Street Kitchen - Broadgate

Street food is the new black. Bloggers will flock in a frenzy to queue for hours for a taste of a USA style greasy burger served from The Meatwagon (and don't forget a side of chicken wings). It's game on for eating on the hoof - whether it be banh mi at Broadway Market, pulled pork under a bridge on South Bank, expertly brewed flat whites from Brewed Boy's Soho coffee cart, delectable chocolate brownies from ChocStar Van or chocablock burritos from Daddy Donkey, London foodies are lapping it up. Quality food, without all the fuss and someone waiting to fluff your napkin every time you look sideways.  



Slow roasted lamb from Street Kitchen



Street Kitchen wants to ride the wave to a whole new level - gourmet, restaurant style fare served from a shiny, vintage silver Airstream van popping up around London over summer.

Jun Tanaka (executive chef at Pearl) and Mark Jankel (chef and founder of The Food Initiative) have initially set up in Finsbury Avenue Square in Broadgate (with other locations to follow until the end of September).

Grilled mackerel

All produce is sourced from organic farms and producers in the UK ,and the menu changes daily. Last night, I was invited to a freebie launch event where I feasted on superbly succulent slow roasted lamb shoulder (cooked for 12 hours, no knife required) with new potatoes and tomato salad, fresh grilled mackerel with chunky wedges of beetroot, cress, smashed potatoes and mustard dressing, followed by a creamy Eton Mess pudding. There will also be a daily vegetarian option. We may have been eating from paper boxes, but this is scrumptious, quality fare in plentiful serving sizes - a great lunch option for city worker bees.

The van will be serving a bistro style lunch daily from 11.30am - 2.30pm, at the Broadgate location for at least the next 2 weeks. Prices range from £4.50-£7.50.

One to check out.

Street Kitchen, currently at Finsbury Avenue Squre, Broadgate, EC2 - you can follow them on Twitter for updates (@StreetKitchen).

 Greedy Diva feasted for free on this occassion.

The Meatwagon, British Street Food - the quest for a great burger in London

There's a lot of hype about The Meatwagon. In many ways, it's deserved. Yianni Papoutsis is making some of the best burgers in London, in a style which is as close to my spiritual burger of worship at the Shake Shack in New York as can be found this side of the Atlantic. Yianni's burgers have been inspired by his travels around the USA, sampling all that its street food scene has to offer - and it shows.

But I waited OVER 2 HOURS for it. Out in the OPEN AIR. For a burger. And not even a Shake Shack burger with amazing fries and a salted caramel milk shake on the side.

The facts: I queued for around 30-40 minutes to place my order (having arrived 10 minutes after opening). Many, many people who joined the queue just after me missed out. They waited about an hour to find out - although it was surely obvious to The Meatwagon crew much earlier that the last 30-50 people were likely queuing for an hour in vain. It's one thing to queue and be rewarded (I've done it before - happily - at Shake Shack), but quite another for it to be a complete waste of time. I can't help but suspect The Meatwagon doesn't mind this - it adds to the hype afterall. However, the whole scenario gave rise to many unhappy punters who I am sure will not be queuing for the privilege again. What I didn't realise was that I would still have to wait nearly 2 hours after placing my order at The Meatwagon to have a burger in my grips. By this time, it was almost 10pm.



At least we had some entertainment, and beers to ease the pain.


Was it worth the wait?

Well, sort of. Certainly, for a burger fanatic, if you're one of the privileged few to score a burger. And if you're in good company to keep you entertained while your stomach feasts on your inner organs.

The burger is excellent and scores points for USA style authenticity. The knobbly, juicy (but crumbly on the outside) beef patty is nestled inside a toasted sourdough bun (Yianni has apparently worked with a baker to perfect the right recipe). The mix is completed with fresh crispy iceberg lettuce, red onion, melted cheese, ketchup and French's mustard - all of which work in perfect proportion and harmony for around £5. However, my burger was outrageously over-salted in parts and there was far too much butter on the bun - melted butter was dripping furiously onto my lap at one point and the taste of it was overwhelming at times. I haven't heard these complaints before, so perhaps they were a freak occurence - the foundations for a good thing were clearly there.

Others would agree - The Meatwagon recently won the British Street Food Award for Best Sandwich (2010).

The delay can (perhaps) partly be explained by the cooking method - the meat is placed on a very hot grill, squashed down to perfect patty size, flipped and then 2 wonderful slices of American style cheese are placed on top where they melt gloriously during the grilling process. The patty is also steamed under a metal dome over the grill during the process. Only a limited number of burgers can fit on the grill at once, and the process (it seems) is not to be hurried.

Would I do it again? Probably not. Not unless the van rolled up to the end of my street and threw me a bone to gnaw on during the wait. I understand why South Londoners have taken The Meatwagon to their hearts - particularly as it is usually positioned closer to home for them. However, I will not go out of my way for it again unless I overcome my sneaking suspicions that these guys are slightly taking the piss out of their customers - the "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen" school of thought has never been one that works on me.

Particularly when it's almost faster to fly to New York and have a guarantee of the world's best burger with sides to go.


The Meatwagon moves around and, when I visited, it was one of the street food vendors (including the fantastic Brewed Boy coffee trolley and the delicious Choc Star van) present at the Eat St event near the Towpath Cafe. After my burger, I feasted on some superb chocolate truffles and rocky road by Choc Star which I highly recommend. Brewed Boy's coffee is a personal favourite - you can find him on Rupert St, Soho during the working week. You can check The Meatwagon's website for its next location.

Mooli's: Soho, London

I have made my thoughts on the burrito clear. Bah, humbug. I have, despondently, hung up my sombrero. But the time has come to cast my greedy eye over the latest London street food craze - the "mooli" of Mooli's.

A mooli was a giant Japanese radish. Now, on the streets of Soho at least, it is an Indian roti wrap housing a range of meats or vegetables with Indian spices, salad and chutneys. Mooli's sells 6 different types of moolis (the wrap type, not the radish type) - chicken, asparagus, paneer, beef, pork and now goat. I slowly but surely got myself on the case.

I was the first in the door one mid week lunchtime (lunch before 12pm, anyone?), and was greeted by the genuine happy and helpful friendliness for which Mooli's is already developing quite the reputation. The man, who I later found out to be Sam, guided me through a few moments of scatty indecision (beef or pork, beef or pork?) by suggesting I kick off my Mooli experience with the beef variety. Done.

While the beef mooli is normally £3.95, I upsized to the mooli madness meal (my term, in case of doubt) for £5 - mooli, lassi and a bag of roasted poppadoms with a tub of spicy tomato sauce.

The roti is doughey and warm, while the Keralan beef is braised with a subtle hit of southern Indian (Malabar) spices and coconut, and topped with green salad and a cucumber raita (seasoned yoghurt sauce). The beef is lovely - tasty and tender. Although the spices are demure and some might prefer them spiced up somewhat, they add a definite flavour. The meat is, however, a tad scanty and I almost had to go back for a second.

The Goan pork mooli is, apparently, a spicier option and I certainly enjoyed my beef mooli enough to be looking forward to a return visit to try this one out.

The roasted poppadoms were fine - neither here nor there for me - but the lassi was excellent - big on mango fruitiness, tangy, thick and creamy, just as a lassi should be.

I returned again this week to take away a goat mooli, which I ate sitting in the Springtime sunshine at Soho Square, dodging randomly falling bird poo and stray drug addicts in the process. The goat mooli was much bigger and meatier than its little beef brother. At £5, it costs a bit more, but dealt a swift knock out blow to any hunger pangs.

Big chunks of tender goat meat (again, braised over several hours) were at times overflowing among the mix of roast vegetables and tasty spices. There may have been one too many chunks of potato and bits of chopped red onion, but all in all the goat mooli is a fine addition to your eating-on-the-hoof options in Soho. It's a full Indian meal, cooked nicely, wrapped up in a warm roti blanket. I like it.

The Mooli's fit out is bright and basic - it's more a fast food joint than anything else, but food is made fresh and, it seems, with pride. If it comes down to a burrito or a mooli, make mine a mooli. Over and out.

Mooli's, 50 Frith Street, Soho, London, W1D 4

Baozi Inn: Soho, London

(Beijing noodles)

There's something about slurping a big bowl of spicy noodles during winter. Preferably, with enough chilli to blow your socks off. It's one of the first things I crave when feeling seedy or jaded - ranking right after a saline drip and Swedish scalp massage (preferably both at the same time).

Baozi Inn is my favourite noodle joint around the West End. Middle child of siblings Bar Shan (reviewed earlier here) and Bar Shu, Baozi shows none of the signs of middle child syndrome. It's nestled in among the streets of China Town where it sets a sterling example to some of it's lesser culinary neighbours with terrific Beijing and Chengdu style street food.

I love its kitschy interior - from the Chinese revolutionary posters staring down from the walls, to the little red lanterns giving off a mild glow to the dimly lit room. Dark wooden stools and tables add to the den like qualities, if not creating a sumptuously comfortable place to linger. However, this is fast food in the best sense.

We blew off the winter blues this week with the cucumber and chilli salad. This highly charged chilli hit contains huge chunks of dried chilli and is a terrific, fresh 'n fiery palate cleanser.

After we had picked our nostrils up from the floor, we moved onto the Beijing Noodles with fermented bean and pork. With fresh chillis, Chinese greens and slippery noodles, these were flavourful and mild on the spice (pictured top).

I raised a 'brow at the arrival of my Pork Spicy Noodles, as I thought I had ordered a soup - although the menu clearly specified them in the dry noodle section. Focus, GD, focus. My socks remained firmly in place despite the reference to spice, but the mild nature was a welcome recovery as we continued to swelter and bathe our gums in available fluids after the cucumber-chilli intro. The dish comes segmented with the pork at the bottom of the bowl, to be mixed enthusiastically with the garlic and finely sliced and diced vegetables to create a deep, brown homely feast.

There's not a huge variety on the menu - dry noodles, soupy noodles, buns, dumplings and the odd side salad. But what it does, it does simply, and well. Had I been to Chengdu, I would be able to vouch one way or another on its authenticity, but I can only shrug my shoulders and declare, "Who the hell cares? It's good." It's certainly different to the usual Cantonese cuisine. There's lots of chilli, garlic, peanuts and spice. The noodles are said to be freshly made each day, and the wontons are also light and delectable - perfect for dunking in a side of chilli oil. The baozi buns are a hit with TPG, and are a slightly heavier version of the traditional steamed pork bun we all know and love. The only downer - there's no dessert on the menu.

With Tsao beer and a pot of green tea, our bill came to an easily digestible £20 for 2.

Fast food need not come wrapped in a confectionery burger bun - this is nourishing, good for the soul stuff that will clear your sinuses without emptying your wallet. Although, I'm still contemplating that Swedish head massage...

Baozi Inn, Chinatown, 25 Newport Court, London