A cold grey and windy December day brought some excitement and joy in the form of British Street Food awards where our roving reporter covered the excitement in the blustery weather. 

We dotted our parkas, scarves and gloves to head to North Greenwich O2 arena where the awards were being held.

The entrance seemed slightly deserted but we were ushered to the ticket booth, provided with voting cards and a token for a drink from Sharps; the official drinks sponsor of event and the coolest spot in the whole arena.

From the initial impression, the variety of food was amazing and when I spotted the Crème Brûlée van I felt like the guys had already won my heart. I ran to the truck and got myself a classic vanilla Crème Brûlée and it was gone, with me licking my lips, in 5 minutes (I can do anything for a great Crème Brûlée and though it seems easy, it is notoriously difficult to get it right and this one was burnt to order, what else do you want from life, eh?).

The event had some great choices from Indian, Italian and Vegan Sushi contenders,  as well as some novelty vans like Crabbie Shack which has the most amazing soft buns with soft shell crab. The organizers hoisted some camp style fires at different spots and the smell of burning wood gave it a much needed wintery camp site feel, even though you could look up and see the O2.

After speaking to a few chefs my hunger got out of control and I decided to munch on those soft shell crab buns followed by some vegan sushi rolls. By the time the food finished, it started getting darker and we headed to the secret bar for drinks tasting session hosted by Sharps.

The staff around this plywood crate was suspiciously secretive and even though it didn’t look much from outside, the suspense got us pretty excited and it was different world when we finally went inside. We were back in civility and chic. We were seated around a bar in this modern looking counter inside the crate (yes it was amazing) and our server introduced himself and the whole idea behind the session.

I have to be honest when I heard it was a beer tasting session with food pairings, I felt a bit trapped because beer isn’t my favourite drink but I decided to stick around. As time passed more surprises revealed themselves and by the end of the session I found myself in a new world, a world where beer was not only a possibility as drink of choice but also pair it with food from double chocolate brownie to cod to blue cheese.

By the time we got outside, it was quite dark and we headed to the central tent to get the taste of live music and some mulled wine with the crackling of burning wood in the background. The artists were great and the audience very enthusiastic; we thoroughly enjoyed the time and finally left the place at 5:30pm.

As for who we voted for, let’s just say they deserved it the most!!!

We will leave you with this shot of a burger…great way to start a Monday eh! 😉 xx