Kracken Crumpets

Nothing excites me more than novel street food. Waffle Supreme was the first of them, with their sugar-pearl studded Belgian waffles. And earlier this year I happened across Posh Porridge at the Riccarton Farmer’s Market in Christchurch, who have transformed a food I’d previously loathed into a meal I still pine for months later. Naturally I am pleased to have discovered Kraken Crumpets loitering on the corner of Khyber Pass and Park Road. Naming your crumpet after a mythical sea monster seems an odd choice to me. Unless the name Kraken is some sort of secret code for ‘Yes, we have slipped crack into our crumpets.’ Ahh yes, it is all beginning to make sense.

The customised caravan is reminescent of Bikini Bottom with neon-coloured tentacles and bubbles painted on its roof. They offer a number of savoury and sweet options; on this crisp spring morning I plumped for the smoked salmon and cream cheese whilst Sam hit up a crumpet with apple crumble. Our crumpets were cooked fresh to order and came to us hot with a perfectly burnished bottom and with the warm aroma of yeast. Few things in life provide such comfort as a freshly cooked crumpet, fancy toppings or not. Both were thoroughly enjoyed (my friend Sam has already established himself as a regular) and I have my eye on the banana and salted caramel crumpet next time I’m near van.