Street Kitchen parks up in east London ahead of Shoreditch Village development
Following the success of Street Kitchen’s permanent locations in Broadgate Circleand Battersea,the new Shoreditch outlet, situated in the former Hackney House, will serve a range of British bistro-style lunches at 'street food prices'.
Jankel, who is also behind sustainable restaurant experience The Food Initiative, says Street Kitchenis now ready to begin expanding, labeling the 150,000 sq.ft, mixed-use Shoreditch Village development a ‘perfect opportunity’ for the business.
“It’s taken us up until now to get the right team together and to be fully happy with the product to the point where we’re now ready to open a few more,” the chef told BigHospitality.
“We’re hoping to do a more permanent site in Shoreditch Village. The development will be made up of restaurants, cafes and a market, which I’m also talking to the architects about.
Street Kitchen Shoreditch
“So although the current site is temporary, once this new development happens I’m sure we’ll be engraved somewhere in the new development.”
Shoreditch Village will be built on the old car-park opposite the Tea Building, with construction reportedly unlikely to start until the end of next year. The nearby retail rival of ‘Boxpark’ would be coming to the end of its enduring ‘pop-up’ tenure by the time the Village development is open for business.
Street Kitchen Shoreditch, which opened last week (19 March) has space for 50 diners within a covered seating area, with space for more if needed. Dishes include crispy chicken salad with warm crushed potatoes, bacon, croutons, pickled red onions and Winchy mayo.
Jankel is confident that the concept has the legs to expand before the end of the year, claiming ‘if there’s a Pret a Manger, there’s no reason why there shouldn’t also be a street kitchen.’
“The plan is to find locations where we can put more airstreams this year,” he said. “We’ve got one other City location that we’ve been in talks with - they are very keen for us to come in so it could be in the next couple of months.
Other plans
“We’ll look at London until we’ve built up a business model that we’re confident we could move elsewhere. But we’ve already had people asking us to move into areas such as Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds and Liverpool – so it’s definitely possible.”
He also mentioned plans to open a food shop which would operate as an extension of the Street Kitchen supply chain, and perhaps another standalone restaurant.
Having recently developed the recipes, menus and staff at West End burger joint Patty & Bun, Jankel explained the positive attitude Street Kitchen has when it comes to the sourcing and sustainability of its ingredients.
“One of the reasons that Jun Tanakaand I set up Street Kitchen was because we were so frustrated with not being able to find out where our ingredients were coming from.
Sourcing & sustainability
“We spent a year and a half meeting and building relationships with farmers so that we could be confident with all of the produce we use.
“If you asked me where the beef was from, I can tell you which farm the burgers in that batch were sourced from.
“So, for the customers who don’t care where their food comes from, we just produce a delicious high-quality product. And for the customers that do care where they come from, we can become an extension of the way that they buy their food at home.”
Street Kitchen Shoreditch will be open from midday until 4pm from Tuesday to Sunday, and5pm until 8pmon Tuesday through to Saturday.
