Ever fancied a stroll down Soho. That side of London that was renowned for its seediness, that eventually morphed into a sort of coolness.
Whilst you are there, what about popping into the establishment below!
No, we haven’t just turned into some sort of cheap Only Fans knock off. This fine frontage is actually the entrance to one of London’s best Mexican restaurants. Oh and they make a fabulous tequila cocktail.
You walk in only to be met with a an interior exactly like you would expect a sex show to present. I have to admit, it is quite daunting, trying to figure out if you have just brought the wife to an actual Mexican restaurant. Or if you are going to have to spend the night convincing her you weren’t actually trying to drag her into a peep show.
Happily, once through the next door, you do actually find yourself in an actual purveyor of food and drink, rather than pleasures of the flesh.
We have provided churros for a few years now. Originally baked churros, using a split baker, a bit like our waffles on a stick machine. Due to repeated requests, we eventually added traditional deep fried churros maker. This was using a single hand cranked extruder and a deep fat fryer, seconded from our burger units.
Our First Machine For Deep Fried Churros
TBH, this worked perfectly well. It wasn’t the fastest thing in Christendom, but for most events of 150 or so guests it was perfectly adequate. And as most of our jobs were paid corporate events, people were content to wait for their churros.
Upgrading To A Retail Set Up
Now No1 daughter, decided that she was going back to our roots, and dipping her toe in the fickle waters of retail. Thing is in retail, what you can earn is directly tied to how fast you can cook and serve. To this end, we looked at who were probably the world’s leading authority on Spanish Churros. Yup, the Spanish.
Talking to a contact that deals a lot with Spanish Showmen, he reported back that most of them had a thing for churros maker kit from the venerable company of José Luis Blanco.
Established in 1958 the company has been producing some of the worlds most highly rated churros machinery for over 60 years.
Auto Or Manual
That was the question, auto dispensers are good, require less staff training, and in the hands of the inexperienced are quicker than manual. The drawback is they use computers. Which when they work are very good. When they don’t they aren’t.
We decided that we would take the hit on productivity, to trade it against reliability. Manual has much less to go wrong, and losing one good day due to a malfunction would more than wipe out the extra from making a few more portions every minute.
We went with the 5 litre manual churros maker, which is the largest Blanco make.
Blanco 5 Litre Dispenser
I duly ordered this, and winced. It was bloody expensive. Like more than my first car expensive. However, when it turned up I had to say it was a work of art. I could just about lift the thing. It was like fusing a Rolls Royce with a Swiss Clock. Catering equipment porn.
Adding The Fryer
We also needed a fryer. The little fish and chip fryers, were not only big enough for high capacity. They also didn’t have the theatre of swirling the oil around the circular pan a la Spanish style.
So we talked to Blanco and ordered a high capacity electric fryer. Trouble was, it seems there is a bout a three month backlog waiting for delivery. As No1 daughter had decided to book the new churros cart into Christmas at The Cathedral in Birmingham, which happened to be only five weeks away, this wasn’t really going to work.
Blanco Electric Fryer
Additionally this thing takes 56 freaking amps to run it. We could have gone overboard and got the bigger one, which takes 125 amps, but we don’t have a private bloody power station to run it. Well, OK we do have a range of generators which can, but 125 amps jeez.
Enter liquid petroleum gas. Or LPG as it is commonly referred to. Churros fryers are also available as gas powered alternatives. Blanco do these as well. With the same waiting time so we were no further forward.
Enter Churro Sur. Another supplier, that evidently isn’t in the top tier, but still well regarded. They offered to have a gas fryer to us before the start date of the market on 15th November.
Churro Sur Gas Fryer
This company also produces diesel powered fryers. We opted to stick with gas. There is enough hate being spewed about diesel powered stuff from the enviro brigade without us being picketed for being a churros polluter.
The first in our series about some of the weird and wonderful burgers out there. The ‘slider’ comes from White Castle, who are generally accepted to be the earliest burger chain in the good ole USA.
Launched in 1921 by Billy Ingram, selling small square hamburgers ‘so easy to eat’ they were dubbed sliders. the idea was you ‘bought em by the sack.’ They were designed to be bought in bulk, more of a bite sized burger than a full on meal.
1921 Slider
Inspired by the burger that started it all, the original White Castle Slider. Caramelised onions, cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce and pickles.
Holes In The Burgers
One unusual feature of the sliders, are the five holes in the patty. This serves the dual purpose of cooking the pattie quicker, as they are usually piled high in the steamer, and allowing the flavour from the bed of onions they are cooked upon, to permeate throughout the stack.
Chicken and Waffle Slider
They now have a range of different sliders, not only in the typical burger bun, but in between waffles or toast.
This one comes with crispy chicken breast, topped with bacon and sandwiched between two Belgian waffles.
French Toast Slider
Or how about this one, Cinnamon swirl French toast, with egg, American cheese and sausage or smoked bacon.
White castle sliders are considered to be one of the most influential burgers in history, kickstarting an entire fast food industry, along with innovations such as standardised food production across the whole chain, and the kitchen as a production line.
We currently don’t do square, and we don’t do sliders, but if you want a top class gourmet burger then check us out.
Another in our look at Burger chains of the world. This time, in the South American nation of Argentina, famous for Evita Peron, football and trying to take over small British protectorates in the South Atlantic.
Creation in 1974
Alfredo Lowenstein, ex owner of Quickfood, who happened to be the parent company of the renowned Argentine hamburger supplier ‘Paty’ joined forces with the Las Lenas tourist complex to launch Pumper Nic.
In 1975 Pumper Nic became the first franchise organisation in Argentina. They expanded quickly to a total of 70 outlets, and a $60 million annual turnover.
Unfortunately this rapid growth meant they quickly outstripped their ability to supervise the franchisees, leading to wide variance in the quality of food between the different outlets.
Menu
Their signature dish was a sandwich with an egg between the patties called the Mobur. They also promoted their famous ‘Dos Por Uno’ or two for the price of one burgers. Fries were called Frenys. Another prime offering was their Jaque, or ham and cheese sandwich.
New Logo
Their original logo was based upon Burger Kings logo, who as it happened didn’t operate in Argentina at the time. However around the late 80’s Burger King launched into the Argentine market, and a resulting lawsuit led to the company not only changing its logo, but also shortening its name to Pumper.
Into The 90’s
Eventually in 1990, Lowenstein handed the business to his sons Diego and Paula. Sadly they had little interest in continuing the business. Eventually they sold the chain in 1995 and associated themselves with the Wendy’s chain.
The following year, the franchise system collapsed, and the new owners were unable to turn things around. By 1999 Pumper Nic declared bankruptcy, bringing to an end an early Argentine success story.
We are always looking for new lines to add to our comprehensive line up of catering options. A German sausage cart is one that has been suggested regularly. We have always done hot dogs, or Frankfurters, as they are commonly known, so technically we already do German sausage. But we have never added a full line up with Bratwurst etc.
So, that is going to change. We were recently contracted by a major corporate client to provide lunch for five days at the opening of a new warehouse. The stipulation was something different everyday. We finished on the last day with Bratwurst and fries. This went down a storm, so we decided to add a full German sausage experience to our menu.
The initial offering is gonna look something like this;
Bratwurst
The famous German sausage, whose name translates as pretty much ‘Fried Sausage.’ This is probably the most popular of the offerings, and what many consider as the typical fare.
Frankfurter
Although fans of the frank might argue the point. Equally well known, and also hailing from Germany, this one tends more often in this country to go by its alternative name of hot dog.
Currywurst
Basically the aforementioned bratwurst, chopped into bite sized portions, then slathered in curried ketchup.
Kasekrainer
Basically a sausage with chunks of cheese inside, a fabulous combination, well it is if you happen to like cheese and sausages.
These will all come with a selection of typical condiments such as mustard, German ketchup etc, oh and the traditional sauerkraut, which happens to be finely chopped cabbage fermented by various lactic acid bacteria which gives it a distinctive sour taste.
If you want to book a German sausage cart for your event, check our service out!
