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Stewtopia brings something new to Gravesend's culinary scene

It’s time to save the planet and get healthy, but most importantly it’s time for lunch.

Husband and wife team Barrie and Denise Page have set out with the noble aim of achieving all three of these objectives, and you can help them simply by eating as much stew as possible from their new stall in Gravesend Borough Market.

The couple had always shared a keen interest in street food and after Barrie was made redundant from his job with a water treatment company – and Denise decided she wanted a change too – they took the plunge into a new world of stew.

Beef brisket stew is a specialty at Stewtopia
Beef brisket stew is a specialty at Stewtopia

As the name suggests there’s more to new street food start-up Stewtopia than simply cooking, and Barrie explained there was a wider ethos behind the business.

He said: “We were big fans of street food and we go to street food events whenever we can. Our motto is good food fast, not fast food. We want to provide nice fresh takeaway food, and we’re also very big on sustainability – all the packaging is compostable, even the forks. Everything we provide can go in the food waste bin.”

“Our evenings have always been spent cooking a meal and eating together so being able to do that every day is the dream.”

The couple’s signature dish is British Brisket stew, but they offer a wide range of other dishes from sausage stews to vegetable stews, sausage mash and gravy, macaroni cheese and hot toasted brioche sandwiches with a range of fillings. So far there has been positive feedback from customers and the stall has achieved five out of five under the Scores on the Doors food hygiene rating system.

Barry and Denise Page
Barry and Denise Page

“It’s going really well,” said Barrie. “We knew if we got our standards high then people would come back, and that’s happening. We’ve got lots of regular customers nd we’re delivering to lots of shops and businesses. We’ve also delivered to the Civic Centre and the Port of London Authority.”

Although the couple live in Maidstone, they could not find a suitable place until they saw a message on Twitter about a unit in Gravesend and quickly realised the borough market was the ideal base.

Barrie said: “We didn’t really know Gravesend before we came here but we have to say that the people are brilliant.”

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