After years of running things from their airstream, Street Kitchen (founded by Mark Jankel and chef Jun Tanaka) is settling down. But they're not moving far from where that airsteam has been parked, taking one of the spaces at Broadgate Circle for their gourmet sandwich restaurant - selling huge subs cut down and served by the inch. We caught up with Mark Jankel to find out more...
What's made you decide to set up a permanent shop now?
It has always been our mission to evolve Street Kitchen into a scaleable "bricks and mortar" concept. Jun and I have been tweaking our suppliers, recipes and dishes in different locations over the last three years in order to develop a menu that we felt would be perfect for an artisanal, quick-service food outlet.
We have been yearning for a home and we are finally there. We wanted to wait for the perfect time and location to move into our first permanent shop and we feel that the Broadgate Circle development is the ideal launchpad for our expansion across London and beyond.
What can people expect from the new Street Kitchen?
We have been working on sandwiches for months and have selected some of our favourites, which will be built as 24-inch long sandwiches, then sliced to order and be served ‘by the inch’. Some of our personal favourites so far include the charred organic broccoli with free-range eggs, smoky mustard mayo, pickled red onions and old Winchester cheese; or rare roast beef with caramelised onions, watercress, pickled cucumber and horseradish.
We have worked to ensure we are using the best quality suppliers possible. For example, our beef is pure-bred Hereford topside, which is aged for five weeks to develop the perfect flavour for the ultimate beef sandwich.
In the evening we will be serving a selection of hot sandwiches that will go perfectly with a chilled bottle of beer on our Broadgate Circle terrace. These include melt-in-the-mouth options such as slow-roast pork with celeriac and apple mint slaw, baby gem lettuce, pickled red onions and BBQ sauce, or hot smoked salmon, beetroot, pickled red cabbage, baby gem, and dill mayo.
We will also be serving a selection of ‘grab-and-go’ salad boxes which will evolve with and be inspired by seasonal British ingredients sourced directly from farms. Our mission is to source every single ingredient on our menu directly from natural British farms, and ultimately celebrate the amazing British produce available to us.
For breakfast, we have developed a selection of bespoke savoury-filled croissants and customers will have the choice of adding a poached egg for an incredible hot option. Our favourites so far are sausage sage and caramelised onion; roasted butternut squash, spinach and goat’s cheese; and British feta and smoked tomato compote.
How will the sustainable side of Street Kitchen be applied?
Sustainability is engrained in our DNA, as a natural food supply chain forms the foundation of our business and values. We have forged amazing relationships with our farm suppliers and we will take great pleasure in celebrating them as we continue to grow. It makes such a difference to know exactly where and how our ingredients are produced. We will engage our employees as we grow, by sending them to our farm suppliers to experience the passion and hard work that goes into the production of our amazing ingredients.
We consider the impact of everything we do - our T-shirts are produced using carbon-neutral organic cotton and printed using benign inks by an artisan screen printing company in South East London. We wanted to source sustainable furniture so our seating is made from robust vegetable crates made in Kent. The wood is sourced from sustainable forestry projects and constructed by ex-servicemen. We are also trying to form a joint venture with an energy entrepreneur to form a closed system with our food waste . Once we reach a suitable size, all of our food waste will be diverted into an anaerobic digester that will feed green energy back into the grid.
We separate all of our waste in our prep kitchen and we will do the same in the shop - there will be three bins in total, one for compostable waste, one for glass recycling and one for mixed recycling. We aim for none of our waste to end up in landfill.
We believe that we are building a business that will compete with the ‘big boys’ in the quick-service sector, whilst under the surface, will radically change the way in which a multiple outlet, quick-service business can operate.
And what drinks will you be serving?
Our alcohol licence means we will be serving a range of local craft beers from Camden Town Brewery, Partizan Brewing and London Fields Brewery, as well as a selction of sparkling wines. Coffee will also feature on our menu, with a barista serving artisan coffees made by AllPress. Other soft drinks will include fairtrade Karma Cola and Dalston Cola, as well as fruit smoothies by Chegworth Valley and Heron Valley.
And how about the look of the place?
We will have 20 seats inside the shop and 30 seats on the terrace—to the front and rear of the shop. The seating is a bespoke design, produced in Kent using wood sourced from sustainable forestry projects, and the tables are also bespoke and made from reclaimed materials.
The shop will have ‘stripped back’ British deli-style interior with exposed ceilings, a marble counter, herringbone tiles and floors, and an open kitchen. Colourful jars of homemade pickles will feature on shelving units above the kitchen and our 24-inch sandwiches will be lovingly constructed on bespoke boards with inset yardsticks and held just prior to slicing on display to the rear of the kitchen.
Street Kitchen opens on 15 June at Kiosk 2 – 42 Broadgate Circle, EC2M 2QS. It will be open Monday – Friday, from 7am-9pm. For more from them, follow them on Twitter @Streetkitchen
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