28 | Sep | 23

Richard Johnson

The Last Supper

This is, quite simply, the greatest feast of street food EVER. After 16 national heats, our expert judges – and the European public – have chosen the national champions to compete at the 2023 European Street Food Awards finals. And this is their menu. Finalists are entering two dishes each in a series of categories. YOU will vote for the People’s Choice – our judges (including Sebastian Sandor from the Michelin-starred La Maison) will choose the different category winners AND the ultimate European Champion. Let’s see what they’re cooking up at the grand finale!

Best Sandwich Category
Van Ver Burger
Piemunteis. Soft seitan and baked beetroot “tartare” with roasted sweet pepper fillets, vegan version of “bagnetto verde alla piemontese” sauce, crispy celery and fresh salad in an organic malted barley roll

Papa Piada
Night-baked beef cheek with prime rib heart, parmesan, pickled red onion, green onion, truffle mayo and mixed salad

Kusmiku
Heinola Buttermilk Bun
Open sandwich with fire-grilled hanger steak flamed in Kyrö’s whiskey, served with pickled radish

Raclette food truck
Baguette with raclette cheese – Freshly baked baguette with grilled Raclette cheese combined with fresh vegetables and grilled chicken in a special marinade.

Matologi
Wagyu beef sando with Japanese A5 Hokkaido wagyu, vegetable, truffle mushroom emulsion, special homemade kimchi and crispy parsnips

Bao Bun Latvia
Bao with crispy chicken. Chicken , aioli sauce, cabbage, Korean carrots, cucumber, pickled radish, peanuts and scallions

Augs
Bao bun with slow cooked beef cheeks, kimchi, mango chilli sauce, mango and avocado salsa, kale chips…all made from scratch.

Best Main Dish Category
Matologi
What The Duck. Roasted smoke duck with teriyaki sauce, home made kimchi, scampi, and fries on the side

Suhajici Pri Panvici
Hanger Steak. Sous-vide beef hanger steak finished on grill, fried baby potatoes with herbs, grated parmesan cheese, baked red pepper sauce, pickle ’n’ gherkin salsa, chive green oil and smoked Maldon sea salt

KUKU
Ghorme Sabzi. Herb-based stew with red kidney beans, sun-dried lime and turmeric. Served with beef on saffron rice and a yoghurt-cucumber dressing.

Raclette Food Truck
Baked Potato with raclette cheese. A delicacy straight from France and Switzerland, with grilled raclette cheese slathered over a special variety of Norwegian potatoes.

BULI Foodtruck
Brisket and Mac & Cheese. 72 Hour sous vide brisket, grilled over charcoal and served with mac n cheese made with matured Cheddar and Meule du Jura cheese, pickled cucumber and White Alabama sauce

Kikeriki
Tokyo honey soy chicken

Food On Wheels
Honey Chicken. Mac n cheese topped with chicken and original spicy honey-chilli sauce

Casey’s
Fish and Chips. Fried in a signature Guinness batter, and served with fresh hand-cut chips.

U Wędzonych
Plate of pastrami. Our home smoked Pastrami, dill mayonnaise, homemade pickles and grilled brioche

Best Snack Category
11er
The original Alpendöner. Sous vide, smoked free range chicken supreme in a rosti potato, with sour cream and chives, smoky salsa, bacon, onion, macadamia and hemp seed

Food On Wheels
Mac n Roll. Mac n cheese in an egg roll wrapper with shrimps and spicy Korean sauce

Kikeriki
Sai Gon lemon garlic chicken

Choola
Pork Momos. Homemade Nepalese dumplings filled with pork, cabbage and onion, wrapped by hand and steamed. Served with either tomato and sesame achaar, homemade fire oil and black rice vinegar, or fresh scotch bonnet sauce.

MIKI Streetfood
Duck with “Lokša”. Two homemade potato pancakes (called “lokša” in Slovakia), confit duck legs, steamed red cabbage and crackers made of duck skin.

Best Burger Category
U WĘDZONYCH
Cheek to Cheek. Smoked and pulled beef cheek, pickled onions and chilli, with truffled mayonnaise

Rock Burger
AC/DC Back in Black Burger. 100% Italian Piedmontese veal burger, home-made black bread, cream cheese with Toma Raschera PDO, Piedmont hazelnut granules, caramelized endive salad blended with Italian red wine and crispy bacon

BULI Foodtruck
OG Burger. Charcoal-grilled Finnish beef patty, ranch-style mayo, pickled red onion, pickled cucumber, matured cheddar, brioche bun

Rock Burger
Slayer Burger. 100% Italian Piedmontese veal burger, sesame seed home-made bread, sautéed Friarielli with spicy nduja, Parmigiano Reggiano flakes, cherry tomatoes and basil mayonnaise

BoRD13
The BoRD13 Burger. Made from aged Black Angus beef served in a home-made bun, with red onions caramelized in a reduction of Modena balsamic vinegar, Carpathian honey and brown sugar.

Smokin’ Maple
The Bacon Bomb Burger. Beef and pork patty – with dried tomatoes, cheddar, onions and spices – wrapped in bacon. Smoked for six hours and mopped with an apple rum barbecue sauce. Served with lime leek mayo, a tomato marmalade and feta or Swiss cheese.

Spice Category
Suhajici Pri Panvici
Suhaj Dhal. Red lentil ragout spice dhal, served with fresh side vegetable salad, corn pancake with confit garlic oil, sesame seeds, fresh coriander

Choola
Lamb curry. Lamb meat, slow cooked in a rich sauce flavoured with our own blend of spices including black cardamom, fenugreek, cassia bark and lemongrass. Served with spiced crispy beaten rice and pickled cabbage.

Cosmo’s Mexicana
Twisted Tacos. Two hand-made blue corn tortillas. One with Caribbean pulled beet and turtle bean, charred yellow pepper, jerk mayo, deep fried coconut rice, hot banana ketchup, fresh cilantro; the other with Korean BBQ mushroom, yuzu crema, compressed apple and fennel slaw, blackened chilli drizzle and toasted sesame popcorn

MIKI Streetfood
Queso Tacos. Slow cooked beef meat, two wheat tortillas grilled on birria consomé with mix of cheeses, tomatillo salsa, Pico de Gallo and fresh cilantro on the top.

Best Vegetarian Category
Bao Bun Latvia
Bao with oyster mushroom. Oyster mushroom in thyme and parsley pesto with walnuts, cabbage, Korean carrots, cucumber, pickled radish, sesame seed and scallions

Augs
Smoked tofu bowl with salads, baked sweet potato, fresh vegetables an peanut-lime sauce.

Cosmo’s Mexicana
Burrito Favorito. Cayenne-roasted sweet potato, chipotle crema, charred peppers and onions, lemon rice, smoked cheese, mixed chilli bean, pico de gallo, soft flour tortilla

Casey’s
Garlic Mushrooms And Chips (Vegan)

KUKU
Ash Reshte. Thick and hearty noodle dish with mix of vegetables, herbs, lentils, peas and beans. Topped with garlic and mint-infused yoghurt and crispy fried onions.

BoRD13
Vegetarian Quesadilla, with a tortilla stuffed with cheddar cheese, green onions, tomatoes, corn and a home-made sour cream dressing.

Papa Piada
Caprino cream with thyme, basil mayo, ceviche on peach, pear, chilli and lime. Sweet potato chips, green onions, peppers, roasted walnuts and romaine lettuce

Van Ver Burger
Bibicù. Shredded ‘Planted’ pulled pork slowly cooked in a smoked BBQ sauce, onion and spices, with soft creamed potato, hot spicy sauce and fresh lamb’s lettuce in an organic malted barley burger bun.

Best Dessert Category
11er
Ovenfresh Mini-Donuts. Donuts stuffed with cinnamon and passionfruit, homemade purple coconut ice cream and granola

Kusmiku
Sweet Pizza. Liquorice, raspberries and vanilla mascarpone

Złote Paluchy Churros
Classic churros con chocolate. Churros served with icing sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate

Smokin’ Maple
The Ice Burger. A sweet bun, with pistachio ice cream, mango sauce, blueberry sabayone, whipped cream and crushed cookies.

Złote Paluchy Churros
Raspberry churros tower. Churros dough covered in caramel with sea salt, mascarpone cream and crushed raspberries

Sweden
2023 Champions – Casey’s
The phrase ‘one and one’ – used when ordering fish and chips in Dublin – dates back to the 1880s. That’s when an Italian, Giuseppe Cervi, bought a coal-fired cooker and a hand-cart to sell chips outside pubs. When he graduated to selling fish as well, his wife would ask customers, ‘Uno di questo, uno di quello?’, meaning ‘one of this and one of the other?’ Fish and chips has been the most popular street food in Ireland ever since. “We keep the tradition alive” says Sean, “but of course with our own little twist. It’s Icelandic haddock, with Guinness batter, and fresh cut chips – all served with salt, malt vinegar and our own tartar sauce. Traditional working-class street food without frills or hipster points.”

Sweden
2023 People’s Choice – Papa Piada. This lovely couple live for piadina, also called piada, an Italian flatbread originating from the 15th century. “Our roots are in Emilia-Romagna where the bread is traditionally baked” says Emma. The Papa Piada fillings are innovative – championing local and seasonal ingredients were they can – and their homemade mayonnaises and sauces keep the piadina fresh, light and surprising.

At the grand finale of the 2022 European Street Food Awards, in Munich, Big Blue, the Papa Piada food truck, won the Award for Best Looking. Papa Piada won the 2023 Swedish Street Food Awards, so they’re back again to compete in Saarbrucken. “We love our food truck. A retired old mail van from the USA. It’s a nice way to think about recycling – now he makes people happy with food instead of mail!”

Denmark
Returning Champions – KUKU
The new Prince of Denmark (that’s a Hamlet reference) is Sean at KUKU! With an Iranian taster menu of Ghorme Sabzi, the national dish, he wowed the people of Copenhagen – and the judges – at the Danish Street Food Awards. The herb stew, with juicy beef, red kidney beans, sun-dried lime and turmeric – served with saffron rice – was the dish that did it. And maybe the Sholezard, Kuku’s exquisite rice pudding. But what has he got planned for Saarbrucken?

Italy
2023 Champions – Van Ver Burger
Behind Van Ver Burger are two partners, friends and colleagues who share many values. And it shows. “We have been professional chefs for over 15 years and, more than 10 years ago now, we chose for various reasons to become vegan” says Pasquale. “We worked together in a vegan restaurant in Turin and then at the end of 2019 we set up our own project. We want to introduce people to plant-based cuisine, with sympathy and taste.

“Our burgers are the result of a constant search for the PERFECT COMBINATION between the desire to be sustainable and the pleasure of eating with taste. Our mood is very positive, non-judgmental and inclusive. Behind every sandwich we make there is study, experimentation and above all a lot of love – for nature, for animals and for the planet. We want to encapsulate in the sandwich the sense of great respect for ‘mother nature’ and for our ‘home’.”

Italy
2023 People’s Choice – Rock Burger
Ronnie Pizzo always loved hamburgers. But the rock drummer wanted to create something different – to give his burgers a rebel soul. “I played all over the world with my band and, for years, I got people dancing with distorted guitars and maximum volume! I wanted people to feel the same way when they tasted one of my burgers. I also wanted to combine the American burger tradition with the quality of Italian food.” Finally, in 2014, the idea took shape. And Rock Burger was born!

A restaurant felt too staid. Even if the walls were covered in t-shirts, gold discs and rock memorabilia. “We couldn’t deny ourselves the possibility, like any real band, of taking our specialties on tour!” says Ronnie. “That’s is why our food truck was born in 2016. Made to measure and in perfect rock style.” Get ready Saarbrucken!!!!

Germany
2023 Champions – Smokin’ Maple
We all know that truly great barbecue can be made on an old set of bed springs held over a bed of coals by cinder blocks at the corners. But Tim Degener is a perfectionist, and works on an 8m smoker in black and orange. People call it Tuf Tuf because it sounds like an old-fashioned steam train.
Tim trained in a series of grand culinary establishments across Europe but – eight years ago – he fell in love with barbecue. “It’s not like cooking” he says. “I like the easier style – or the chill style – of barbecue. It’s outside, and people are more happy.” Especially when they taste his food.

Germany
2023 People’s Choice – Kikeriki
The Kikeriki concept is based on family recipes. “Diverse and multicultural – like our family” says Kei. “My mother is from Vietnam, my father is from Hong Kong and my wife is from Tokyo. We decided to combine the best of all and conceived the concept of Kikeriki – Asian Fried Chicken, caramelized on a hot grill.

Poland
2023 Champions – U Wędzonych Sopot
These are proper burger ? specialists – who worked under Gordon Ramsay in London. They don’t just have ONE signature dish. “They are ALL delicious” says boss-man Michal Snela. “But at the 2023 Polish Street Food Awards we presented the “don’t burn bridges” burger.

“Its unique taste comes from carefully selected beef – specifically beef brisket.” The meat is marinated in spices and then smoked for 15 hours before being slathered in the truck’s homemade barbecue sauce and garlic mayonnaise, with the chef’s house pickles!

“The burger is loved by our guests” says Michal. “Below is a review from Google. “I never thought I could shed a tear eating a burger. The first bite was like a scene from Ratatouille. I felt like…kissing the cook’s hands. You are doing something beautiful – keep it up.” What will the reviews be like in Saarbrucken?

Poland
2023 People’s Choice – Złote Paluchy Churros
It’s a street food success story. From one trailer, seven years ago, to the biggest street food company in Poland. It all started when, after 11 years overseas, Krzysztof came home to Poland to find churros were still unknown. “I bought a trailer, made a dough and for six months I tested it on my friends” he says. “We still make our churros with just the one type of flour, eggs, sugar, spices – and a drop of sweat as our magic ingredient.” The churros maniacs are always developing new ideas. “Churros dumplings for instance” says Krzysztof. “Sweet and savoury. And we’re probably the only people on the planet to do churros burgers!” Will they do them in Saarbrucken? Let’s hope so!

Norway
2023 Champions – Matologi
It’s a simple concept. Fill top notch bread with top quality meat – everything from roasted duck to pastrami and chicken. And plate up the resulting sandwich so that it looks as pretty as a picture. Job done. The Matologi signature is the Japanese wagyu beef, grade A-5 and one of the best cuts of quality beef in the world. Grilled – crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside – and combined with grilled French toast, truffle mayonnaise, ruccola and home-made kimchi , it’s an unbelievable food experience. Matologi might be new to the street food game, but they’re making a big noise. They just get it. “In a time where cooking is more admired when it’s done by others, and not ourselves, when time is money, and when eating out in a restaurant isn’t affordable for everybody, street food comes to the rescue.”

Norway
2023 People’s Choice – The Raclette Truck
This is raclette done properly. “First up, selected Norwegian potatoes are baked at the right temperature” says Michal. “Then salt and high-quality butter is added. Followed by pickles, pearl onions and dry-cured ham.” Pause to wipe away the dribble.

“Finally,” says Michal, “we add the main actor of the whole dish – the grilled raclette cheese that caramelizes on the outside and goes sweet, buttery and soft on the inside. Our customers love our dishes and we can’t wait to bring what we do to the ESFA finals.” That makes two of us….

Finland
Returning Champions – Kusmiku
Miku has high hopes for the 2023 European Street Food Awards grand finale. Especially after his experiences competing in Munich last year. “Maybe this year we could get to start the European Street Food Awards grand finale with all the ingredients in a same place as the food truck and the staff. That would be a huge improvement on last year when we had to wait till Saturday.”

Miku has a sense of humour. His dessert features liquorice (it’s a Scandinavian thing), and he’s coming to Saarbrucken to have fun. “It’s really rewarding to see food trucks around Europe and to see how awesome street food can be. There’s a lot we all can learn from each other and of course we want to kick some ass in the competition! The past seven years of food trucking has really taken us to places. Maybe we’re not millionaires but we sure have millions of memories.”

Finland
Returning People’s Choice – BULI Foodtruck
“We are the most popular foodtruck in Finland” says Joonas. “We believe we are truly the best and we are coming to take first place in the final. We don’t take shortcuts.” Got to love that confidence. “Our car is the heart of our entire operation – a sympathetic little vintage Mercedes-Benz truck. It served as a fire engine in Lapland since1970. But it didn’t see much real action because it only drove 35,000 kilometers in all those years.” Will it make the journey to Saarbrucken? With confidence like theirs, you can bet your bottom dollar it will!

Wales
2023 Champions – Cosmo’s Mexicana
Cosmo’s Mexicana got into street food in 2021, when Covid forced closure of the couple’s gastrocafe in the Brecon Beacons. “After scouring the country for a unique vehicle” says Michelle, “we came across an ad for Doris, a ‘one of a kind’ 1953 Fisher Holivan living life as a spare bedroom at an Airstream glamping site on the Isle of Wight.

“We instantly fell in love, booked a ferry and within 24 hours she was home on our drive, ready to start her next chapter as our little taco truck. We did every bit of the conversion ourselves, so she’s very special to us and, as far as we know, the only of her kind in the world! Unfortunately at 70 years old, Doris is little too old to make the trek to Germany. But she’ll be with us in spirit!”

Scotland and Britain
2023 Champions – Choola
It’s been an extraordinary year for street food newcomers Ameer and Nicole from Choola. “Being crowned Scottish champions – and then BRITISH champions – was a complete honour (and shock!). As we’re still so new on the street food scene, we never could have imagined being in this position within our first few months of trading. If ever! We want to make Britain proud and bring the flavours of Nepal to the streets of Germany, and continue to make people smile through our food.”

Romania
2023 Champions – Bord13
The Bord13 food truck is dedicated to fast food. Literally. With a pitch on the DN68A in Romania, close to the fast lane of the Holdea motorway junction. And it’s there for very democratic reasons.
“We wanted to share our gastronomic experience with people on the go who don’t have the time to spend two to three hours in a restaurant” says owner Sebastian Stancu. “So we’ve created a network of food trucks where customers can enjoy our dishes.” Just don’t expect him to compromise on quality. The signature BoRD13 burgers are made from aged Black Angus beef served in home-made buns, with red onions caramelized in a reduction of Modena balsamic vinegar, Carpathian honey and brown sugar.

Switzerland
Returning Champions – Food On Wheels
Food on Wheels is more than just a food truck; for Swiss champion Enrico it represents the realisation of a lifelong dream. After two decades of experience in restaurant kitchens, domestically and internationally, he decided to embrace the dynamic world of street food. “The choice brought me a sense of freedom and immense joy, sharing my love for food with others.”

Food On Wheels specialises in hearty comfort food. “Dishes that may not be the most calorie-conscious but that provide solace to the soul” says Enrico. Try the signature Mac n Cheese – featuring Swiss cheese and refined with fried bacon and roasted onions. Or the Honey Chicken with an original spicy honey-chili sauce. You’ll be glad the guy got out of restaurants.

Austria
Returning Champions – 11er GenussBus
Wow. Innovative and delicious, slicing a thin, crisp homemade potato rostis and stuffing them with generous fillings. But SO much more. When the Austrians won the Best Vegetarian category at the European Street Food Awards in 2019, their production value was off the charts, with branded keyrings, drones, TV menus, and probably the best kitted-out trailer we’ve ever seen. Goodness knows what they’ve got in mind for Saarbrucken.

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