Friday Evening at StrEAT in Cabot Circus

Last Friday Rich and I were invited to sample various street food vendor's wares at the first StrEAT food collective in Quaker Friars in Cabot Circus. This event will be held every Friday in May from 5-9pm and I would seriously consider getting yourselves down there for some truly wonderful food. In the interests of science it was only fair that we tried to sample as many of the vendors as possible. But this was a struggle as there were quite a a few and the choices were mouthwatering. We did a quick scope of the stands to decide what our first pick would be, Whisk caught our eyes first and we headed over to take a closer look.

beer braised brisket

16 hour roast pork shoulder

Possibly the best food of the evening was the first we sampled, Whisk cooked up two 'low and slow' options, brisket and pork shoulder. The flavours of each were incredible, served with home made 'slaw and diced cornichons. There were options for sauce toppings as well which complimented the meat beautifully. I cannot enthuse how good this tasted you should get down there over the next couple of weeks and sample it for yourselves.

Asia Pop! Sign

Onwards to Asia Pop! With the best sign of the day, no contest. They had wontons and noodles in soup, strawberry mochi and lettuce wraps. I decided to sample one of the lettuce wraps, which was fried pork mince with spices, peas and topped with peanuts and fresh chillis. I waited as it was cooked up fresh to order and wandered around, StrEAT was pretty busy which was great to see as it's the sort of event that is perfect for light summer evenings and bringing many but different food businesses to our attention. We particularly enjoyed the Brazilian beats that floated out over the crowds, really gave a summery party atmosphere to the event.

Lettuce wrap

Strawberry Mochi

The wrap was delicious and refreshing, a perfect light starter bite especially in the summer. The richness of the pork was cut through by the spicy fresh chillis and the peanut gave it a good extra crunch factor I was really impressed and would have had another but duty called me to another stand to sample. Our third choice was to head over to Chomp, I had heard great things about this business who can resist a sign that beckons to all burger fans? Although the steak and fries option was extremely tempting we decided to share one of their much praised hamburgers and quadruple cooked fries.

Chomp van

Chompers at work

all wrapped up

undressed

up close and personal

This was a damn good burger, the parmesan mayo was a revelation. The Chomp guys had paid special attention to make sure this burger was big on taste and high on quality. The meat was superb and the relishes on top were wonderful, really emphasised the burger flavour. This was not quite the best burger I have ever eaten but it was definitely the runner up. The chips were equally wonderful, crunchy and well seasoned, burger enthusiasts should get themselves to Chomp as soon as they can.

We were full, extremely full. I didn't even get to try the Coconut Chilli stand with their wonderful smelling koftas, Pizza Monkey and their fresh from the pizza oven, pizzas. I did have room for one last tiny thing though, it was something that smelled so delicious I couldn't resist. Tambo, Peruvian Kitchen was serving up anticucho, Peruvian meat skewered snack, these ones were the most popular type, ox heart. Not being one for offal really I thought, why not they smell great , and bit the bullet.

On the grill

Anticucho (ox heart skewer)

Offered two choices of sauce to go with my skewer, spicy or fresh I opted for both, I was warned the spicy could be pretty hot, although to me it wasn't that hot but definitely delicious. Offal is definitely not something I would normally go for but was pleasantly surprised with how delicious the skewer was. It tasted like lean steak, enhanced by the smoky marinade it was glazed with. I was expecting a strong offal and slightly metallic flavour, this was not remotely the case.  I would urge you all to go outside your comfort zone and try this skewer it will surprise you with how delicious it is. 

It was hard to steer ourselves away from all the other vendors we hadn't tried, only to get stopped by Cupp, the bubble tea specialists. I just couldn't leave without trying one, so settled on coconut with green tea. Really refreshing and I did like the tapioca balls, although I can understand why some people wouldn't. A chewable drink, and my first whole bubble tea, although I have tried a sip of it before. 

caged tea

coconut bubble tea

I took a lot of photos at this event there was so much going on and it is a great event for Bristol. I urge everyone to try and make their way down there this month after work on a Friday, what a great way to ease into the weekend. Check out the StrEAT website for vendor updates.

We were invited as guests to sample the event so the food was free for us but did not mean we were obliged to write a positive review had the food been not up to scratch. The food is all very reasonably priced, most items £6 and under with large portions. I for one hope to go after work again the food is just too good to miss. Now go, what are you waiting for?