DERRY city is turning up the heat for food and drink lovers this summer with its first street food festival and it’s going to be LegenDerry!
The LegenDerry Street Food Festival will take place in the heart of the historic Walled City in Guildhall Street from 19th-21st July.
It will serve up a totally unique dining experience for visiting foodies seeking authentic local cuisine with some extra pizzazz.
The three-day festival will offer mouth-watering local and exotic street food with lots of added spice from Latin-American, Indian and Asian inspired culinary talent based in the city.
All the delicious food on offer from the participating vendors including surrounding local businesses, will be washed down by craft beers and spirits served from pop up bars.
A double decker bus will even be parked up for some festival seating with a view of prominent local landmarks including the 17th Century City Walls which are 400 years old this year.
Live music performances and DJs will help festival-goers dance their way through the weekend under outdoor heaters and festoon lighting complemented by some specially commissioned street art which will provide a vibrant backdrop to the celebrations.
There will be two quirky new food trailers on the block for what is believed to be the first street festival of its kind in Northern Ireland.
Lo & Slo and the White Horse Hotel will both be debuting their foodie destination wheels in what will also be a ‘first’ for a hotel in the region.
Selina Horshi, Managing Director of the Best Western Plus White Horse Hotel, said: “It is a perfect time during the Open golf championship event to engage locals and tourists with great quality local produce prepared by our finest local chefs.
“We have a new summer menu that showcases some amazing super local ingredients and we are using the expertise of Head Chef, Noel Ward, with the unique spicing skills of our Sous Chef, Umesh, to turn two starters from our summer menu into street food.
“These include Donegal Cod in a Spiced Gram Flour Batter with a Coriander Chutney served with Indian Tea Blackened Chickpeas and Fresh Pomegranate.
“This dish showcases fresh, local fish but uses Indian flavours to bring a twist to the dish.
“We are combining the best produce with the best skills – utilising the talent we have with the White Horse and within the city.”
Emily McCorkell of Lo & Slo will be unveiling four new products to add to her existing range of authentic smoked barbecue sauces and dry rubs for enhancing meat flavours developed at the city’s Foodovation Centre.
These include a Ghost Chilli and Dulse Seaweed Blend, mustard and paprika based blends and a Ghost Chilli and roasted ginger pepper sauce.
Emily, a native of Pennsylvania who has been living in Derry for the past four years, is passionate about American BBQ cooking and will be serving her deliciously flavoured pulled pork and beef brisket.
There will even be cotton candy for those with a sweet tooth!
“I love anything to do with street food and can’t wait for the vibrancy this festival will bring to the city at night,” said Emily.
Her small business has grown so quickly she now needs more staff and a production unit to supply local stockists of her hot sauces which are also now being incorporated in some local restaurant menus.
North west-based Irish Venezualan mobile catering business La Tia Juana’s will also be bringing their authentic Latin American cuisine to the street food festival.
Juana was first taught to cook by her grandmother from the Warao people of the Orinocco Delta, picking huge avocados and ripe plantain from the local rainforest.
“We sell authentic Latin American street food using fresh, locally sourced gluten-free ingredients with options for carnivores, vegetarians and vegans,” she explained.
Jennifer O’Donnell, Tourism Manager with Derry City and Strabane District Council which has added the LegenDerry Street Food Festival to its award-winning events calendar, said:
“We are really excited about our inaugural LegenDerry Street Food Festival which we hope will also become an annual event following the success of our LegenDerry Food Festival and Slow Food Festival.
“Our ultimate aim is to become the number one food destination on the Island of Ireland by 2025.”
Food experts John and Sally McKenna of the prestigious McKenna Guides have described Derry as the ‘Next Foodie Capital of Ireland’, hailing the destination as “the most happening urban place in Ireland, so get yourself up there before the hordes start to arrive”.
Participating food and drink outlets at the LegenDerry Street Food Festival include: Café Guild, Warehouse, Nonnas Wood Fired Pizza, Burrito Bar, Lo & Slo, 2 North Street Food, Silverbean, Doherty’s Meats, La Tia Juana’s, White Horse Hotel, Mekong, Walled City Brewery, Northbound Brewery, Muff Gin, Dopey Dick/Guildhall Taphouse and Baronscourt Brewery.
The festival will run from 5pm-11pm on Friday and Saturday,19th and 20th July and 2pm-10pm on Sunday, 21st July 2019. Admission is free.
For more information visit www.derrystrabane.com/streetfood
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