Great balls of fire: the Shuk smoked beef croqueta, topped with pimenton and pickled red onion
(Picture: Press handout )Chefs behind a Tel Aviv-inspired street food stall found in Borough Market can stake a claim to serving London’s best croquetas after triumphing at a cult competition yesterday evening.
Borough’s Shuk were voted as the capital’s croqueta kings after winning a blind tasting held yesterday in Goodge Street restaurant Salt Yard. The evening marked the final of the 2022 Croqueta Challenge, which is now in its fifth year.
While the prize for winning is relatively insubstantial — £250 and a fortnight spent on the Salt Yard menu — coming out on top is considered something of a point of pride for those who enter, with previous participants including the Michelin-starred Victor Garvey of Soho’s So:La, as well as Margot Henderson of the Rochelle Canteen. Other restaurants who’ve taken part over the years include Ottolenghi’s Rovi and the Galvin brothers’ Galvin La Chapelle, which also holds a star.
Shuk’s winning recipe was a smoked beef brisket topped with pimenton and pickled red onion. For every plate of them sold at Salt Yard over the coming weeks, £1 goes to the National Autistic Society.
Yesterday’s final saw Shuk triumph over Signature Brew in Haggerston, who claimed second place, as well as the Gatehouse in Highgate, who came third. Others in the running included floating restaurant the London Shell Co, Mortimer House, Ember Yard and Tapas Revolution.
The evening’s dishes were judged by restaurant diners as well as top judges including Fay Maschler, this paper’s critic for almost 50 years; Catherine Hanly of Hot Dinners; and Foodism’s Mike Gibson.
The Salt Yard Group — which counts Ember Yard, the eponymous Salt Yard and the Opera Tavern amongst its restaurant stable — last held the competition in 2019, with last night a sign that the capital’s food scene is slowly returning to full strength. Salt Yard told the Standard they plan to launch the Croqueta Challenge once again in 2023.
