WORLD INSPIRED VEGAN STREET FOOD BY THE MYSTERY BOOTH

My travels around the world have tantalised my taste buds with the most inspiring of street food and I am excited to be able to experience such memorable flavours much closer to home courtesy of the The Mystery Booth. A relatively new concept, which brings pop-up street food events in accessible venues but with a twist – all the ingredients used are plant based and therefore vegan friendly.

The huge rise in the accessibility of plant-based foods and a vegan lifestyle has driven me to explore the subject a little more and when I heard of The Mystery Booth I was quite inquisitive to learn more.

THE MYSTERY BOOTH

The company is run by two friends, Miranda and Chet who both share a mutual passion of creating flavour some plant based food. With this passion in mind, they created The Mystery Booth in March 2017. The name, well is a genius play on both Miranda and Chets surname!

At the time Chet had been vegan for a few years and was becoming pretty frustrated by the lack of good vegan food available, especially when eating out. Chet experienced unimaginative dishes, which were pretty bland more often than not, which is actually something that resonates with my own experiences. 

Chet’s partner in crime, Miranda is a chef who had introduced a pretty mean vegan Sunday roast menu at a local pub and fate did its work and brought this foodie pair together to launch The Mystery Booth. Miranda also quite conveniently manages the Leicester branch of Oscar & Rosie, which are the premises that The Mystery Booth currently are operating their takeover evenings from.

The Mystery booth simply aims to bring fresh, plant based foods to the palettes of the people of Leicester (and beyond!) and reinforce the idea that plant based foods are so much more than bland salads. The company has a pretty novel idea in that they take a classic dish from around the globe and add a sprinkling of that Mystery Booth plant based magic and in return we are presented with the most delectable freshly prepared taste sensation.

The Mystery  Booth have covered  festivals, such as the DMU Wilderness Film Festival and is available for pop-up or take-over events, Chet and Miranda are currently holding ‘takeovers’ where they are essentially using a restaurant kitchen ad seating space as a venue and bringing street food from around the globe on selected dates in Leicester. These ‘take-overs’ have been a huge success to date as demonstrated by the turnout at these events, where diners have contributed extremely fantastic feedback, which I’m sure Chet and Miranda will both agree, is truly the highest reward one can aspire to achieve.

THE GLOBAL STREET FOOD

The Mysetry Booths takeover evenings has to date provided street food from America, the Middle East, India and next it will be Mexico. Unfortunately I missed out on the American street food, but I would’ve been really interest in trying the ‘Coney chilli dos and Cajun spiced potatoes with a side of Texas barbecue beans and Cali-slaw! But,  I have been lucky enough to experience the Middle Eastern food and Indian street food takeovers and I can vouch that the food has just been astounding in every way. Dr C who is not always in favour of veggie or vegan food commented,  he did not miss meat! This indeed is high praise coming from him!!

Secondly the food is seriously tasty, it’s an explosion of flavours and the quality of the food is exceptional. The ingredients speak for themselves in the fact that they have been ethically sourced and above all, fresh.

The takeover evenings operate very simply in that there is a set menu and for £10 you are presented with the speciality foods of the evening. You can purchase drinks and sweets should you desire. The portion sizes are pretty generous and you will most definite leave rubbing your tummy (and wallet) in satisfaction!

WONDERS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

The evening kicked off with some Turkish tea and this was followed by a very colourful plate of Tabbouleh compromising of parsley, mint, tomatoes, Dolma onions, fresh mint, fresh parsley, lemon juice wrapped in vine leaves and a flatbread containing Seitan (wheat protein) kebab and roasted vegetables served with a chilli relish. The dish was topped with a large green chilli. There was even a dessert-Turkish delights for desserts.

INCREDIBLE INDIA

Being of Indian heritage, I was a lot more familiar with this menu, which comprised of Khandvi – lightly spiced gram flour and yoghurt savoury rolls, Bhel Puri – crispy bites filled with potato, chick peas and tangy tamarind water and Pav Bhaji, a blend of vegetables and spices served on warm toasted buns. This was accompanied by a fresh carrot and green chilli pickle.

We also opted for dessert which was Jalebi (deep fried pretzel made from maida flower and dipped in sugar syrup accompanied by  Almond Burfi, dense almond sweet made from milk powder.

The Future for The Mystery Booth involves taking the business from a part-time venture to a full-time occupation and utilising their passion to produce good quality vegan foods.

The next global food take-over will be at Oscar and Rosie’s canteen and will focus on the flavours of Mexico. You can find out more information if you head on over to The Mystery Booth’s Facebook page @themysterybooth

I’d be interested to know if you’ve sampled the vegan goodies from The Mystery Booth or if you’ve been to any of the take-over evenings. Foodie conversations welcome in the comments below!

The Mystery Booth Takeover World Events

Oscar & Rosie’s Canteen

4 Market Place

Leicester

LE1 5GF

Takeover events 18:00-21:00

Please refer to @themysterybooth Facebook page.

À Bientôt…

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