Discover the best street food in London

Ever wanted to get a real taste of London, make friends and have a great time? Then head to London’s very Urban Food Festival where you will get a free entry to a host of International and local foods and drinks brought, prepared, cooked and baked by local Londoners.

Not only food will satisfy your hunger but uplifting music and welcoming atmosphere set by the organizers will make you feel entertained all day long.

The idea is based on hiring a car park, setting it up with food and drinks trucks and kiosks where you can choose from various delicious foods and refreshing drinks.

More than 20 different food outlets are available offering everything from Asian, Argentinian, American and British (obviously) to indulge in a delicious experience.

The cocktails bar has a Hawaiian setup where most drinks are displayed with a fruit twist; I highly recommend the watermelon moonshine + Vodka Strawberry, which you get in a jam jar; it will allow you time to enjoy the atmosphere before scouring around for a tough challenge of which food to try.

What you will find is compelling; almost all kiosks have a pre display of all the foods they serve so you get an exact idea of the portion and the look before you make the hard decision.

I had a chance to squeeze a two-minute chat with the aspiring bakers, cooks and future entrepreneurs; below are a must try eight best street food outlets in east London.

1- If you’re into Japanese food wrapped in a Mexican way, check Yaki Maki Sushi. They make a Mexican Japanese Burrito with chicken, salmon, prawns or vegetables. The beauty of it, is they make the wrap from scratch in front of you using fresh ingredients such as avocado, peppers, lettuce, cucumber and tomato ‘it’s a new, fresh and unique concept’ — says Jahid, the founder.

3- If you’re the sort of environmental vegan friendly eater try ‘the 100 percent plant based veggie burger’ says Neal the owner of The Vurger Co; he adds ‘everything is made from natural ingredients we use only plants, seeds and vegetable to promote a plant based life style.

They came up with the idea after Neal had a health problem so they followed a plant based diet and he got recovered.’Come try our soul satisfying gourmet veggie burgers’ shouted the two young owners as passers went by.

4- Taiwan Xiao-Chi specializes in Taiwanese wheel pies, they are made of red beans and chocolate cream. Shammah the owner uses 20–30 spices and a secret sprinkling powder; after trying a sample I could taste Indian curry with a chili twist. Check him on facebook

6- The Falafel Queen; home made organic fresh and authentic falafels made of chickpeas and a secret recipe infused with middle eastern spices. It’s based in a small blue hut situated everyday in Shoreditch High street, it’s been running for a year and half by it’s very own Star (that’s her real name by the way) who says ‘Eat like a king at the falafel queen’.

7- Two young Neapolitan friends by the names of Salvatore and Francesco foundedThe Cuoppo; An Italian sea food cuisine. Instead of traditional fish and chips; they use butter milk when they fry this very authentic Italian street delicassy in Naples. “We want to change the habit of eating fish and ships into Fritto Misto.” Say the Italianos.

8- The Los Pibes; an Argentinian food outlet was my last stop. I asked the young girl by the name of Michelle who served me a sample about the meaning of Los Pibes, she said “ that’s how people call each other in Argentina like how the British call each other mates” Los Pibes serves steak (they bring the meat all the way from Argentina) and they are famous for the mild chimichurri sauce they make here it’s. There is a Don Diablo on the menu which is argentinian steak sandwich with jalapeño sauce, tomato and rocket salad. You can also choose El Presidente with chicken fillet and Morcilla black pudding tomato.

Now that you have a full stomach, a dessert stop at the Lemon Street Bakery (LBS) is obligatory to put a sweet tooth to its rest. They specialize in home made cakes such as brownies, cookies, red velvet cakes and more. “We use 100 percent cocoa powder’ says Sumayya the baker and owner, she adds ‘We use salt and caramel as our base in the mix with shaved chocolate’ Summaya and her boy friend who helps with the physical side of things say “We went to the humming bird bakery where we got the idea that inspired us to start our own bakery’ if you can’t make it to the Urban Food Fest you can order by clicking on the link above. Summaya is planning to open her bakery shop soon; Stay tuned.

After lots of free tastings, the challenge in deciding which food to go for has finally settled on the Yaki Maki Sushi Burrito. Jahid freshly picked and put together the burrito in front of me, which contributed to lots of happy flavoury bites, and a thought of I will be back here next weekend.

Make sure you pay a visit; no matter what your food preferences are, you will experience what real street food in London tastes like.

Feature image https://goo.gl/images/VBmMIT

This article was written by me Sherif Seda; dayenjoyer.