The Boiler Shop Steamer - Newcastle

Hidden in an enormous warehouse behind the train station in Newcastle is an amazing feast for the senses, called The Boilershop Steamer. It pops up the first weekend of every month and is filled with bands, bars and, most importantly, food!

It's free entry before 6pm on a Saturday, otherwise there's a small entry fee, I think £4 or £5, I can't remember. You then buy tokens, one token is £2, and this is how you pay for your food. Dishes range from 1 to 3 tokens, and overall I found it really excellent value for money.

After doing a quick loop to check out the options, we first visited Cellini's, a stall from the popular Newcastle Italian. It was a difficult choice, but we went for the Deep Fried Shin Beef Calzone, and my god it was amazing. It looked innocent enough from the outside, like a little deep fried samosa, but when it was opened up it was stuffed full of flavourful, melt in the mouth tomatoey beef.

We followed it with a spicy chicken wrap from a Lebanese stall, and I feel terrible because I can't remember the name of the stall! It was really delicious though, and it was much easier to eat than the first because it was wrapped in a paper plate as well as foil (note how I don't have it all down me in the photo below. If only you could have seen me trying to eat the calzone...). Also, top points for you being able to choose how spicy you want your wrap - the meat was set with a medium to low spice, and then you could pick your toppings and sauce. 

I think really we should have stopped there, but could I resist raclette (potatoes smothered in melted cheese)? No, I could not. They had a whole half a cheese that they were melting layer by layer and then pouring over the potatoes. I loved it - Ben thought it was dull. 

We finished up with crepes, which were absolutely delicious, but pretty standard. Churros were the other sweet option, and although all good, I felt like the whole thing could bonus from more sweet options. I have a sweet tooth though, so I'm biased, and the stalls that are there switch up every month, so I'd be curious to go back and see what's there other weeks.

I'll definitely be going back another week - something I didn't try this time was the gin bar because I had an early morning the next day, and gin plus an early morning are not friends!

There's some more information about The Boiler Shop Steamer on their website, right here.