Despite the hot dog’s almost iconic status in New York, friends Tony Fragogiannis and Billy Mulholland had a hard time finding a frank that lived up to the classic’s name. Frustrated with a market filled with lackluster and over-processed options, the pair decided to try making their own. They…
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The Big Smoke’s top five mobile restaurants
While NYC has been loudly blazing the trail for a Twitter-hyped food truck revolution for some time, across the pond London is gradually creating its own community of street food vendors through a more stealth blend of social media, word of mouth and truck coup d’etat. To find out more about the city’s burgeoning street food culture, we checked in with Burgerac—London’s top burger detective—who tipped us off to five London joints dishing up delicious fare all over town. “With an ear to the ground, and an eye on Twitter, you can find wonderful food cooked by enthusiastic individuals in their homes and from their stalls and food trucks all over the capital,” he explains.
The blogs are abuzz about this newly formed culinary insurgence, but in typical English fashion Burgerac adds, “hype can be the enemy of enjoyment—the bottom line about all of these guys is that actually what they do is very simple. They just use good quality ingredients and do that one thing really super well, and that’s reflected by people’s reaction to what they’re doing.” See Burgerac’s picks below.
Located under the Hungerford Bridge not far from the Tate Modern is the Pitt Cue Trailer, a food truck offering sweeping views of Big Ben and the Thames while you chow down on a super juicy pulled pork sandwich and a can of Brooklyn Lager. Topped with their legendary pickles and pickled onions, the pulled pork is where it’s at but serious barbecue fans should also consider adding on sausages or brisket.
Less talked about than London’s revered Lucky Chip burger—but equally respected—MotherFlipper Burgers at King’s Cross station could easily give In-N-Out some stiff competition in an international burger contest. A simple stack of lettuce, onions, tender beef and buttered buns garnished with ketchup, mayo and mustard, MotherFlipper has mastered the basic burger.
With a few stalls around town (and a recently opened brick-and-mortar location in Shoreditch), Banhmi11 may be London’s most ubiquitous street food vendor, but it certainly hasn’t lost its touch. We downed one of their classic pork belly sandwiches at their Chatsworth Road market location, which starts with a toasted buttered baguette and then carrots, cucumbers, cilantro, special spices and the all-essential pork. Vegetarians will equally enjoy their tofu creation, featuring the same tasty fixings without the meat.
Big Apple Hot Dogs are a souped-up sausage version of NYC’s gourmet dog scene. Situated on a sidewalk just a stone’s throw from Old Street, this street cart serves up several styles of juicy sausages prepared by a local butcher, resting on buns by a local baker and smothered in toppings (like kimchee and sauerkraut) pickled by a friend.
When the sun starts setting and most of the bazaar has cleared, you can find the trio behind Homeslice Pizza serving up wood-fired pies in an oven out in front of Ridley Road Market Bar in Dalston. Lovingly known as the closest thing to a thin crust Italian-style in London, Homeslice makes pies that are also on par with Brooklyn’s renowned pizza joint Roberta’s. The revolving menu includes everything from a classic margherita to an aubergine, spring onion and siracha pie—each best enjoyed with one of the bar’s ultra fresh ginger beer mojitos.
See more photos of these five food havens in the slideshow below. Images by Andrea Dicenzo.
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