Chef Ben Spalding to hold weekly 'Stripped Back' at returning Street Feast

Chef Ben Spalding's outdoor dining concept Stripped Back is to become a regular feature at Street Feast, the night food market in Dalston, when it returns to a new venue this week. 

The ex-Roganic head chef has been given space on a raised dining terrace at Merchant Yard, the new home for Street Feast, where he will cook a four-course meal 'with surprises' for £27.50 for a select number of diners every Friday night. 

Spalding, who left John Salt last year to work on other projects, introduced Stripped Back last year with the aim of giving diners restaurant quality food at a fraction of the cost. 

The chef said regulars could expect improvements on last year with the dedicated mezzanine area offering improved seating with heating and cover. 

"I was immediately drawn to the mezzanine part where Stripped Back will operate," he said. "The space, resources and everything about it means the food and experience will be improved further.

"The aim of my team and I is to cook food as interesting and of an equally high standard that you could find in any London restaurant, the difference being customers will be outside and will pay a fraction of the price.

"We will lose none of the charm that made Stripped Back such a success last summer. Once again it is an absolute pleasure to be involved with Street Feast and a chance to eat the food and meet all the awesome traders who make Street Feast what it is." 

Street food traders

Street Feast founder Dominic Cools-Lartigue brought the concept to Dalston last year where he set up a street food market in a school yard. 

He said his aim had been to 'animate' empty spaces in the city and turn them into places where those who love food and drink could meet. 

"One of the charms of it is the fact that there's something for every pocket. If you wanna come down and get your feast on, pig out, you can do that. However you can also arrive with a fiver in your pocket, have a little munch and still leave with enough change for some chewing gum," he said. 

The new location, the site of a former Travis Perkins builders' yard, opens tomorrow for three months. It will include an indoor cocktail bar and an outdoor main bar and lounge as well as pitches from a number of street food traders including The Rib Man, pizza specialist Homeslice - soon to open its first permanent site in Covent Garden - and Big Apple Hotdogs.