The Big Banquet rolls into Caldicot Castle for the late May bank holiday weekend (22 – 25 May) promising a weekend of feasting, fun, and a full-on festival atmosphere
Street Food Circus’ travelling caravan of award-winning street food chefs will be cooking dishes from across the world, all served banquet-style around huge communal tables.
Returning to Street Food Circus this year are Sam and Shauna, authors and TV presenters, but best known as Hang Fire BBQ. They started out alongside Street Food Circus as the street food scene started to grow in Wales 12 years ago and are returning with a menu of their ‘greatest hits’ at selected SFC events this year.
Also among the street food line up are 2024 British Street Food Awards Champions Pasta-a-Mano and 2021 British Street Food Awards People’s Choice winners, Keralan Karavan.
Built for all ages, the event includes a free kids’ circus school, Big Bubble Disco, Kiss my Putt crazy golf, Let’s Make Art crafting and Mushy P’s musical mayhem for kids. Street Food Circus star Chris Bullzini is also bringing a new ‘Silly King’ show, perfect for the castle setting. After dark, the Pembrokeshire Fire Spinners will be lighting up the evening with a spectacular fire show.
This year, Big Banquet will also feature Street Food Circus’ new Little Kooks Club designed for younger festival-goers. Members have access to additional activities around the site and get a backpack to take home with challenges, ideas and stories inspired by the circus to keep them cooking, creating and playing with food. Kid’s tickets (under 16s) for the event are free, with the option to join the Little Kooks Club for an additional fee when booking.
The street food line-up includes a whole world of food options – all with a signature dish on their menu:
- Dough Thrower – Nancy’s meatball pizza
- Two Lads Kitchen – barbecued chicken Afghan wrap
- ACME – The Spice Bag fried chicken & fries
- El Cabrón – slow-cooked beef brisket quesabirria tacos
- Keralan Karavan – loaded ‘Disco Fries’
- Pasta-a-Mano – Welsh brisket Bolognese
- Mar y Fuego – in-shell scallops cooked over fire
- Smashing Plates – chicken souvlaki wrap
- Queen Pepida – Venezuelan reina pepiada
- Hakko House – tofu sushi maki
- Hang Fire BBQ – the ‘Smokehouse’ ultimate Hang Fire tray
This year all of the traders will also be creating a dish on their menu specially for kids.
After the mains, there’s Churros Hermanos, Drizzle disco dessert truck and Paletas Mexican-style ice lollies. Drinks come courtesy of SFC’s Bobo bar pouring Tiny Rebel beers and the Dodge vintage truck bar alongside SFC’s Lola’s cocktails. Non alcoholic options include homemade sodas at The Lemonade Stand.
Street Food Circus founder and ringmaster Matt ‘the Hat’ said:
“Caldicot Castle is such a special location and it’s perfect for our brand of creative circus fun – and it’s a great fit for our new show ‘the Silly King’ with Chris Bullzini. We’re always developing what we offer, and this year has a real family focus with lots of free activities for kids (including big kids!) and the launch of our new Little Kooks Club to encourage our younger festival-goers to ‘play with their food’.
“We’re thrilled to have Hang Fire back cooking with us as one of only a few events they’re doing this year. It’s a great chance for people to taste the best BBQ food around, alongside all of our other incredible, creative cooks,” he said.
The Big Banquet is at Caldicot Castle Friday 22 – Monday 25 May with tickets available from streetfoodcircus.co.uk. Children’s tickets (under 16) are free and the event is also dog-friendly.
