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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.

Pitt Cue Trailer

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.

MotherFlipper Burgers

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.

Banhmi11

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

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.

Homeslice Pizza

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.

Local gallery owner Yasmin Keshmiri Hejduk shares six picks in the Gothic city

by Perrin Drumm

On a recent tour of Prague’s experiential retail and gallery space Gallery by Minty Concept Club we had the chance to speak with the boutique’s owner Yasmin Keshmiri Hejduk, who suggested a handful of stops to make in the city she calls home. Here, Hejduk describes what she loves about her six picks.

Cafe Savoy

It’s always busy, serving great French and Czech food. During lunch it’s almost impossible to get a table at Cafe Savoy, but into the evening the lights are dimmed and the white table cloths come out, creating a really lovely vibe. It’s in a beautiful historic building with original ceilings and wonderful decorations and chandeliers. The price is a little higher than local restaurants but it’s worth it. I love their soups, duck in honey, Svickova, oysters and soft boiled eggs in a glass to name a few. You can say I spend a lot of time there. Book a table especially for weekend brunch.

Jazz Dock

It’s just on the dock, a modern building on the water with great jazz and a cocktail bar with a light installation. With views of the river and boats passing by in the summer, Jazz Dock is a far cry from Prague’s underground jazz dens.

DOX

DOX is a contemporary gallery in the cool area of Holosovic. The gallery itself is an old reconstructed factory that brings really diverse exhibitions to Prague. The space, shop and the area are worth a visit as this is an up-and-coming part of Prague with some cool happenings.

Krehky

Just around the corner from DOX is design shop-gallery hybrid Krehky, run by the agency behind Czech Grand Design and Design Blok. I love the space and the collections they have are always inspiring. The space is a real hidden gem, but it’s best to check opening times and exhibitions before popping in.

POXXOXO

These are three local female DJs Hana (Minty’s curator), Veronika and Marketa. They alway play at alternative locations and I love their music. They have almost become the resident Minty DJs and play at all our events in one way or another.

Sansho

Sansho is a relatively new restaurant opened by Chef Paul Day. Here you find a whole mash-up of Asian fusion cuisine that is farm fresh, personally butchered and served in an informal canteen setting. Dinner is a seven course meal around 750 cz (about $40), but I like lunches best when the light fills the room and the crowd is more laid back. My tip would be to inquire about the specials, as there is always a secret offering that is not on the menu.