York horseboxes ready to roll out a street food revolution

Stylish street food has swept the globe. But York has been slow to pick up on this tastiest of trends.

That could be about to change however. A brand new concept is ready to roll out a fresh way of serving street food in the city.

A corner of Shambles Market will be home to a cluster of renovated horseboxes serving the quirkiest food concoctions York has to offer.

Ahead of the game and already open in an area soon to be known as ‘the Paddock’ is the Dark Horse Espresso Bar.

Inspired by Aussies

From her stylish mobile kitchen Laura Edwards serves up AllPress coffee and a range of Australian-inspired snacks and light bites, including breakfasts, wraps and toasties.

The Dark Horse only opened last month but the Aussie banana bread has already established itself as a firm favourite amongst punters.

This thick squidgy toasted and buttered treat is yours for £2 (or £4 with a large cup of AllPress).

Also popular is Laura’s take on the classic Aussie Anzac biscuit, a chewy combination of oats, coconut and syrup (£1).

Laura’s Dark Horse will be joined in the Paddock on Sunday by a shocking pink horsebox – home to the Daft Puddin’ emporium serving sweet and savoury-filled Yorkshire puddings.

Laura hopes this new stylish way of serving street food stalls will become as well-established as the market stalls.

It certainly helps to build on Shambles Market’s growing reputation for great grub.

Last August Los Moros, Tarik Abdeladim’s food business serving North African meals from a kiosk in the market, was ranked as York’s number one restaurant on TripAdvisor.

City’s changing tastes

Laura’s street food dream began more than a decade ago when, back packing around Australia, she started working in a café in Sydney.

What began as a job to sustain her travels quickly turned into a decade-long passion inspired by Australia’s booming street food culture.

It’s here she was trained by the AllPress Espresso people.

Becoming homesick, Laura decided to bring her food experience back to her home town of York – when she realised the city’s tastebuds were developing.

“I really saw people turning towards supporting independent business and seeking a better cup of coffee,” Laura told YorkMix, “and that’s where I saw my niche in the market.”

Local, from bread to branding

Laura has prioritised partnering with city suppliers and ventures.

Her sourdough is exclusively bought from Little Shamble’s own Bluebird Bakery.

And the Dark Horse branding was designed by Woodthorpe business Cann Creative, whose founders Laura happens to have gone to school with!

With Daft Puddin’ also having Yorkshire origins, it seems York’s expansion of its street food offer has a distinctly local flavour.