with chicken, prawn, or pumpkin, served in a wrap or with rice. Yet the attention to detail elevates this otherwise humble concept to the upper echelons of London street food.
An ebi (prawn) katsu wrap was one skanking fat rolled up sandwich, the subtly spiced curry sauce deep in flavour and luxuriously silky smooth. Homemade sweet chili sauce similarly highlighted the benefits of composing foodstuffs from scratch. Bearing no resemblance to the sickly sweet, nuclear orangey-pink sludge that accompanies prawn crackers from shady take-aways and otherwise good restaurants alike, Alley Katsu’s version was a darker, deep red colour and packed a competent punch. It deserved to have the word ‘chili’ in its title and was enough to pep up my bulldozed taste senses.
Near-flawless sauces were complemented by gorgeously sticky rice, peppery rocket salad, and house pickles – but it was the prawns that shone. Having a fetish for Eastern-style breaded prawns, I can honestly say that these were on another level. Perhaps it was the literal holiness of the St John at Hackney church gardens? My dining companion dubbed them “the best prawns ever,” and she wasn’t wrong.
Plump and juicy, they enjoyed a light dusting of panko and were deep-fried on the spot to perfection. With so many different layers and textures – creamy curry sauce, crunchy prawns, crisp rocket, and the lightly oily chili hit – there should be no doubt that this is some of London’s best street food.
Alley Kat-Su also has a playful, experimental side, offering breakfast muffins stuffed with panko-crumbed Cumberland sausage and fried free range egg. The egg was cooked to perfection – it’s a wonder how people can do it better under a tent in a churchyard than in full-sized professional kitchens – and the Japanese-style breaded banger was no novelty. It really worked, getting that familiar crispy exterior whilst keeping the meat juicy and allowing the quality of the produce to foreground itself. Topped with homemade brown sauce, this was a beautiful mobile breakfast that shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as its shoddy commercial equivalent.
Could it maybe be that Alley Kat-Su offers one of the best Japanese curries this side of Tokyo, as the market’s organisers claim? I’m hardly in a position to pronounce. What I can say is that it is a unique addition to London’s constantly evolving street food scene, and one of the finest bites I enjoyed this summer.