Dhaba Kitchen wins at European Street Food Awards 2019

Denmark’s Dhaba Kitchen won ‘Best Main Dish’ for its Masala Lamb Chop Curry at this year’s European Street Food Awards (ESFA) in Sweden yesterday.

The Indian stall was one of only three fully Halal vendors competing in a group of 21 finalists from 13 countries at Stora Varvsgatan in Malmö this weekend.

The other two were Pabellon Venezuelan Food representing the UK and Marokkanische Spezialität from Germany.

Sadly, last year’s Sussex-based Punjabi street food champions Jah Jyot were unable to defend their title due to “personal health and commitments”.

While only their crispy bao chicken is Halal, Denmark’s Filipino street food business Thrilla in Manila also secured the People’s Choice award.

The two day event saw food traders competing for a number of food awards that were decided by a panel of three judges.

These award categories were: Best Burger, Best Snack, Best Sandwich, Best Vegetarian, Best Main Dish and Best Dessert, and the big one – overall winner of the European Street Food Awards 2019.

And despite not catering for Halal, the winners of this year’s ESFA was another UK-based business – Home Boys.

With MasterChef 2015 finalist Pete Hewitt at the helm, not only did his Japanese soul food win ‘Best Snack’ award, but his triumph maintains UK’s winning aways.

The process for determining this year’s winners involved customers casting their votes digitally via the ESFA iOS app or in person by dropping them into voting boxes on each stall.

With free entry, dishes served between €5-€15 and the event being cashless in nature, thousands attended to enjoy a huge range of cuisines alfresco-style.