On Saturday I finally got round to going to one of the Good Food Glasgow street food events. They are on the Broomielaw on Fridays and on Brunswick Street in the Merchant City on Saturdays throughout April and May. Sadly work commitments and studying for an exam type job interview and meant that this was my first chance to go. Apologies for the late write up the weekend was hectic entertaining the family and I had an operation on my hand on Monday so have been either too nauseous with the pain killers or too sore to type until now.

The event is curated by strEAT a relatively new company that focuses on bringing the best food to the streets of Glasgow and features a variety of street food vendors that vary from day to day. Sadly the weather wasn’t brilliant on Saturday unlike the last few days and it was a little chilly for outside eating but I dragged myself, and 6 other family members with me. It was busy when we arrived on Brunswick street but not as busy as some of the photos I had seen of the Broomielaw probably cos the weather was crap in comparison.  We managed to grab 2 tables under a gazebo and we were sorted for a warm dry base to go exploring this street food extravaganza while listening to a guy busking and singing beautifully and playing his guitar.

The first goal was to try to get something to placate my screaming 3 yr old nephew who appears to have entered the terrible twos a year late. He decided that he would like a hotdog from the guys at Firedog, a half size “puppy dog” for £2.50, which he typically for a three year old had plain. They serve gourmet smoked pork hotdogs and other treats and the guys were kind enough to give me a wee sample taste (my stealing some of my nephew would have been his equivalent of a declaration of war). Must say their topping loaded full size hot dogs were huge and you could see people all around with huge grins as they tried and failed to get the dog and their toppings in their mouths without smothering themselves in sauce. The plain sample piece I had was juicy and flavoursome and not at all like the cheap hotdogs you usually get from street vendors. These were the real thing. I think it will have been wasted on my nephew and I planned to go back and get a full size one for myself later (which didn’t happen in the end, maybe next time).

With my nephew a little quieter, both with food and also with a bubble camera my aunt kindly brought him, we did a fuller “reccie” to decide what we were going to get first and that turned out to be some sliders from Ròst (roast in Gaelic) an Edinburgh based company who specialise in serving dishes created using local Scottish produce. Their van looked great and they had a sample of everything on offer on display which looked really enticing on the front of the van and there were a cute little pots of herbs on the ground that I liked. I ordered three of the sliders for us to try (£6 each), the tempura smoked salmon, slow roast pork shoulder and the halloumi bao buns. Now I don’t know how they can call them sliders? They were proper sized burgers! There was a small queue and service was a little slow for each order for a street vendor, but, to be fair, it takes time to make some magic.

The tempura salmon was on a brioche bun topped with cabbage, lime, coriander slaw, wasabi mayo and crispy seaweed. The salmon had a lovely crispy tempura coat but was a little dry. The veg and seaweed added a lovely texture and crunch and the wasabi give it a nice kick.

The pork was also on a brioche, was topped with celeriac, apple slaw, bbq sauce, crispy bacon and a maple mayo. The juice was just dripping off the pork as I watched him make this meaty feast and scoop some on the bun. It was meaty, juicy, creamy, the BBQ and apple sauces added sweetness and the bacon on the top added a lovely crunchy texture. The one that stood out though was the one that wasn’t actually a burger but the halloumi bau buns. They were definitely the best, topped with cucumber, hoisin, spring onion and crushed peanuts. The buns were stodgy (in a good way) and soft and reminded me of milk loaf. The halloumi was very creamy and the other toppings added the oriental flavour and a good mix of crunch, sweet and salty. Really, really good!

We moved on to some curry from Umami spice girl. My cousin had the Malaysian Rendang (£6.50) but I didn’t get to have a taste. It looked yummy and he fair scoffed the lot and really enjoyed it. His wife and my mum, sister and I all got the South Thai Massaman (£6). This is my mums absolute favourite Thai dish so I knew she was going to go for this when I suggested we get one of the curries to share. OMG it was lovely! Tart, creamy, tonnes of coriander which I love, right amount of spice and my favourite bit about a Massaman is the potato. I love how any potato in curry takes on so much flavour. My cousins wife added some additional chilli sauce but she warned us off it as it was “too hot!!”

Then came some tourtons from Opsono, a pair of Glasgow based chefs with a food truck. They will even bring their food truck to your house and cater your dinner party!  I have never had a tourton before. They look like ravioli and are deep fried. We got a portion of the spinach, Bonnet goats cheese and potato. I didn’t catch the price exactly somewhere between £3-£4. They were so fresh they were uber hot. They were nice enough, soft doughy potato stodge with only a very light hint of goats cheese. The real highlight on the plate for me was the accompanying salad and slaw which was crunchy creamy and sweet with a lovely mustard dressing.

Puddings! My cousin and his Mrs had a Nutella crepe from Hector and Harriet (£4). It looked, well like a Nutella crepe and they enjoyed it but Suzanne would have liked more Nutella. Although I think this has always been my complaint with every Nutella crepe I have ever had. Including the ones I make myself. I think the optimal Nutella to crepe ratio is 1 jar to each crepe. My nephew was eager for an ice-cream, a treat he is rarely allowed and he picked a scoop of mint choc chip from Hamilton based Equi’s Ice Cream. Alas even though he was hugely excited about being allowed ice-cream he ended up leaving the majority of it to my mum and sister. They both gave it top marks and liked the mild mint flavour, that it was incredibly creamy and the huge chocolate chunks.

I however had been eyeing up the Crema Caravan. A gorgeous looking Creme brûlée van. The first in the UK. I got the salted caramel brownie (£4). The top was torched in front of me and the topping added. It was the best thing of the whole day.

Thick and creamy with real vanilla seeds in the custard under the lovely crisp top which wasn’t overly blow torched. Covered in chewy intense brownie, and delicious salted caramel. Sooooo good. I think this has to be the best creme brûlée I have ever had!!

I wanted to go back and eat Crema Caravan out of stock, but it was chilly and everyone else wanted to move on. So we called it a day. It is a shame I haven’t been able to get to any of the other days. Really need to start stalking the Crema Caravan.

 

Foodie x x

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