“Working in a more traditional kitchen does have its benefits. It's going to be nice not having to disassemble the set up at the end of every day or worry too much about the weather”, says John Kelly, owner of Antojitos Truck.
Just in time for colder days, this street food business is popping up permanently on September 29, at pub The Dog House on Edinburgh’s Clerk Street, where they will be offering their menu of vegan and vegetarian Mexican grub. You can dine in, takeaway or order through Deliveroo, seven days a week from 1pm until 9pm.
Among other things, the indoors Antojitos menu features their quesadillas filled with barbacoa seitan - a meat alternative that’s made from gluten - coated in spices and smoked over applewood. “It includes all our current favourites that won us the Scottish Street Food Awards, and some new stuff we're pretty proud of including taquitos, loaded nachos, and cheesy jalapeno empanadas”, says Kelly.
It’s been a frenetic few months, from setting up their Ford truck during lockdown, to having an accident en-route to a booking that meant they had to operate from a gazebo instead. Then there was winning the Scottish Street Food Awards 2021 back in June. It took place at The Pitt, where they competed against Rost Eats, Gallus Streetfood, The Peruvian, Stag Bites and others. It’s been onwards and upwards ever since.
“Winning the award has definitely made us busier and opened a lot of doors for us, including this one at The Dog House”, says Kelly. “We've had more offers than we've been able to take on, and it allowed us to compete at the British St Food Awards in Hull, and get our first pitch at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. For our first two bookings after winning we completely sold out in just a few hours, so I think it's definitely helped with people's awareness of us and their eagerness to try our food”.
Thanks to an expanded team, Antojitos Truck will still be taking to the road, as well as appearing at The Dog House. Among other places, you can find them at street food market The Big Feed, Glasgow, on September 25 and 26.
