Street Food Club on the first floor of Victoria Centre is a bit of a hidden gem when it comes to lunchtime treats. The beautifully decorated space offers something for everyone from dedicated meat eaters to vegans.
I do love a good pun so when I came across Hip Hop Food Shop this week, I instantly enjoyed their meal names. As a hip-hop fan, my personal favourite is the Wu Taco Clan. The more I wrote about the food for another article, the more I realised I was definitely going to have to try them.
As a vegetarian, I obviously don't eat meat but its very tempting when you are presented with dishes like the Master P(icanha). This dish consists of steak served with a fresh tabbouleh salad packed with fresh herb, chickpea & roasted peppers. Dressed with a smoked garlic yogurt drizzled over the top.
I was very tempted by the crab options that the street food vendor sells too. The Salt N pepper soft shell crab with an aromatic salad dressed with a peanut and ponzu dressing and a Korean-influenced hot sauce.
I decided to order the Wu Taco Clan with dressed fries quickly before I got any ideas. This is where I made a mistake in that the portion sizes are incredibly generous. Can't stop, won't stop? I had to about halfway through the chips and admit I was full. Thankfully I only noticed they had halloumi fries when I got home otherwise that would finished me completely.
The Wu-Taco clan came as three toasted butter-soft tacos filled with fresh jackfruit mixed with roasted bananas and rum ketchup and topped off with sweet corn salsa. The mix of the tangy sauces with the jackfruit has a Caribbean kick to it while the floury tacos provide the perfect balance to stop it from being too spicy.
They are also available as a Buddha Bowl as well in case anyone is avoiding taco wraps or you can have curried mutton as an alternative to the jackfruit. The tacos do provide great soakage for the sauce though so there is that. The three tacos come absolutely loaded too so there really isn't any neat way to eat them. After trying, and failing, to eat one politely, I gave up and absolutely wolfed it down.
My apologies to the good people of Victoria Centre for that as I'm sure that wasn't a pretty picture. Especially when I got my red lipstick all over the remaining taco wraps so you couldn't tell what was food, sauce or makeup.
Then it was time for the chips which came dusted with a sprinkling of vegan bacon over the top. The crispy chips were perfectly cooked without being greasy but still had just the right ratio of crunch and softness. I did note that I was starting to slow down a bit though as the three tacos were deceptively filling.
I have to mention value for money here because it was really good. The three tacos set me back £9 which considering they came absolutely loaded with fillings, is good value. The chips, which I felt was a large portion, came in at £3.
Hip Hop Food Shop offers good food cooked well with no muss or fuss. It is a stripped-back experience in that it isn't buried in a fancy restaurant somewhere in town but it's honest about what it is. It relies on the food to speak for itself with its intense flavours and slightly spicy kick.
The Street Food Club provides a great location for all of this as well. I enjoyed sneakily people watching as the lunch rush hit while I was there although at no point did I feel rushed or under pressure to get out of the crowd. I had a great time watching people jump from vendor to vendor as they tried to decide what to have for their break.
I had to admit defeat when it came to the chips knowing full well I still had the walk back to the office ahead of me which was, sadly, mostly uphill. This may have been my first visit but it certainly won't be my last stop at Hip Hop Food Shop for sure. After all, I still need to get my hands on one of those Buddha bowls.
