Category: Event Planning

Details of event planning services

Catering, Event Planning, funfair events

New Lines For 2021, Chinese Noodle Bar

24 November 2024

We review our line up catering items on a regular basis. Some new lines we come up with ourselves. Some are because there is a market for them and we have seen competitors offering them. Others are asked for by our corporate clients. The gourmet burger service we added last December was in response to a request from one of our major clients. One of our new lines is a consequence of a brain storming session we had. One of our office staff particularly likes noodles, so she put the idea of a Chinese noodle bar forward. It made the cut as one of a number of new things we will be offering in the coming year.

Noodles

There are four main types of egg noodles you find at Chinese takaways. These are;

Thin Wonton Noodles

Very thin string like noodles. Usually found in wonton noodle soup, or other simple dishes. Usually boiled, drained then topped with a simple sauce.

Wide Wonton Noodles

Similar to their thinner brethren, but, well, thicker. Perfect for heartier soups, or more substantial dishes with beef and oiler flavours.

Hong Kong Style Chow Mein Noodles

These are more what we regard as a noodle. Perfect for stir frying and making the classic noodle dishes.

Lo Mein Noodles

A thicker noodle, again used in stir fried noodle dishes, usually paired with a heavy rich sauce, less springy than the other noodles.

Typical Menu

We are still experimenting with the standard menu we intend to offer, but here are some options we are looking at for the initial carts.

Chicken Curry

A nice simple classic that everyone loves. Well, not vegetarians obviously, and not chicken haters.

Beef In Black Bean Sauce

Egg noodles, beef, soy sauce and a mixture of chillies, peppers and ginger giving a nice spicy kick.

Vegetable Noodles

Thick egg noodles with a selection of stir fried vegetables.

Sweet And Sour Chicken Noodles

Another classic Chinese dish. Noodles, chicken and a sweet and sour sauce.

Yakisoba Noodles

A sweet Japanese soy sauce and pickled ginger with egg noodles.

Of course at this stage these are subject to change, and once the cart is operating we will drop the least popular options and try new ones. Additionally like our other catering options we can work with you to create a customised menu for your guests.

Our noodle boxes provide plenty of space for adding corporate logo’s of the names of a bride and groom. One thing we are wrestling with, is should we go traditional and issue chopstix, or stick to forks so that everyone actually gets something to eat.

Chinese Cart

Our street food style stalls lend themselves perfectly to the theme and we are working on adapting one especially for the noodles. For smaller events, or where space is at a premium we can use one of our smaller carts to host the noodle bar.

Catering, Equipment, Event Planning, Food Trucks, Fun Story

Event Street Food Truck Hire Yorkshire

10 November 2024
Seared Branded Food Truck
Fire Truck Food Truck hire
Fire Truck Food Truck hire

Our street food trucks are based in the Yorkshire region, so are perfect for your festival, wedding or corporate event in the Yorkshire region.

Range Of Street Food Options

We have a huge range of catering options, which can be mixed and matched for your event.

Yorkshire Street Food

Make your event one to remember with one of our quirky street food trucks, from a full sized US fire truck, to a vintage Citroen HY Van.

Corporate Food Van Hire For Yorkshire

Whether you are looking for a treat for your staff, or a branded food truck for an exhibition, we can work with you to provide a custom package, including branding options and a custom menu of high quality tasty food.

Festival Food Van Hire Yorkshire

We provide catering option from a single van to multiple van and cart options. From a small family event with 50 people, to a major festival feeding thousands we can design and provide you with a comprehensive food package.

Wedding And Party Food Truck Hire Yorkshire

Do you fancy something different for you wedding breakfast. Street food trucks are the way to go. We can work with you to provide a fun catering option that looks as good as it tastes. From a main course to a dessert we have something your guests will love.

CONTACT US FOR YOUR FOD TRUCK OPTIONS

Email info@crazyandco.uk

Tel: 07973429663

Whatsapp: 07973429663

Get in touch to discuss your options and ideas.

Food Truck Hire Yorkshire. We offer a range of food trucks and carts in the Yorkshire region including Wakefield, Doncaster, York, Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford. With options including fish and chips, pizza, noodles, gourmet burgers, dirty fries, German sausage, churros, waffles, doughnuts and more.

Catering, Equipment, Event Planning, Food Trucks

Fire Truck Food Truck

1 October 2024
Evansville Fire Department

We have spent the last 12 months or so working on converting our US Spartan firetruck into a street food unit. We are getting near to launch date and hope to have some exciting news shortly.

We like to thoroughly go through anything we acquire, and this has been no different. Having refurbed it mechanically, cleaned, polished and painted the engine, had a full service and added multiple food unit systems, we finally turned our attention to the cab area. As this is where i will be spending a large amount of time during the transport phase (we are driving it to events rather than trailering it), I decided that I would like it to be a little less utilitarian, and have some comforts such as cooling fans, good music, nicer upholstery etc. Oh and some drivers aid system wouldn’t go amiss such as help reversing etc. Our fire truck food truck is going to be one fabulous piece of kit.

Nicer Upholstery

I’ve always liked the diamond style stitching found on certain high end automobiles. To this end we had the roof and drivers seat recovered in black with red piping and red stitched diamonds. The dash and door panels have also been re trimmed but without the padded diamonds.

High End Music And Navigation

We started off with the installation of an Alpine Halo 11 inch media receiver. This takes care of the music playing, and adds Android auto to allow for satellite navigation. It also has the added bonus of connecting to our Amazon fire stuck, allowing movies to be played to ease our way through those long waits for site access etc.

Audison Audio tweeters mounted in the A pillars, and 4 Audison full range speakers mounted in the roof corners added a fabulous sound. Backed up by a large subwoofer mounted under the dash in a custom built diamond plate covered enclosure. Overall the cab is a much more pleasant environment with good music.

Drivers Aids

Being as big as it is, with poor visibility, left hand drive and a long front overhang, it was felt that anything to assist the driver was a worthwhile endeavour.

The first option we added was a 360 degree camera system. This filmed all around the truck, recording to an SSD. The system is quite clever in that putting the gearbox into reverse switches to an enlarged rear view. Similarly indicating either side switches to a side view. The Alpine music system is also connected to a low level reversing camera with a hitch guide, this similarly switches to a rear display on reverse.

A radar operated blind spot system was added that flashes a small but highly visible light in the A pillars when anything is overtaking either side. If you indicate to swap lanes and something is detected in overtaking it also pulses an alarm.

A Tyre Pal TPMS system takes care of tyre pressures and temps, handy considering fire trucks don’t come equipped with spare wheel carriers.

If we can find a reversing sensor system that integrates with the Alpine screen (they usually need CAN Bus systems which 1992 motors tend not to have), then we will look at adding that.

A pair of front mounted bumper poles help judge where the huge front bumper is sticking out to, and electronic tannoys that announce “This vehicle is reversing/Turning Left/ Turning Right” complete our current safety systems. The updated London regs require a front moving off alarm, so we might look at adding that at some point, even though we are exempt from the London regs.

As well as our fire truck food truck we have a range of classic and quirky vehicles for hire, from a Del Boy Trotter 3 wheel van coffee service to a classic Citroen HY churros unit.

Catering, Event Planning, Unusual Restaurants

Unusual Restaurants, La Bodega Negra

9 March 2024

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.

If you want something a little less daring but with a touch of fabulous gourmet catering check us out.

Catering, Equipment, Event Planning

Upgrading Our Churros Units

26 December 2023
Spanish Churros Sign

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
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
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.