Take to the streets this summer for some of the best street food you’ll ever have.
BAGELS FOR DAYS
What once was a street food stall in Camden Market, Ghetto Grillz now has two bagel bars and a street food truck called The Reubstar thanks to its immense popularity. The menu offers grilled sandwiches, juicy burgers and bagels.
The star of the show has to be the New York Reuben – pulled salt beef brisket, home-made Russian dressing, its signature grilled cheese patty and sauerkraut, all in a famous Brick Lane’s Beigel Bake bagel. Find them at Unit 6, 74 Vallance Road, Shoreditch and Unit 18, West Yard, Camden Town, or at food festival in the summer. ghettogrillz.com
THE CREAM OF THE CROP
The UK’s first crème brûlée van. We repeat – a crème brûlée van. Yes, all your dessert dreams have come at once. Each crème brûlée at The Crema Caravan is made using the freshest cream, free-range eggs and finest quality vanilla beans. Its menu is always changing to include new flavours and home-made toppings such as hazelnut praline or salted caramel.
Served out of retro Renault vans (called Florence and Percy), The Crema Caravan was set up by Edinburgh-based chef Callum McDougall and his girlfriend Mel Duncan in 2014 after they saw the rise of the street food trend while travelling the world together. They’ll be taking their caravan to London in September for the British Street Food Award finals. thecremacaravan.co.uk
WINGING IT
If you’re craving chicken wings, get them from the best of the best – Wingmans. Its signature wings are covered in Wingmans home-made sauces and have won a host of awards – from Double WingFest Champions in 2016 and 2017, to People’s Choice Champions at the European Street Food Awards in Berlin last year.
The team have even collaborated with The Gordon Ramsay Group at Bread Street Kitchen. The chicken wings are accompanied by American-style sides, including the truffle mac and cheese balls and truffle Parmesan fries. Wingmans has just announced some exciting news – it’s taking over the old Ironworks site in Kilburn, London to launch its first restaurant and bar, open seven days a week. Expect a new extensive menu with unique drinks pairings soon. We can’t wait. wingmans.co.uk
BRICK BY BRICK
Lee DeSanges, founder of Baked in Brick, started off his career in kitchens and has a formal background in cooking – he even worked a few stints at Raymond Blanc’s Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxford. He developed a major obsession with the UK’s street food movement and wanted to be part of it.
Now, he cooks 24-hour marinated chicken tikka over charcoal under the bonnet of a 1964 Mini Cooper – and serves it in a naanstyle flatbread that has been cooked on a wood-fired oven on the back of his Mini. Pretty cool! Lee is going back to the restaurant side of things, too, with Baked in Brick’s first permanent restaurant having just opened in the newly revamped Custard Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham. bakedinbrick.co.uk
WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER
The Buffalo Truck is a street food wagon serving buttermilk-fried chicken burgers with truffle Parmesan fries that founder Robin Strigner calls “high-class filth”. It’s developed a cult following down to the deliciousness of its burgers.
Go for the Buffalo burger where chicken thighs are coated in a secret spiced flour, double dredged, then fried until golden. Add a toasted brioche bun, shredded lettuce, and the crispy chicken thigh, and then watch it get drenched in hot buffalo sauce and a creamy blue cheese dressing before being topped with sliced pickles. Perfection. It won the Scottish heat of the British Street Food Awards in 2017 and is a joint winner for 2018, joining The Crema Caravan in the finals in London this September. facebook.com/TheBuffaloTruck
