But where do you go for a fresh meal at 5pm on a hot Sunday, with a double pram full of toys and two snoring babes? Why, the newly-opened Mexican cantina Mercado, of course! Its few outside tables were full, but inside we had a whole section to ourselves. What used to be the original Yum Yum retains the old layout but very little else. Every surface, except for the floor, is painted or covered in dazzling bright colours, with Mexican images and things hanging and floating everywhere, right down to the loo wallpapers, invoking an immediate, party-like mood. The décor went down very well with the kids, who woke up once we were inside and instantly continued their racket, probably thinking they were back at the Zoo.
The friendly, welcoming staff made us very comfortable, and we got on with ordering the drinks. Not very thrilling most would think, since neither of us is into alcohol, but Mercado are well prepared for such apostates: they served us a juice cocktail (fresh strawberries, lemon, and apple) so fresh and full of flavour that, even at £4 a pop, you just wanted more and more.
While we verge on the pathetic when it comes to drinking, our palates are extremely well-trained by gastro-extremists of French and Balkan training camps, and we found the Mercado menu quite exciting. Starters are sensibly priced from £3.90 to £5.25 and, beside the mandatory Guacamole, include Tortillas, Chorizo and Ensaladas. They also offer excellent Pescadillas (£4.50) and Coctel de Camaron (£4.50), which we chose to sample. Both were fresh and appetizing, but the last dish had the edge and won our unreserved approval – juicy prawns in a light, balanced cold sauce of coriander, onions and tomatoes with avocado and lime topping, served with fried tortillas. Zingy and invigorating wake-up to the meal. Needless to say, the kids steered away from either of the starters, happily crunching totops (corn crisps).
The main courses are also reasonably priced, ranging from £9.50 for Enmoladas Lupita (fried tortillas stuffed with chicken and smothered in toasted chilies, almonds, spices and even a hint of chocolate!), to £13.80 for Carne Asada – prime steak served with chorizo, pot beans, guacamole and tortillas. We went for fish and lamb: Pescado a la Veracruzana (£12.80) – sea bass fillets cooked in tomatoes, olives and spices – and Barbacoa en Salsa Passilla (£10.50) – lamb roasted in banana leaves, chili pasilla sauce, cactus leaves, boiled potatoes and tortillas. The fish was perfect, soft and melting, but with an intact texture and, with its accompanying sweet rice, was an instant hit with the kids and my French comrade, despite its very slight spicy hints. This left me alone to savour the Barbacoa, which is eaten mixed together and rolled in tortillas, while occasionally reaching for the obligatory bottle of Salsa Picante which remains on the table even through the dessert course!
Which brings us to the only moot point of the (early) evening: the desserts we tried lacked adventure, but were nevertheless excellent. However, I found them a bit undersized, while ma chérie argued they were just right. Flan (£4.00) was deliciously fresh and moist, its oozing syrup ensuring it disappeared at a very fast rate. Arroz con Leche (£4.00) was not just any old rice pudding, but a scrumptious creation with masses of cinnamon and raisins, perfectly cooked and composed… if only it was trice as big!
It’s worth noting that loyalty stamps and email updates are in operation, and that staff speak several languages fluently.
 Sam the Bubbleman
By Rab MacWilliam
You may have seen a white ‘Bubblemobile’ van driving through Stoke Newington. The vehicle belongs to Evering Road resident Sam Heath – aka Sam the Bubbleman – whose passion and occupation is, well, bubbles.
Sam, a 33-year-old born in Brighton, became hooked on bubbles while sitting in a field in 1989 when he saw one floating down a valley: ‘a floating weightless ball of colour and light that drifts in the breeze. And then, ‘pop!’ it’s gone, and you’re never really sure if it was there in the first place’. This remained a somewhat idiosyncratic hobby until 2000, when he formed Bubble Inc, a company with the aim of providing whatever people wanted or needed from bubbles. He now has two Guinness world records, an extensive collection of vintage bubble toys, and a wide bubbliography.
Primarily, Bubble Inc is a specialist toy company. Everything they sell makes bubbles, and they carefully select their range of equipment fromaround the world. ‘I love the idea that people all around the world are playing with bubbles at any given moment, and that Bubble Inc can show people what toys they play with. Our range includes toys that make tiny bubbles, to ones as big as buses and a whole lot of magic in between. We have eight different types of bubble solution including, Regular, Giant, ‘Touchable’ (can last over 3 weeks!), Catnip bubbles, Edible bubbles and fire bubbles (over 18s only) which burst into a fireball!’
They have two Guinness records. For the first one Sam was hired by Chessington World of Adventures, to break the world record for the most amount of people – 19 kids – inside a giant soap bubble. ‘We got a lot of publicity from that, and someone from This Morning saw it, and invited me on the show to put Philip Schofield and Fern Britten in a bubble. Blue Peter saw that one, and invited me on their show to try and break another world record, for the most amount of bubbles inside a bigger bubble. We got 49 in the end, but it sure was scarey! I forgot to tell them to turn the air conditioning off! (It dries out the air, and makes it difficult for us bubbleologists to make bubbles). Still, I got my Blue Peter badge, and am very proud of that.’
So what next? ‘Well, our summer season’s nearly over, which gives us more time to do performance bubbling. Alongside, kids parties, and corporate bubble workshops, we’re shooting the pilot of a new kids’ TV program in October which will eventually be filmed in the UK, India and China (they can’t replace my skills, so I’m being flown over to film there, too!). We also hope to be appearing on the Paul O’Grady show for the next series, and then we gear up for Christmas fairs in November and December.’ Let’s hope the bubble doesn’t burst.
See Bubble Inc’s range, and have a go at making big bubbles, at Stokefest on 24 September You can also find them at Spitalfields Market on Sundays.
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