17 Mouthwateringly Good Street Foods In Birmingham

Eat well with the best of Brum.

1. Andy Low 'N' Slow

Facebook: Low N Slow / Via Facebook: LowNSlowStreetFood

Perhaps Brum's most passionate street food trader, Andy hauled himself out of a factory job that he loathed, a little over a year ago, to launch his, by now, booming barbecue business. From pulled pork, to beef brisket, to racks of ribs, Andy is a meat-smoking superstar whose skills have caught the eye of Scottish craft beer specialists BrewDog, who have invited him to do twice-monthly, in-bar pop-ups. Try his beef cheek for tear-inducing happiness.

2. Buddha Belly

Twitter: Sai "Buddha Belly" / Via Twitter: @SaiBuddhaBelly

Multi-award-winning Buddha Belly is run by owner Sai Deethwa who's from a family of successful street food traders from rural Thailand. The former Masterchef contestant's food is produced from scratch and she reckons her fishcakes and her five-spice pork with jasmine rice are among her best creations. We're still hopelessly in love with her green chicken curry (pictured), while her vegetarian options are also glorious.

3. The Hungry Toad

vine.co / Via vine.co

Question: How do you cook 25 racks of ribs in one go, consistently?

Answer: In a filing cabinet.

Craig Foster, who's massively into recycling, has spent hundreds of pounds converting three regular office cabinets into his own rib ovens, one of which travels with him to events for the ultimate in street food theatre. He smokes and cooks his spectacular ribs for up to six hours, rotating the ribs once an hour, every hour. He uses 100% free range pork baby back ribs which he serves by the pint, direct from the cabinet. His fried chicken is also spectacular.

4. The Meat Shack

Facebook: The Meat Shack / Via Facebook: 150926771709511

The original burger men of Brum, these guys galvinsed a cult following incredibly quickly. What you see here is their candied bacon burger and they're forever inventing wonderful one-off meaty miracles with ingredients like green bullet chillies, chipotle ketchup, black pudding, and always, always, their 28-day dry-aged Herefordshire beef. Dripping, filthy goodness of the highest calibre. Get in line.

5. The Bournville Waffle Company

Facebook: Bournville Waffle Co. / Via Facebook: TheBournvilleWaffleCompany

Working from their lovingly restored Mustang caravan (pictured, here), these guys make almost every topping from scratch. The rocky road waffle with fresh whipped cream, marshmallows, cookies, chocolate chips,and their hot chocolate fudge sauce (Bournville dark chocolate combined with local double cream) is the pick of the menu and is, unsurprisingly, their biggest seller.

6. Becky's Bhajis

Twitter: Becky's Bhajis / Via Twitter: @beckysbhajis

If you're anything like us you've been long lamenting the demise of the ball-shaped onion bhaji. When did chefs decide to flatten them, squeeze the life out and present them as stodgy, lifeless, fat pancakes? Not Becky's Bhajis. No sir. Light and flavoursome with a pitch-perfect kick of heat, they're crispy and crunchy and hopelessly moreish. In fact all of veggie-friendly offerings are otherworldly. Try them with her show-stopping date and tamarind sauce.

7. The Original Patty Men

Facebook: Original Patty Men / Via Facebook: OriginalPattyMen

Winners of Best Street Food Burger at the 2014 British Street Food Awards, their patty is a staggering blend of four cuts of beef, dry-aged for five weeks. Their mix is a 70:30 meat-to-fat ratio, ideal for flavour and juiciness, but it's their choice of bun that they're, possibly, most famous for. Their Big Verne burger comes with a Krispy Kreme doughnut as a bun. It's named after Vernon Rudolph, the founder of Krispy Kreme. In a word: wow.

8. The Jabberwocky

Facebook: The Jabberwocky / Via Facebook: jabberwockyfood

Titans of the humble toastie, this is comfort food at its absolute best. In 2013 these guys won the BBC Midlands Street Food Award and our pick of the menu is the seasonal venison toastie: portobello mushrooms, Cumberland sauce, double Gloucester, and slow-cooked venison. They're also responsible for this leviathan of a toastie.

9. Platinum Pancakes

Flickr: Digbeth Dining Club / Via Flickr: 120920603@N05

Minimal fuss, maximum choice, Platinum Pancakes is a sweet-toothed elysium. Filled with crowd pleasers like old school lemon and sugar, Nutella and banana, cherry bakewell or tiramisu (and this is a tiny cross-section of the colossal menu). its pancakes are the one reason to ensure you leave room for dessert.

10. Canoodle

Twitter: Canoodle / Via Twitter: @canoodleuk

Freshly cooked Vietnamese, Thai, and Cambodian street food this is a zingy, zesty, seriously authentic experience that'll have you thanking the heavens that UK street food isn't limited to burgers shoved in buns. We fell embarrassingly in love with their salt and pepper squid (pictured) and their Vietnamese shaking beef, but you'll struggle to find a weak link anywhere on the menu.

11. Peel & Stone

Twitter: Peel & Stone / Via Twitter: @peelandstone

The achingly cool bakery based in the city's Jewellery Quarter has taken Brum by storm and they now regularly bring their woodfired oven out onto the streets. Fresh and flavoursome their tomato sauce is the best we've ever tasted while the base is cooked perfectly – lightly charred, but never burnt. Bravo.

12. Chilli Dog Dogs

Flickr: Digbeth Dining Club / Via Flickr: 120920603@N05

The hot dog specialists who grace the beer garden of Moseley's superb Prince of Wales pub every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday use Lashford sausages (local snags that have won over 155 awards since 1980). Their most popular dog is the The F***ing Chilli Dog, which comes with chilli con carne, nacho cheese sauce, jalapenos, onions, and sour cream. This was our go-to order until we were convinced to try their new-to-the-menu burger, and now we have no idea where our loyalty lies because they're both outstanding. Flip a coin.

13. BAKE

Bake Gallery / Via bake-shop.co.uk

Anyone who's able to put a doughnut on top of a cupcake (left) is all right by us. Having quit the IT industry in 2012 to focus on baking, owner Steve Taylor is responsible for spectacular creations like this Chocolate Coca-Cola Cake and Green Tea With Fortune Cookie Cupcakes (right).

14. Pip's Hot Sauce

Flickr: Digbeth Dining Club / Via Flickr: 120920603@N05

Birmingham's burgeoning condiments scene has made it so that Brummies have no excuse for buying big batch supermarket sauces. Perhaps the pick of the lot is Pip's Hot Sauces, a variety of flavours all packing a pitch-perfect smoky thwack of heat, available at street food events across the city. If you're looking for pointlessly potent power, move along. These are sauces for those that realise that flavour trumps bravado when it comes to chilli.

15. The Mexican Bean

Facebook: Mexican Bean / Via Facebook: TheMexicanBean

This isn't the stodgy, belly-bloating TexMex-style burritos that give "Mexican food" an all- too-often bad name. Light, zingy, citrusy fruit marries with the pow of truly Mexican spice and locally sourced meats for a marvellous and authentic South American experience.

16. Big Daddies Diner

Twitter: Big Daddies Diner / Via Twitter: @BigDaddiesDiner

A legend in the local hot dog scene try the Big Boss (pictured), a large Polish hotdog served with pickles or, if you're really hungry, the Turbo Pete – a gourmet hotdog topped with home-smoked pulled pork, red cabbage slaw, and a truly divine homemade barbecue sauce. This guy is another trader whose sheer passion epitomises Midlands street food.

17. Cake Doctor

Cake Doctor

Despite driving around in a 1979 Ford Transit ambulance it's probably best not to test this guy's medical credentials. His baking, however, is brilliant with his whoopie pies and brownies being the top sellers. He also specialises in sublime vegan cakes and cups of tea with a smile. You'll want to take him home to meet your mum. Best not to do that without his permission, though. There are laws.

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Oct. 28, 2014, at 09:14 AM

Mexico is in North America. An earlier version of this post said it was in South America.