St. James' Park STACK unveils latest signings.
The newest container village to be opened in the North East has unveiled its team sheet of traders who will be in place when it’s ready for kick off.
St. James’ STACK, presented by Sela, is being constructed at Strawberry Place, in a unique partnership between STACK and Newcastle United.
The transformation of the St. James’ Metro Station car park is well underway to create a dedicated fanzone and all-round street food and entertainment venue out of repurposed shipping containers, which is due to open this summer.
And STACK has now unveiled the street food traders who will be taking up residence in the leisure hub when it is complete, with a mix of original STACK traders, brand new operators and some well known, North East restauranteurs.
Among those opening for the first time will be Tiptop, featuring a range of Asian inspired noodle and rice dishes launched by Kevin Liu, who has owned numerous restaurants around the city and beyond for many years.
He said that Tiptop will offer “the best fast and fresh authentic Chinese and Thai street food.
“We’re very excited at going into STACK because we believe it will be a huge success,” he said.
Other newcomers to STACK are Soju & Gogi who currently run a Korean BBQ restaurant at Dean Street and Soju & Gogi Express in Newcastle’s Grainger Market.
They also have a sister restaurant - Insa Korean BBQ in Jesmond - and will be bringing classic and exciting Korean dishes to STACK such as Korean fried chicken, corn dogs and BBQ wraps.
Also taking over one of the shipping containers is Dabbawal, which after many years running two successful restaurants - one at High Bridge in the city centre and the other at Jesmond - they recently ventured into street food at HWKR market and will now be bringing their much-loved India street food to STACK.
Traders making a welcome return are Acropolis, who since their original residency at STACK Newcastle have gone on to expand across the North East and beyond.
The street food vendor now operates ten venues in Newcastle and beyond, with a permanent base at STACK Seaburn and having recently opened at STACK Lincoln as well as expanding further north to Aberdeen.
Another trader making a comeback are barbeque experts Texas Smoker – a regular on the festival circuit serving smoked meats and wings – who will now be able to offer their dishes all year round.
A number of STACK Seaburn traders will be taking a unit at the new site, including Brack Burger, which also has a number of outlets across Tyneside and has become a huge hit with its menu of classic smashed burgers and loaded fries.
They will be joined by Davey’s Mexicano which sells everything from loaded nachos to Birria beef tacos, and Bao Down with their offer of Bao Buns, gyozas, loaded fries and vegan dishes.
Visitors to St. James’ STACK presented by Sela will also be able to enjoy freshly made pizzas from ZZA Pizzeria and crispy duck loaded fries or hand held wraps from Holy Duck, which have proved extremely successful at both STACK Seaburn and the recently opened STACK Lincoln.
St. James’ STACK presented by Sela will be serving up coffees and other hot drinks, toasties and breakfast butties from Yolo Coffee & Kitchen, with the aim of providing something for everyone on both match days and throughout the week.
Getting the right mix of street food traders is key to the success of STACK, according to Gemma Dishman, Project Development Director.
“We think this lineup offers not only great tasting food but quality operators who will attract their own fans,” she said.
“We are especially excited to have some well-known restaurants join us with their own twist on street food.”
Neill Winch, CEO of STACK believes the food offering will have something for everyone.
“We have been inundated with applications from interested traders who wished to take a unit and therefore only a select few were shortlisted to take part. We pride ourselves on being loyal to existing and past traders so it’s great to see a number of them coming back to STACK.
“However we are always looking for good quality street food offerings that will delight our customers and offer a really eclectic and exciting mix of food and that is certainly the case with these new STACK traders who are well known on the restaurant scene.”
He added: “The food offering when coupled with the bars and the live entertainment programme STACK is renowned for will make St. James’ STACK presented by Sela and amazing place to visit at any time of the week.”
Darren Eales, CEO of Newcastle United, added: “We are thrilled to hear that STACK’s reputation and expertise has attracted such a vibrant mix of traders that will collectively create a truly unique social hub here in the city.
“It is exciting to see the vision continue to come to life as we progress through each phase of development, with an incredible lineup of food venders unveiled this week.
As many have roots across the North East, it is a real bonus that we can provide an opportunity for those businesses to expand and grow their operations locally.
“We are privileged to work alongside STACK in the development of a venue that will suit varying tastes of food and entertainment.”