Checking out street food markets or pop-ups can be one of the best ways to find the newest, up-and-coming food businesses in the city. Some of Nottingham's most beloved foodie favourites are, or were, street food spots such as Hip Hop Food Shop or Slice and Brew.
Carolina's Chilli can be found at street food markets all over Nottingham including the Sherwood Vegan Market or the Ruddington market. It's the creation of Mark Walsh and Angela Shepard from Sherwood. As Mark has coeliac disease, the couple created their Mexican vegan menu to be entirely gluten-free.
"Mark and I met in Dublin when we were both working in restaurants. We went on our first date to a vegan Mexican restaurant so when we moved to Nottingham, we couldn't find anything like that. We also couldn't find anything that catered to vegans and coeliacs," Angela said.
Read more: New gaming business set to take on closed gym in Nottingham
"Wherever we went, we were handed three different menus; the normal one, the vegan one and the gluten-free one. So there was no bridge between the three of them."
The couple started experimenting with food during the lockdown and creating their own pickles. It was here that they got the idea to start Carolina's Chilli.
"It was a chilli-loaded nacho dish that planted the seeds as we were eating it quite a lot during the lockdown. We would pickle some onions or add grilled pineapple so it became amazing and we realised we wanted to do our own thing so we started Carolina's Chilli," She explained.
"The name is derived from the fact that we use Carolina Reaper Chillies in our food. We created a female character for it because we noticed there was another niche in the market as hot food was very male-driven so we wanted to open the door a bit more."
She added: "The other big niche was that there weren't a lot of street food traders that were doing the vegan and gluten-free thing. We love going out and eating street food but I'd go to one stall and Mark would end up with just chips because he is coeliac."
All of the Mexican favourites are on the menu including mouth-watering chilli-loaded nachos, BBQ strip tacos with esquites salad and Mexican beans with cheese quesadilla that is unmissable. Not to mention the incredible birria tacos with birria broth and apple salsa.
The Carolina Chillis that the couple uses in their food was declared the world's hottest chilli by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2017. It's not all about the heat though as they have consciously found a way to take the spice levels down so that their food isn't too hot.
"We don't do it that spicy because we tried and tested it when we started. We took it down a couple of notches because we want people to come back to us. We don't want people to go, oh my goodness that was too hot never going there again," Angela said.
"We want that morish heat that people will come back for. We add different layers to our loaded nachos including cheese, grilled pineapple, cashew sour cream, pickled onions, pico de Gallo (a type of salsa) which takes the edge off the heat."
After a few months, the couple realised they needed to create a breakfast item as many of the markets they were at were open in the morning when people aren't ready for tacos.
"At nine o clock in the morning, you don't want to eat chilli or nachos so we came up with breakfast quesadillas. It's scrambled tofu, melted cheese, 'bacon' bits which are marinated soya and Mexican beans which really took off," She said.
When it comes to branching out into bricks and mortar, the couple isn't tempted just yet. It's been a difficult time for vegan businesses in Nottingham as many have closed in the past year citing the cost of living increases and bills.
"We are still finding our feet as a business so we are happy to explore different markets. Initially, we did want to get premises but financially the climate isn't exactly great at the moment. We've noticed so many small traders that we knew in Nottingham closing in the past few months," Mark said.
"It's a great idea for the long term as we have so many ideas for interior design and the menu. We would absolutely love to do it but it's a while away yet."
READ NEXT:
HMRC £2,000 childcare boost for Nottingham city and county working families
Does Pieminister's viral gravy fondue live up to the hype? We give it a try
Vanessa Feltz's fiancé Ben Ofoedu breaks silence on heartbreaking split
24 Hours in A&E shows man rushed to Queen's Medical Hospital after crashing into telegraph pole
