An entrepreneurial couple who have taken home a slew of award wins for their street food pop-ups have just found a permanent base in Newington.
Cameron and Jade Laidlaw have just launched Junk: Bar & Restaurant after creating a hugely successful street food offering that has seen them win big at not only the Scottish and British Street Food Awards but also take home two awards at the European event.
Starting off as a blog and website for recipes, the pair, who have two decades of experience in the hospitality industry, moved into street food and have now realised the dream of opening their very own restaurant.
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Offering up the kind of exciting dishes that won them their awards, coupled with quirky drinks to match them, and a top selection of music curated by them, the restaurant is destined to be a sure-fire hit with food lovers.
Dishes on offer at the South Clerk Street restaurant will include their British Street Food award-winning Monsieur Crabs; soft shell crab kaarage, yuzu kosho tartare, kimchi and flaked Port Seaton white crab meat, and European Street Food beast snack award-winning Spanish Armada; crispy Jersey Royals, sobrassada, aioli, charred lemon, puree de patatas and black garlic.
Speaking about the restaurant launch, chef Cam said: "The street food wins were a little bit surreal! Our second-ever event was the Scottish awards and we won!
"We didn't have any equipment and had to rent and borrow everything after the first win. After that, we were fully booked all summer, and then we went to the British finals with some great competitors and another surreal win made even more incredible by the fact that there was a team of eight judges, two of which both had Michelin star backgrounds, so we were ecstatic to win that."
When it came to the European finals, Cam explained that Brexit meant they could take any of their Scottish produce or any of their equipment, so they had to buy everything over in Munich where the finals were held. They managed not only the overall award win beating out the finalists from Iceland and Poland, but also the award for best snack.
Now, they are hoping to replicate that success with their new restaurant, speaking about the new launch, Cam said that he hopes people can see the love they put into Junk, he added: "Here we are with our new digs in Newington. Two kids. Nae money, five street food awards, over 100 published recipes, 12 pop-ups and we are buzzing to welcome you in to try some scran!"
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