A hipster's night in St Pancras with rabbit sausages and Shel

On Monday 13 we went to a fantastic concert in the gorgeous old church in St Pancras (St Pancras Old Church). Shel, a female alternative-folk-rock-pop band from Colarado, filled the small space with the most incredible sounds. But first, I ate rabbits.*

We accidentally had dinner at what I like to call a Hipster Cafrestaubar. I say accidentally, because I was actually trying to get to a different eating establishment but #GoogleLedMeAstray. (Is that hashtag a thing yet?) It did, however, lead us astray in a most delightful way.

In the churchyard. Not at Grain. We did not eat here.

We wandered around and through the crazed complex that is St Pancras Kings Cross station, picking our way around the back and across a bridge, paused at another of London's many water features spewing chlorine from the ground, then circled a large building before ending right back at the front of it before Grain Store.

Here is how Grain describes itself on the Google advertising panel on the right side of the page:

Spacious, industrial-chic restaurant with expanded kitchen and a creative, vegetable-based menu.

So yeah, hipster food. That's clear enough from the description, but what's not clear is that the food it serves is truly delicious - truly delicious - and is served sustainably. Although I admit sustainability isn't the primary thing I look for when I'm out eating, it is something I value and want to pay more attention to. And when you can get such fantastic food from a company that puts an effort it, it's definitely worthwhile. Now I'm going to tell you what I ate because it was an important meal for me.

We had bread and dukka for starters - perfect organic olive oil, the kind that's smooth when it goes down and doesn't burn the throat - with some grilled aubergine (one of my favourites). Michael had the flaked sea bass, tasty enough that I remembered the description and breed (yes, I am one of those who will sample all plates if given the chance). I had homemade rabbit sausage on a bed of delicious and varied peas and pulses, and they were two of the best sausages I've ever eaten. Rabbits, I have decided, are delicious. Then we had chocolate and beetroot brownie - a small, tantalising portion, only imperfect in that they should really have given us more.

Me wandering my winding way in St Pancras Old
Church grounds

We wandered our winding way around the station and up, to St Pancras Old Church. It had been a slightly overcast day, and it was twilight just after 7. The church itself is small, another example of a beautiful English brick church, and its grounds were wonderful. I suppose they weren't anything particularly special, although they were reasonably sized, but it felt beautiful to be walking in there, underneath large leafy trees whispering in the breeze. It is also the home to the Hardy Tree, a large ash with old rescued tomb stones cluttered around its base.

In the 1860s the graveyard went under excavation as a railway terminus was built (something which happens often in the UK; the thousands of years' worth of carefully laid out dead have to make way for the transport and housing needs of the thousands of multiplying living). Thomas Hardy, an architect before he became better known as a writer, was working on the churchyard excavations and was determined to save some of the headstones. They were put around the ash, and there they stayed as the tree grew. Today the roots and the stones are entwined. They obviously mean something to the ash.

The Hardy Tree

On a literary note, it's probably also worth noting that Mary Wollstonecraft was buried in the Old Church yard, and her daughter Mary met and planned her elopement with Percy Bysshe Shelley. Then Mary (the living one) wrote Frankenstein.

There was a figure sitting near the Hardy Tree, on a bench seat, in a dark waistcoat and a black hat, smoking a pipe with hair falling over her face. That figure can sing and play music like a charm.

Shel are a band of four sisters from Colarado. Their name is an acronym of all their names, and their music is bright and folky and quirky and sometimes a little dark. It's really my kind of thing. They use a range of different instruments, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, keyboard, beat-box, and all four of their voices at perfect times. I'm not very good at describing music styles, so I recommend you look them up to find out more about genre and definitions.

Their performance was fantastic. The venue was small but completely filled (with hipsters - hipsters with things like waistcoats and hats and pipes) and it set the perfect tone. Shel had a great stage presence, building on each other and performing together fantastically. One of the best things about a live band is seeing how they work together, how they make the music come alive not just with their instruments but with each other. Shel do it well. There was also some great interaction with the audience - they clearly have a few fans and friends over here.

Highlights:

• Their song Rooftop, which I hadn't heard before, and which was even more filled with sound and energy than their recorded version. In addition to the other instruments there was some impressive beat-boxing going on.
• Fantastic cover of The Battle of Evermore. Led Zeppelin were a huge part of their childhood, and I think they do the original justice.
• The dragon song and the owl song for their encore.
• Lost at Sea, which they sneakily filmed a video for in Ireland...

Thanks to my brother, who let me know they were coming to play in London. It was a really great night night. And I managed to talk to two of the band, who were both really friendly and kind enough to write messages for him which I will post all the way to the other side of the world when I remember.

Some of you, reading my description and looking at the pictures and hearing about the audience may begin to have suspicions about me. Is it possible that I could be a hipster? Why do I mock hipsters so? Do I protest too much?

~ Fin ~

*Then weeks later I wrote about it, and finally posted it.