Reporter Darcie Rawlings and her partner headed to Exhibition Park in Newcastle to try out Wylam Brewery and 44 Events plant based food festival - Flower Power.

The event sees local vendors take a greener approach offering vegan and vegetarian cuisine, as they each battle to be crowned Flower Power festival winner.

The Northern Echo: Exhibition Park in Newcastle to try out Wylam Brewery's Flower Power food festival

Wylam Brewery’s food battles have become increasingly popular events in the North East seeing local street food vendors and kitchens battle it out in burger, Mexican, pizza and Indian-themed food festivals.

As part of the event attendees must purchase tokens at a kiosk opposite the entrance of the Brewery. Each token is £4 allowing attendees to purchase items from the stalls that are located outside of the building.

The Northern Echo: DJ stage featuring Steven Dunn at Wylam Brewery

Seating options varied at the venue with benches located outside beside the vendors or inside where there was a DJ playing mashups of popular hits. The inside space filled up extremely quickly as the evening progressed so we would recommend arriving early to secure a table.

There were tons of vendors at the event, and we didn’t manage to try them all but certainly made a good go of it, it’s safe to say there were plenty of leftovers to take home.

Here is everything we tried at their Flower Power food festival on Friday (January 26).

InBread 

The Northern Echo: The Soy Dawg by InBread contained siracha glazed greens and gochujang mayo with crunchy edamame

The InBread truck was another popular food truck at this event and had a great variety of plant based hot dogs. We went for the Soy Dawg which contained siracha glazed greens and gochujang mayo with crunchy edamame beans. This option was far better than any other hot dog I’ve had with interesting flavours and a great balance of spice and crunch, this was a great steal for one token.

Saving Nemo

The Northern Echo: The Cajun Prawns from Saving Nemo

With many award wins and nominations under their belt I had high expectations for Saving Nemo, with plant based takes on traditional dishes you would find at your local chippy like battered sausage, fish and chips and more. We chose the Cajun prawns for one token, which didn’t quite have the flavour of a real prawn but was close in texture and had a great balance of spicy and sweet paired with their mango sauce. Overall, this was definitely an impressive alternative, Saving Nemo did in fact live up to their accolades and I would certainly visit their stall again.

Scream for Pizza

The Northern Echo: Pizza slices Truffle Shuffle and Bombetta from Scream For Pizza

Scream for Pizza is a North East favourite and didn’t disappoint with their vegan pizza slices at the Flower Power festival. Offering two small slices of pizza for one token those attending were able to sample both pizzas at the food truck which were the Truffle Shuffle and Bombetta. The Truffle Shuffle was a classic truffle flavoured pizza with a white base and the Bombetta was a spicy aubergine and tomato pizza that really packed a punch.

Scranners Arms

The Northern Echo: The Radgie Fricken Burger from Scranners Arms

The kitchen to popular Shieldfield pub, The Scranners Arms attended the event boasting a menu of salt and pepper loaded fries for two tokens and a burger for one token - both were an absolute steal considering the portion sizes. Easily the most popular food stall of the evening, Scranners Arms had the longest wait time but the Radgie Fricken burger was worth the wait. Containing a salt and pepper vegan chicken alternative with peppers and onions, siracha and hoisin sauce topped with spring onion and sesame seeds it was a great flavour combination and one we recommend!

Doughville Desserts

The Northern Echo: Chocolate and cinnamon sugar churros from Doughville Desserts

Doughville Desserts were serving up vegan churros at Flower Power this year with flavours such as lotus Biscoff and cinnamon sugar. We went for the chocolate churros which were cinnamon sugar churros drizzled with chocolate. This vegan take on a classic was a great sweet option at the event, and while the portions might have been a little small for one token they still had great flavour and plenty of toppings.

Northumberland Coffee

With plant-based milk alternatives, Northumberland Coffee's oat milk latte was super creamy and delicious. You also didn’t need tokens to buy from this stall meaning you could even just pop along grab a coffee to take on a walk to Exhibition Park.

Flip n’ Fast 

The Northern Echo: Salted caramel mini crepe from Flip n’ Fast

At Flip n’ Fast you could grab a mini crepe for one token or a loaded crepe for two, all with different flavour options such as chocolate, salted caramel or strawberry. We went for the mini salted caramel crepe which had a great balance of sweet and salty, although it could’ve had a bit of extra sauce inside, this is a great option for a sweet treat at the festival.

Beanie Bun

The Northern Echo: The Oi Oi Oyster Burger from Beanie Bun

Saving the best until last Beanie Bun was our favourite vendor of the evening! We tried the Oi Oi Oyster Burger which was a combination of fried oyster mushroom, lettuce, pickles, and mustard mayo, which gave a great balance of flavours without any component overpowering the crispy light taste of the mushroom. For two tokens this burger was huge and had to be divided in half. Beanie Bun was our winner of the festival!

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Overall, we think Wylam Brewery, 44 events and all the local vendors have excelled at the Flower Power food festival.

If you are hoping to try something new this event is perfect for all ages, is dog-friendly and free to attend, and make sure to look out for more food festivals hosted by Wylam Brewery throughout the year.

Flower Power festival continues serving food at Wylam Brewery on Saturday, January 27 from 12pm until 10:30pm.