AD – I attended the British Street Food Awards as a paid partnership with Gunwharf Quays.
The last bank holiday weekend of August marked the return of the British Street Food Awards to Gunwharf Quays! I headed to the 2019 awards and ate some fantastic food, so I was excited to return and try some food from new vendors competing in the Southern heats this year. Each year, the British Street Food Awards host regional events for street food traders to compete for a spot in the finals – the Southern heats hosted some great new vendors alongside some who have competed previously. The British Street Food Awards is part of the largest food competition in the world, run by Food Mutiny, with competitions in over 16 countries!
The British Street Food Awards are always a fun afternoon out, and I’d absolutely suggest keeping an eye out for the dates of the next awards – they’re hosted across to the UK so there should be an event near you next year!
The lineup at Gunwharf Quays this year included:
- Mr Pig Stuff
- Kara’s Kitchen
- Eat The Farm
- Satay Street
- LJ Hugs
- Da Fish Ting
- Cuzinz (Portsmouth locals!)
- The Social Dough
- Turo Turo
- ROK Kitchen
- Carne no Carveo
The awards ran from the Saturday to the Monday, attracting locals (and those from further afield) with glorious street food. Everyone who attends is given a voting slip for their favourite street food trader which contributes to the People’s Choice award, drawn on the last day of the awards.
It was fantastic weather and I was so happy to be back at a food event after so long! There was a good turnout at the awards, with speedy service from the vendors and a great atmosphere.
Our first food of the day was from Turo Turo – they attended the 2019 awards too, but I didn’t get around to trying their food last time!
Hailing from London, Turo Turo is on a mission to popularise Filipino food – and I’m a huge fan! We opted to try their special, which was something totally new to me – Ginger & Bagoong (fermented shrimp) Chicken Wings.
These were absolutely incredible – such unusual, unique flavours and one of my highlights from the day! The wings were crispy, perfectly cooked & packed with flavour – if you ever see Turo Turo, make sure to try their food.
Ginger & Bagoong Chicken Wings
Next up was ROK Kitchen – another veteran of the British Street Food Awards! They were serving up Korean inspired street food classics, including a Korean Fried Chicken Burger – which of course is what we ordered.
We really enjoyed this burger (and I do consider myself to be something of a fried chicken connoisseur) – the sauce was sweet & spicy, the chicken was crispy, the slaw was perfectly crunchy and all in all it was a great burger.
Korean Fried Chicken Burger from ROK Kitchen
Next we headed to Cuzinz, who I was most excited to see at the awards! Cuzinz is a fantastic addition to the local street food scene in Portsmouth & the surrounding areas, serving up BIG eats from their trailer normally found on Southampton Road near Port Solent. I hadn’t managed to visit them at their usual spot, so I was excited to try their food at the awards – and support the only local trader competing!
We had the Korean Fried Chicken taster pot – a smaller version of their Korean Fried Chicken Flatbread (which I have actually eaten since – it is AMAZING).
This was without a doubt my favourite food from the day (and who we ended up voting for!) – the chicken was so tender, the favours were sweet & spicy and I loved the addition of the homemade pickles. An absolute must try if you’re in the area (I’ll write a separate post about Cuzinz soon!).
Korean Fried Chicken from Cuzinz
We headed over to Da Fish Ting next for a taster of their Cod Fingers – these came topped with sweet chilli sauce, wasabi tartare sauce & an array of garnish. I really enjoyed these – it was unusual to have cod goujons with this combination of flavours, and I liked the spicy batter.
Cod Fingers from Da Fish Ting
Lastly we tried some bao buns from Satay Street! We had a satay chicken bao bun and a satay calamari bao bun.
To be honest, we were a little disappointed with these – the bao buns fell apart (which made for pretty messy eating!) and the satay flavours weren’t as strong as we would have liked, however the chicken was our favourite of the two. If we were to try more of their food, I’d opt for a different base to the bao buns!
Satay Chicken & Calamari Bao Buns from Satay Street
We washed down our food with Pimms & beer from the Bootlegger Bus bar, which was needed after such a feast! I loved the novelty of the Bootlegger Bus – who doesn’t want their drinks served from a big yellow old school bus?
We had a great afternoon at the British Street Food Awards, followed by some shopping in Gunwharf Quays afterwards (of course) – there was a great selection of different types of street food this year, and I’m already looking forward to the next awards! I’m hoping we will see more local traders next year.
The winners of the Southern Heats were ROK Kitchen for the Judge’s Choice Award and LJ Hugs (who we didn’t try) for the People’s Choice Award.
A huge congrats to all of the traders who entered this year – especially to Cuzinz who only started serving up their food last year!
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- The Best Street Food in Hampshire
- Arepa 2GO: Venezuelan Street Food
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