Eating Delicious Meat at the Fire and Smoke Festival Maldon

[Ad- gifted experience] Food festivals are always something I enjoy going too! Bringing a bunch of different food stalls to one area, where I can walk around and pick exactly what I want, is the best way to eat food. The Fire and Smoke Festival is a food festival that focuses specifically on BBQ food, however I do feel it felt like a fantastic meat showcase, for those who like a variety of different meats. Dann and I went around trying a bunch of food at lunchtime and enjoyed a lot of the activities and shows they had!

Wings from Shwings

Dann and I are both huge fans of wings, so it’s one of the first things that we looked for at the Fire and Smoke Festival. As an American, I always look for decent wings in England. Shwings boasted a bunch of awards, decorating their entire food truck, so I was excited to see if their wings lived up to the name. We ended up getting two; Truffalo and SFC, which are pretty unique flavors. The Truffalo was their buffalo wings with a truffle blue cheese sauce. This was my absolute favorite wing! There was a lot of truffle flavor, a bit of heat but not too overpowering, and the wing itself was very crispy and delicious. Dann’s favorite was the SFC, which was Korean inspired. It had kimchi flavoring but wasn’t super spicy. The kewpie mayo added a sweet yet creamy note and was mixed in with the sauce nicely. I do wish these second wings were as crispy as the first, but both were fabulous.

Tacos from Meksikan

We also both love tacos, so wanted to have some! Meksikan had a variety of tacos and burritos, but we selected an order of the citrus chicken tacos, which had chicken marinated in a citrus sauce. The chicken itself was very flavorful and the corn tortillas were delicious. The salsa verde was very good and they honestly could have upsold us another to dip! There are some spice options but as we were getting citrus marinated chicken, we didn’t want to make the tacos spicy to enjoy the flavor.

Tria de Asado from The Banquet 1415

I am not sure I have ever had authentic food from Argentina, so when we saw the Tria de Asado, it looked so delicious we had to have it. There was quite a wait for this stand, but that was okay as we walked around and came back to pick it up. The meat on this stand was a little chewy for us, with most of it having a big bone, but the chimichurri really brought the flavors to the next level. The fries themselves, as this was meat topped fries, were so deliciously cooked and the chimichurri on them were fantastic.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

There was a stand that just sold chocolate covered strawberries or marshmallows, without any sort of name on it, where I did get some Belgium chocolate covered strawberries. These were really refreshing after a bunch of meaty dishes and the strawberries were nice and cold on the hot day. There were also a rolled ice cream stand and a milkshake stand, as well as a fudge stand, so you could get your sweet tooth fix here!

Cocktails from Beetle Juice Cocktails

The bar itself was always packed with a massive queue, but Dann and I found a little cocktail stand! I got the signature Beetle Juice Cocktail which had lychee, apple, lime and raspberry. You could really taste the lychee, which is always a surprise due to how subtle lychee can be. Dann got a Dark and Stormy, which he also said was good, very rum heavy. These were refreshing drinks that were nice and cold.

Other things to see and do at the Fire and Smoke Festival

There were lots to see at the Fire and Smoke Festival! When we first arrived, there was a band playing at the stage in the middle of the food area, which we listened to while we ate up our wings. This did switch over to a spicy wing eating competition, which was very fun to watch! On the other side of the festival, away from the food trucks, there were tons of different stalls of food related things. BBQ sauces, rubs, meal kits, cooking utensils and more. Many of the stalls were giving out free samples. There was also a huge demo area that were showcasing different grilling and BBQ techniques, so that you could learn how to smoke better or how to get your meat cooked perfectly.

A long line of individuals were also cooking around here, for the Great British BBQ Competition, and you could watch and see what they were up too. It was interesting seeing so many local BBQ joints and how they work, up close. At the back end of the Fire and Smoke Festival there was also a children’s fun fair, which would be fantastic for entertaining kids big and small. Dann and I went on our own as a date, but this festival is very family friendly and we will be returning again next year!

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!