eat.st @ King's Boulevard

An article I just finished at uni, hopefully soon to be published on either SUARTS or ArtsLondonNews. It's not so much a review as shameless hype for eat.st's latest venture in King's Cross. Like they actually need another blogger gushing about how good they are...

Students at Central Saint Martins must be happier than Mario Balotelli on bonfire night. Not only can they boast a brand new £200 million campus as their creative playground, their recent relocation to King’s Cross places them on the doorstep of arguably the capital’s most exciting food market.

Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, pioneering street food collective eat.st descends on recently opened King’s Boulevard to showcase some of its finest traders, with a regularly rotating line-up ensuring that even the most fiercely fickle palate does not get jaded. One week it might be artisan pizza from the lads at Homeslice that steals the show, while the next could see Kimchi Cult’s Korean interpretations of Western fast food classics wowing the crowds. Crucially, the price point suits cash strapped students perfectly, with fresh, stomach-expanding lunches generally clocking in at around a fiver.

Particularly worth seeking out is the next appearance of Anna Mae’s, whose insanely juicy, melt-in-the-mouth pulled pork instantly transports you to North Carolina. Likewise, one bite of Abiye’s legendary Big Apple Hot Dogs and you’d think that the Northern Line went to Brooklyn. It also makes you wonder why it’s taken banger-mad Britain so long to warm to the idea of a proper frankfurter. And for genuine Mexican grub, look no further than Luardos or Buen Provecho: both regularly offer fish tacos and proper burritos that taste of Tijuana rather than Texas.

The eat.st experience need not be limited to those lucky souls who inhabit Central Saint Martins: King’s Cross and St Pancras stations are easily accessible from most University of the Arts colleges. Even if the latter part of the week doesn’t suit your (inevitably) hectic schedule, most of the eat.st crew have regular pitches elsewhere: Abiye, for instance, calls Old Street home most days, while Mark ‘The Ribman’ Gevaux’s huge chunks of locally-sourced pork are a tasty option if you’re trawling Brick Lane for bargains at the weekend - if he hasn’t absconded to Upton Park, that is.

Twitter is the lifeblood of this gastro-posse, and you certainly won’t regret following the crew, as special events and offers (including jobs!) are constantly being posted. So prepare to banish all those horrific memories of dodgy burger vans (the one near Waterloo Station is especially haunting for me): the British street food revolution has arrived. There’s never been a better time to be a hungry Arts London student.

eat.st @ King's Cross, King's Boulevard, Wednesday-Friday lunch (10am-3pm), N1C