Who Won What?

There are few things more British than travelling hundreds of miles to Sheffield to argue about whose food is best.

This weekend, traders from all four corners of the UK rolled into Peddler Market carrying grills, burners, dough, dumplings, curry, smoke, spice and enough burgers to keep a small city fed for a week.

They had come through five regional heats to get here. Welsh chefs, Scottish fire cooks, London legends, northern favourites and street food obsessives from everywhere in between (see the full list below) had all made the journey to Yorkshire.

And now there was nowhere left to hide.

The 2026 British Street Food Awards final. The people – and our amazing judges– had some big decisions to make.

So, who won what? Who took home the Awards? And the winner’s platinum A-board from Majisign?

2026 BRITISH STREET FOOD AWARDS CHAMPION
Cegin HalfnHalf

RUNNER-UP
Ember

THIRD PLACE
The Burger Society

PEOPLE’S CHOICE
Joy & Gladness

PEOPLE’S CHOICE RUNNER-UP
Suya Boiz

PEOPLE’S CHOICE THIRD PLACE
Flats Doughnuts

BEST MAIN DISH
Cegin HalfnHalf

BEST SNACK
Mama Lala

BEST DESSERT
PUDD

BEST SANDWICH
Ember

BEST BURGER
The Burger Society

BEST VEGETARIAN
Stones Throw Kitchen

SPICE AWARD
Joy & Gladness

BEST LOOKING (VAN, TRUCK OR TRAILER)
Announced at the European Street Food Awards

BEST FOOD HALL
Alfred Works, Birmingham

SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
London’s Community Kitchen

BEST DIGITAL CONTENT CREATOR
Danny Malin for Danny vs Food

BEST STREET FOOD EVENT
Stockport Foodie Friday

ENTREPRENEUR
Mei of Oh Mei Dumpling

FOOD LEGEND
The Hungry Cowboy

EXTRA MILE AWARD
The Bucket List

Here’s the full list of finalists:

FRIENDS CORNER

Cheshire, England

Proper night-market vibes.

Flames licked dangerously high. Music was on 10. Five chefs in leather aprons sang and chanted while Japanese-style duck and pork belly skewers hit the binchotan charcoal.

The konro grill did the rest.

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

It was food, but it was also theatre. Friends Corner knew how to put on a show.

MAMA LALA

South Glamorgan, Wales

Di at Mama Lala brought authentic Sichuan street food to Sheffield.

Her signature Dan Dan noodles were freshly cooked to order with greens, minced pork and split pea purée, then finished with homemade chilli oil and Pao Cai vegetable pickles.

It was all about that unmistakable Sichuan Má Là: spicy, numbing, fragrant and completely addictive.

Mama Lala also won Best Snack.

EMBER

Fife, Scotland

Everything at Ember started with fire.

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

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

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

Ember finished second overall and won Best Sandwich.

THE THAI FOOD VAN

Lancashire, England

Massaman was their signature for a reason.

The recipe had been refined by their mum over more than 30 years, and they confidently reckoned it was the best you would ever have.

They were sticking to that.

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

Even their trailers 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 made hand-pleated, pan-fried beef dumplings inspired by the bold, comforting flavours of Hong Kong-style home cooking.

But the real story was Mei herself.

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

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

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

Oh Mei Dumpling also won the Entrepreneur award.

SUYA BOIZ

London, England

Suya Boiz brought Nigerian street food to the grill and did not mess about with flavour.

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

Then there was the jollof: smoky, rich and packed with big tomato flavour.

And you needed to leave room for puff puff. Golden, fluffy balls of fried dough that were light, moreish and dangerously easy to keep eating.

Sadiq was charming. The food was vibrant. The grill did the talking.

Suya Boiz finished second in the People’s Choice.

CEGIN HALFNHALF

South Glamorgan, Wales

Welsh produce met Indian cooking.

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

He created a Rajasthani menu featuring slow-cooked meats, rich gravies, Welsh ingredients and the depth and complexity of Indian cooking.

And then there was the biryani.

Six hours, slow-cooked in a sealed pot.

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

Cegin HalfnHalf were crowned the 2026 British Street Food Awards champions and also won Best Main Dish.

JOY & GLADNESS

London, England

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

His Jamaican heritage ran deep. His grandfather had six jerk pans, and that family connection was at the heart of Joy & Gladness.

The Jamaican goat curry was a proper showstopper: slow-cooked, deeply seasoned and packed with warming Caribbean spice.

Tender goat. Rich gravy. Big flavour.

Bigga brought the energy, stories and personality that turned a plate of food into an occasion.

Joy & Gladness won both the People’s Choice award and the Spice Award.

FLATS DOUGHNUTS

Worcestershire, England

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

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

The result was the vegan beaver tail: sweet, sharp, indulgent, dairy-free and just about virtuous enough to justify another one.

This was dessert street food with attitude.

Flats Doughnuts finished third in the People’s Choice.

STONES THROW KITCHEN

Hampshire, England

Stones Throw Kitchen started with a question.

Why did 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 were entirely plant-powered but never worthy or joyless.

They were vibrant, generous and properly delicious.

Food first. Labels second.

Stones Throw Kitchen won Best Vegetarian.

THE HUNGRY COWBOY

Torfaen, Wales

Dale was The Hungry Cowboy.

He was obsessed with barbecue and brought 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 was cooked low and slow until tender and packed with smoky flavour.

Beneath the cowboy act was someone unmistakably Welsh, and that combination of Welsh personality and American barbecue made The Hungry Cowboy hard to forget.

Big food. Big character. Big barbecue.

The Hungry Cowboy was named Food Legend, an award traditionally given to someone expected to change the industry forever.

PUDD

Caerphilly, Wales

PUDD started with a pregnancy craving for bananas.

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

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

Think trifle meets tiramisu, but not quite either.

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

PUDD won Best Dessert.

THE BURGER SOCIETY

Berkshire, England

There were burgers.

And then there were Michelin-trained burger obsessives.

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

They worked with butchers Aubrey Allen to create their own patty. The buns were made in-house to a Michelin-level recipe, and the sauce was made by them too.

Every element had a job.

The Burger Society finished third overall and won Best Burger for the second year running.

PAELLA GARCIA

London, England

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

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

The giant pans helped. So did the bright red gazebos and the smell. You could usually smell Paella Garcia before you could see them.

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

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

THE BUCKET LIST

South Yorkshire, England

The Bucket List were already finalists for the Sustainability Award.

They also wanted the big one.

They reckoned they served the freshest food in Britain and prepared nearly everything themselves, using as much as possible from regenerative farms and local producers.

And what did they bring 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 sounded simple, which was exactly why it was so interesting to see what the judges, and the people of Sheffield, made of it.

The Bucket List won the Extra Mile Award for their continued drive to improve sourcing.

And so the 2026 British Street Food Awards are done.

Fifteen finalists came to Sheffield. One leaves as champion.

Cegin HalfnHalf will now take their place with the traders heading to Saarbrücken, where from September 18 to 20 they will take on the best street food traders from across Europe.

Britain has picked its team.

Now let’s see what Europe makes of it.