The North’s best street food is coming to Manchester this weekend

The British Street Food Awards Northern heats are coming to Freight Island this weekend, bringing with it some of the region’s best street food.

Part of the largest street food competition in the world, the free event arrives in the city this summer this weekend, August 17th and 18th.

The Northern champion will be selected by a panel of judges: Matty White, known for his work on Manchester’s Finest and Steph’s Packed Lunch, Luke Payne, chef at The Pack Horse in Hayfield, and British Street Food Awards founder and food journalist Richard Johnson.

Hello Oriental

The participating traders have now been released, along with their taster dishes which are all available at £6.50, as well as an additional ‘killer dish’.

You can sample Caribbean food from Back-a-yard Jamaican, Baldy’s artisan pies, Burgerism, Colombo Street’s Sri Lankan street food, and Asian fusion from Fuku, and Hello Oriental.

There’s Greek classics from Mega Gyros, Mia’s Arepas, Pattersons fried chicken, Indian street food from Payal, Rio-Mex’s fusion of Brazilian and Mexican street food, and BBQ from Smoking Coal.

British Street Food Awards

Don’t miss traditional Malaysian cuisine from Syiok-Lah, That Ziki’s Greek street food with a modern twist, and Zapp, who are bringing traditional Polish street food.

Past winners of the prestigious award include MEATliquor, Wingmans and BAO. The winner of this year’s competition will head to London for the UK finals in September.

And in even better news, you can head down yourself and try all of the North’s best street food over the weekend.

Colombo Street

You can also have your say in the People’s Choice award, with the winners of both announced on August 18th.

The awards coincide with Freight’s summer of top tier – and free – music programming too, with Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip headlining Sunday’s line-up, alongside the Body Heat DJs.

Grab your free tickets here.