Meet Your Finalists

Fifteen traders. One champion. Welcome to the 2026 British Street Food Awards final.

Five regional heats. Traders from all over the country. Hundreds of plates eaten, plenty of votes cast and now we are down to the final 15.

This weekend, September 4, 5 and 6, the British Street Food Awards comes to Peddler Market in Sheffield for the big one.

It is going to be some weekend. And there will be a lot of voting.

Everyone who comes along gets a vote, so the People’s Choice is entirely in your hands. Eat what you fancy, drink what you fancy, then decide on your winner.

Alongside that, our amazing judging panel will be looking across a whole load of categories, from Best Dessert to Best Main Dish, Best Snack, Best Burger, the Spice Award and Best Sandwich.

All the category winners will be announced on Sunday 3pm along with the winners of our Sustainability Award plus our online votes – see here – for Best Food Hall, Best Looking (Van, Truck or Trailer) and Best Digital Content Creator.

And then there is the big one.

The overall 2026 British Street Food Awards champion.

The winners will head to the European Street Food Awards in Saarbrücken, Germany, where on September 18-20 they will take on the champions from across Europe.

So, before the battle begins, here are the 15 finalists.

FRIENDS CORNER

Cheshire, England

Proper night-market vibes.

Flames licking dangerously high. Music on 10. Five chefs in leather aprons, singing and chanting if the vibes are right, while Japanese-style duck and pork belly skewers hit the binchotan charcoal.

The konro grill does the rest.

Brushed with tare as they cook, the pork comes out smoky, caramelised, crispy around the edges and properly glazed.

It is food, but it is also theatre. And Friends Corner know how to put on a show.

MAMA LALA

South Glamorgan, Wales

Di at Mama Lala is bringing authentic Sichuan street food to Sheffield.

Her signature is Dan Dan noodles, one of the great dishes of Sichuan cooking. Freshly cooked to order with greens, minced pork and split pea purée, then finished with homemade chilli oil and homemade Pao Cai vegetable pickles.

It is all about that unmistakable Sichuan Má Là. Spicy, numbing, fragrant and completely addictive.

EMBER

Fife, Scotland

Everything at Ember starts with fire.

This premium live-fire food truck cooks from a wood-fired oven and a Parilla grill, with everything prepared, cooked or finished over flame.

Even the kitchen is serious. Their bespoke 20ft container was built from scratch.

The idea is simple enough: restaurant-quality food with the energy and accessibility of street food. Bold flavours, great produce and plenty of smoke.

THE THAI FOOD VAN

Lancashire, England

Massaman is their signature for a reason.

The recipe has been refined by their mum over more than 30 years and they confidently reckon it is the best you will ever have.

They are sticking to that.

When the UK street food season finishes, they head to Thailand and pick their own lime leaves from farms in the north, drying and shipping back enough for the following season. There are two varieties of basil too, because apparently one is never enough.

Even their trailers have had the chef’s touch. Both were designed by her, a first-class graphic design graduate.

Good food. Good looks. Excellent credentials.

OH MEI DUMPLING

Cheshire, England

Mei makes hand-pleated, pan-fried beef dumplings inspired by the bold, comforting flavours of Hong Kong-style home cooking.

But the real story here is Mei herself.

She first came across the British Street Food Awards in 2015, when she went along to watch. Eventually she decided to enter herself and the Awards became a huge moment for the business.

The dumplings are packed with juicy beef, fresh ginger and fragrant spring onion. Each one is folded by hand and cooked until the bottom is crisp, golden and caramelised.

Crunchy underneath. Soft and chewy on top. Big, savoury filling inside.

And because they are handmade, every one has its own little bit of character.

SUYA BOIZ

London, England

Suya Boiz bring Nigerian street food to the grill and they do not mess about with flavour.

The suya is smoky, spicy and properly charred, with juicy meat covered in their signature yaji spice blend.

Then there is the jollof.

Nigerian jollof has become a thing of its own, with smoky depth, big tomato flavour and plenty of character.

And you absolutely need to leave room for puff puff. Golden, fluffy little balls of fried dough. Light, moreish and dangerously easy to keep eating.

Sadiq is charming. The food is vibrant. The grill is doing the talking.

CEGIN HALFNHALF

South Glamorgan, Wales

Welsh produce meets Indian cooking.

At the centre of Cegin HalfnHalf is Kuldeep, a softly spoken chef with a serious CV. He trained under Arvind Saraswat, Chef Michel Roux and Pierre Koffmann and worked at Benares.

Now he is creating a new Rajasthani menu for Cegin HalfnHalf.

Expect slow-cooked meats, rich gravies, Welsh ingredients and the depth and complexity of Indian cooking.

And then there is the biryani.

Six hours, slow cooked in a sealed pot.

It is an extraordinary dish. Delicate, deep and packed with flavour.

This is street food with some serious technique behind it.

JOY & GLADNESS

London, England

Chef Bigga brings Jamaican flavour and a very big personality to the party.

His Jamaican heritage runs deep. His grandfather had six jerk pans, and that family connection to food is right at the heart of what Joy & Gladness is about.

The Jamaican goat curry is a proper showstopper. Slow cooked, deeply seasoned and packed with warming Caribbean spice.

Tender goat. Rich gravy. Big flavour.

And then there is Bigga himself.

He brings the energy, the stories and the personality that turns a plate of food into an occasion.

Jamaican cooking with soul.

FLATS DOUGHNUTS

Worcestershire, England

James from Flats Doughnuts has never been particularly interested in following the rules.

Take a doughnut. Press it. Make it plant-based. Then pile it high with whatever takes your fancy.

The result is the vegan beaver tail.

Sweet, sharp, indulgent, dairy-free and just about virtuous enough to convince yourself you should have another one.

This is dessert street food with attitude.

STONES THROW KITCHEN

Hampshire, England

Stones Throw Kitchen started with a question.

Why does plant-based pizza so often feel like a compromise?

So they bought a battered old horsebox, turned it into a pizza wagon and started proving the doubters wrong.

Their pizzas and panuozzo are entirely plant-powered but never feel worthy or joyless.

They are vibrant. Generous. Properly delicious.

Food first. Labels second.

THE HUNGRY COWBOY

Torfaen, Wales

Dale is The Hungry Cowboy.

He is obsessed with barbecue and brings the whole low-and-slow operation to the street, complete with big hats, yee-haw and plenty of western swagger.

Think smoked burnt-end-style bits, loaded brioche buns, house-made slaws, sauces and toppings.

The meat is cooked low and slow until it is tender and packed with smoky flavour.

But beneath the cowboy act is someone who is unmistakably Welsh, and that combination of Welsh personality and American barbecue makes The Hungry Cowboy pretty hard to forget.

Big food. Big character. Big barbecue.

PUDD

Caerphilly, Wales

PUDD started with a pregnancy craving for bananas.

Two best friends and midwives from South Wales who loved pudding started making cold layered desserts. Then things got rather bigger.

Their OG Banana PUDD combines a light, creamy vanilla base with soft sponge and fresh banana.

Think trifle meets tiramisu.

But not quite either.

It is soft, creamy, comforting and very, very easy to eat.

They have already picked up People’s Choice at the Welsh Street Food Awards final. Now they are coming for the big one.

THE BURGER SOCIETY

Berkshire, England

There are burgers.

And then there are Michelin-trained burger obsessives.

Chris Murray worked at The Fat Duck and The Hand and Flowers, and The Burger Society has brought some of that high-end thinking to the humble burger.

They worked with butchers Aubrey Allen to create their own specific patty. The buns are made in-house to a recipe used at Michelin level. The sauce is made by them too.

Every element has a job.

Go for the bacon double cheeseburger.

Then decide whether all the fuss is justified.

PAELLA GARCIA

London, England

Paella Garcia have been feeding London proper Spanish paella for more than half a century.

At this point, they are less a street food trader and more a culinary institution.

The giant pans help.

So do the bright red gazebos. And the smell. You can usually smell Paella Garcia before you can see them.

There is seafood paella, vegetarian paella packed with peppers, fennel and broad beans, and of course the all-important socarrat.

One spoonful tastes like sunshine and saffron had a very successful meeting.

THE BUCKET LIST

South Yorkshire, England

The Bucket List are already finalists for the Sustainability Award.

Now they want the big one.

They reckon they serve the freshest food in Britain and prepare nearly everything themselves, using as much as possible from regenerative farms and local producers.

And what are they bringing to the final?

A cheeseburger.

But not just any cheeseburger.

Britain’s best beef. Secret seasoning. Wild wheat farmed buns. Homemade burger sauce. Real cheddar. Hand-cut lettuce. Roscoff onions.

It sounds simple.

Which is exactly why it is going to be very interesting to see what the judges, and more importantly the people of Sheffield, make of it.

Where’s that ballot box?

SO WHO WINS?

That’s the brilliant thing about the British Street Food Awards.

We don’t know.

The judges will have their say. The traders will have their say. And everyone who comes through the doors at Peddler gets a vote too.

Fifteen finalists.

A ridiculous amount of brilliant food.

A stack of awards.

And one British champion who will then head to Saarbrücken to take on the best street food traders in Europe.

See you in Sheffield.