Medieval restaurant takes friars on the road with new street food concept

A Newcastle restaurant steeped in medieval history is launching an indulgent culinary treat for street food lovers this month. Blackfriars Restaurant is introducing a new concept – FatFriars – to serve spicy, mouth-watering, hand-held fast food at a series of events and festivals in the North East. FatFriars is currently developing dishes which may include pulled pork dribblers, fish scrap butties, spicy wings and ‘coffchocdugs’ – doughnuts with a chocolate and coffee filling - washed down with gin cocktails, rum shakes, pale ale and ginger beer. The team will use slow-cooking, smoking and pickling techniques to create full-on, pungent flavours using spices and ingredients imported by merchants 1,000 years ago. The new offering will first be showcased at a FatFriars Pop Up event at King’s School, Tynemouth on Thursday, May 9, where the roadshow staff plan to serve a gin sour followed by zingy fish, pulled pork dribblers with spicy sauces, local beer/cider and coffchocdugs to finish. This communal dining event (past of Tynemouth Food Festival) costs £35 per person - £20 for children- and guests are asked to arrive between 7pm and 7:30pm. To book, visit www.blackfriarsrestaurant.co.uk. In addition, FatFriars will also join 40 of the region's other finest food and drink producers at the Festival’s market stalls on May 11-12, 2013 where it will serve its delicious brand of street food. The weekend is also set to feature a beer festival, chef demos, retro tea dance, street food, kiddies’ culinary-inspired entertainment, chocolate workshops and fringe events. The FatFriars team will also be appearing regularly at Newcastle’s Boiler Shop Steamer music and food events, which are held at The Stephenson Works, Sussex Street, on the first weekend of every month. Andy Hook, managing director at Blackfriars Restaurant, which was voted Newcastle’s top restaurant in the North East England Tourism Awards in 2013 said:  “FatFriars represents the culinary journey British cuisine took from the Gardens of Baghdad, the epicentre of creative gastronomy, through North Africa and up into Europe and Britain over 1,000 years ago. “Influenced by the merchants of the time, the market stall finger food they ate along the way and the spices they brought back, FatFriars is a melting pot of full-on lewd food with zingy fried fish, dirty burgers, spiced chicken, unctuously sticky puddings and other street fodder. “Essentially we're trying to create the dirtiest, biggest flavoured, deeply complex, dribbling finger food imaginable, using fantastic local produce.” FatFriars is also available for hire at private parties and corporate events. To keep up to date with FatFriars developments, follow @FatFriars on Twitter, visit www.fatfriars.co.uk  or email [email protected] Blackfriars Restaurant and Workshop, Friars Street, Newcastle, NE1 4XN 0191 261 5945