Southside set for food showdown

The pop-up event takes place at the Glad Cafe next weekend (January 17-19), with Glasgow favourites Babu Bombay Street Kitchen and Fire In Babylon going head to head in a four-course cook-off.

The foodie weekend is organised by Fire In Babylon’s Michael Smith and Babu’s Rachna Dheer.

Michael told The Extra: “We’ve done a few events with Babu before, but this will be the first one going head to head.

“We’re West Indian and Caribbean and Rachna’s Indian, and we were having a laugh about which is best — so we thought, we’ll have a sit down meal and let the public decide!

“You always like to think you’re a cut above the rest, but we’ll let the public judge — nothing too official, we’ll just decide from the general feel of the place.”

It’s a friendly competition all the way, with both teams sharing the Glad Cafe’s kitchen and showing cricket games to highlight the West Indies/India rivalry.

Popping up in the southside is all part of the plan for Fire In Babylon, as the team will soon take up residence at The Kind Man bar, on Pollokshaws Road, to offer a sunshine dose of West Indian food and music (expected to open next month).

Michael added: “We thought it would be a good idea to get our name out.

“The Glad Cafe is a fantastic venue to do it in — it’s a nice place to hang out and their approach, as a social enterprise, is really positive.

“We started out with the idea of bringing people together through West Indian music and culture, and that seemed to fit with the Glad Cafe’s inclusive feel.”

Tickets for the showdown are £5 in advance, and include a Caribbean punch — from there, it’s a £15, four course meal (payable on the night) accompanied by Bollywood movies and music from resident reggae DJs.

The menu includes Babu’s sev puri, keema mattar and vada pau (a spicy potato burger), and Babylon’s roadside snack doubles, showstopper curry goat and the dessert of the evening, Jamaican ginger cake with a dark rum glaze.

For tickets to the event (two sittings per evening), visit southsidestreetfoodshowdown.bigcartel.com.