Tanaka and Jankel take Street Kitchen food truck to the City

By Lorraine Heller

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Catering

Jankel (left) and Tanaka with their Street Kitchen Airstream van
Jankel (left) and Tanaka with their Street Kitchen Airstream van
Pearl chef Jun Tanaka and Mark Jankel, chef and founder of The Food Initiative, will take their mobile Street Kitchen unit to Finsbury Avenue Square for three months to bring “gourmet grub” to the City’s business population.

Launched last year at the London Food Festival​, Street Kitchen serves British bistro-style lunches at “street food prices”.

In contrast to last year when the pair’s silver Airstream van toured around London, the food truck will this year spend three months in one spot – located on Finsbury Avenue Square within the British Land /Blackstone-owned Broadgate Estates.

Food trucks take off

Food trucks with more innovative forms of food are only just starting to appear in the UK market, following on from their great success in the United States.

A spokesperson for Street Kitchen said: “It is predicted that mobile units will provide traditional restaurants with some serious competition by offering a fresh take on affordable, seasonal food.”

Sustainability and local sourcing

Street Kitchen will again have sustainability as a key focus, using seasonal produce sources from sustainable organic farms and producers in the UK.

Jun Tanaka and Mark Jankel will also be working closely with ecological economist, Dr Daniel Dias at Route2 Sustainability to develop systems to help them understand the impact of everything they use from energy and water to compostable food boxes (made from a bi-product of sugar beet).

The Street Kitchen menu will change on a daily basis depending on supplies. Dishes, which will cost between £4.50 and £7.50 will include items such as crisp lamb shoulder with wet garlic, carrots and mint dressing and black bream with smoked aubergine and roast tomato vinaigrette.

Diversifying street food

The arrival of Street Kitchen at Finsbury Avenue Square is part of the plans to diversify street food and catering offerings in the City.

Matthew Pinsent, Head of City Office Asset Management for British Land, added: “We are creating a more varied catering offer at Broadgate and Finsbury Avenue Square provides the perfect location for this style of street food, with outdoor seating nearby.”

Alice Keown from Davis Coffer Lyons, the restaurant leasing agent for Broadgate, said: “Street Kitchen, in conjunction with the popular fortnightly farmers market, demonstrates the evolution of the catering offer at Broadgate, and follows the opening of the highly successful White Horse gastro-pub last year. Street Kitchen will be a strong addition to Finsbury Avenue Square, offering people working at Broadgate and in the surrounding a unique ‘restaurant quality’ product throughout the summer.”

Earlier this year, Jankel spoke to BigHospitality to explain how the Street Kitchen concept was executed.

Related topics Restaurant Openings Fine Dining

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