A different kind of burger van

14 | March 19, 2013 | www.cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

LOOKING BACK

By MIKE PETTY

Staff shortage closes factory » FROM THE NEWS, 1988 Sunlight Textiles, a Girton factory employing 37 people, has been forced to close as they can’t get staff. It runs a linen laundry rental service and has been in the village since the turn of the century. They could do with double the number of semi-skilled machine operators who earn £90 for a 39 hour week and had bussed workers in from other areas. It was part of the Cambridge problem of a service sector paying low wages with high housing costs. The firm had more than 20 other factories and staff problems were more severe than anywhere else.

Encouraging more visitors » FROM THE NEWS, 1963 Ely Chamber of Commerce commissioned an architect to produce a scheme for brightening up Fore Hill.

Mr WT Rayment, a butcher, and Mr SJ Theobald felt that it would encourage more visitors. Mr LG Cornwell would treat his shop on the lines recommended but Vernon Cross had already carried out some redecoration and other traders could not see it working. It had to be done as a whole because the colours all blended.

New business is motoring » FROM THE NEWS, 1938 Mount Pleasant folk have had an interesting time seeing a modern workshop and showroom built on a corner site at Huntingdon Road without spoiling the beauty of an old house.

Part of the ground below road level at the rear has been made full use of by having a sunk workshop built upon it with steel runners over the lower floor.

Dan Morley, well-known in the motor trade, had got this business going in less than four months.

Pub in family for 70 years » FROM THE NEWS, 1913 The Old English Gentleman in Fitzroy Street adjoined Wesson’s Brewery and had been in the Wesson family for 70 years.

The accommodation was good, the rooms were spacious, lofty and airy.

It had been in the same family for more than 40 years and the tenant, James Hobbs, was anxious to continue.

He got a good lot of customers and sold a good deal of wine, magistrates heard.

Meet the man bringi food, with the help of

Cambridge News | www.cambridge-news.co.uk | March 19, 2013 | 27

ing us chic street f a 40-year-old van Meet Leo Riethoff – the man helping to introduce chic street food to Cambridge, with some help from a from a rather beautiful 40-year-old Citroën H Van. ELLA WALKER meets the former Alimentum chef cooking up a storm on four wheels.

“I WOULDN’T say I’d dreamt of owning a burger van,” says Leo Riethoff wryly over tea and jazz in Gwydir Street’s Hot Numbers Café.

“Since I started cooking I definitely didn’t want to just climb the ladder of the kitchen structure and stay at one place forever: I do like doing my own thing, and this is just the start of it really.”

The 27-year-old is the hard-working talent behind Steak & Honour, Cambridge’s newest, coolest street food racket, selling freshly made burgers from a vintage red Citroën H Van. And the van, he admits, is all part of the charm.

“It is a great looking van,” he grins. “But driving it is an absolute nightmare.”

The Cambridge native has no formal kitchen qualifications but threw himself into cooking after realising his final year projects on a graphic design degree in London were all geared towards food.

Briefly flirting with the idea of being a butcher, he ended up as a commis chef at HIX Mayfair at prestigious Brown’s Hotel, but a move back to Cambridge a few years later, and a stint at Alimentum, gave him the push to set up on his own.

Street food just made sense: “Starting a restaurant is far too expensive, and it took minimal investment to get the van,” he explains. Getting married and having a baby also helped tip the balance. “I think that played a part in it. At Alimentum I was doing 16 hour days, five or six days a week and although it was good, there’s only so long you can do that.”

Inspired by the London street food scene,

and chivvied along after seeing food halls in Australia and Malaysia, he found a van on eBay (“It was a complete wreck. It was in a farmyard and there was a chicken in it!”), had it fixed up, fitted a kitchen and finally launched Steak & Honour last month.

But don’t be confused: this is not your average burger van, and these are not your average burgers.

“I mean, a burger is a pretty simple thing isn’t it?” says Leo. “So I spent quite a lot of time while the van was being worked on just looking at local producers and finding out the best suppliers for what I wanted.”

The final shortlist includes Dovecote Bakery (“Chris, the guy there, is an amazing baker. He does me a brioche bun and they’re great,”), and beef from local cows thanks to Jon at The Art of Meat butchers: “I give him a heads up when I need it, and phone before I come and pick it up and he’ll grind it five minutes before, so it’s literally freshly ground.”

“Everyone thinks ‘oh, a burger,’ but until you’ve had a good burger… I think it shows I took the time to source good ingredients. I think it’s a good burger,” he laughs.

But is it the best burger you’ve ever had?

“Yeah I reckon,” he says shyly. “It’s very much got an American style to it, so the classic combination of Heinz tomato ketchup and French’s mustard, and the gherkins.

“But the way I cook it is a bit different. I don’t put anything in the burger, and I don’t make them up as burgers. I just have a ball of freshly ground chuck and I just squash it onto the grill, season it on the grill.” He also uses a bit of trickery to steam and glaze the burger.

“And with the brioche, when you heat it, it sort of comes back to life, and is nice and soft and fresh again.”

So far Steak & Honour, alongside ice-cream expert Jack’s Gelatos, have hosted a pop-up event at Fitzbillies which they hope to make into a regular fixture. “I think the next one we’ll do a slightly different menu, maybe introduce another burger or some different sides and have Jack do some different desserts.

I think each one will never be the same.”

The foodie pair plan to sell burgers and ice cream by the river when the weather warms up, and would also like to wangle a spot in Cambridge for local street food traders to come together on a regular basis. Last week’s Eat Cambridge’s street food festival was hopefully just the beginning of similar foodie happenings: “I’d love for that to be a weekly thing. If we could do something like a street food market on a Thursday or a Friday night that would be great.”

For now, though, Leo is focussed on enjoying Steak & Honour as it is. “Having cooked in fine dining restaurants and now cooking in the back of a van, I think I had to combat a few thoughts in my own head of what that might be like,” he muses. “You think ‘burger van’, it doesn’t strum up much excitement, but when you’re actually doing it, when it’s your idea, it’s quite nice for it to be a reality.”

And why should we track him down? “You know that it’s all local, and I think it’s more exciting to be out buying a burger from a 40-year-old Citroën H Van than sitting in Gourmet Burger Kitchen.”

We couldn’t agree more.

VAN MAN: Leo Riethoff is helping to bring chic street food to Cambridge, with the help of his 40-year-old Citroen H van

Your Community Histon & Impington Contact: Fonz Chamberlain (01223) 234720 Email: fonz.chamberlain@ cambridgetimetraveller.com

DO you play bridge? The Ace bridge club is a friendly club that is looking for new members.

The club meets every Wednesday at 2pm in the community room in Kay Hitch Way. If you are interested in joining the club contact Anne Datson on (01223) 812395 or Brynley Jones on (01223) 234453.

Lazy Wednesday Cambridge Car Boot can be found at the back of the Histon FC car park every Wednesday. Come down or book at pitch on 07899857703.

The Salvation Army Care and Share shop in the High Street is looking for new helpers who can spare a couple of hours a week to help with sorting new items which are donated. For more information pop into the shop or contact Flory Ringer on (01223) 235840.

Waterbeach

Contact: Maggie Crane 12 Mill Road, Waterbeach (01223) 440560 Email: maggie.mcikeha @yahoo.co.uk

WATERBEACH Independent Lending Library hosted a successful Storytime session on Monday, March 11, working in conjunction with the Dolphin Children’s Centre. All the children enjoyed the stories and the characters, the library was filled with children’s voices joining in with the Gruffalo and other stories. Many thanks to Sharon Stevens from the Dolphin Childrens Centre.

Waterbeach Independent Library will be celebrating World Book Night 2013 in the Library on Tuesday, April 23, 7-9.30pm, where there will be free books, refreshments, and good company.

The museum set up at Waterbeach Barracks by the Royal Engineers in 1985 has been saved by a group of villagers. They have established a Trust called Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum and ownership of all the photographs, documents and artefacts has been passed to this body. The contents of the museum have been packed up and are being safely stored in the village, until a new venue can be found. The present volunteer Curator, Oliver Merrington, will continue his role in researching, and answering enquiries. His email is: rafwaterbeach. museum@gmail.com. The museum was set up to commemorate the men and woman who served at RAF Waterbeach Station from its opening in 1941 until 1966 when the Army – 39 Royal Engineer Regiment – took over the airfield, also those in the Royal Engineers from 1966 onwards until the Barracks closes permanently on March 31.

Waterbeach Bowls Club has, over the last three years, managed to climb two divisions of the Cambridge and District Bowls League, finishing sixth in Division 1 at the end of the 2012 season.

This is a huge achievement for a small club and we would love to recruit some new players to enable us to do even better in 2013. It’s great to spend an evening on the green at the recreation ground in Waterbeach to compete against teams from the area and to participate in return matches.

The 2013 season starts in mid-April and runs to the end of August. Please consider joining – beginners and more experienced players will be warmly welcomed. For more information please call Tony Reuben (01223) 861001.