The wurst can happen… boom in the gourmet hot dog trend

 
Serious sausage: one of the gourmet hot dogs on offer at Bubbledogs
Danny Buckland19 May 2014

Unlicensed hot dog carts were banished from London’s streets in the Nineties. Now bangers are back — but they’ve gone gourmet.

There has been a rise in the number of firms looking to open hot dog restaurants across the capital.

It follows the success of upmarket burger outlets and Bubbledogs, a restaurant in Fitzrovia which sells hot dogs and £6 glasses of champagne.

Morris Greenberg, of property lease specialists Cedar Dean Gilmarc, said: “Hot dogs have been transformed from the plastic fodder that was served up at seafronts, football grounds or from street carts. We are getting a stream of inquiries from companies looking to open hot dog restaurants across the centre of London.”

London was once plagued by unlicensed hot dog carts selling sub-standard and unhygienic food.

Some street corners generated £1,000-a-day sales, with the Royal Parks Constabulary reporting violent turf wars between organised gangs. After one fight, near Buckingham Palace, an illegal worker was taken to hospital with head wounds.

Westminster council launched a crackdown in the Nineties, destroying at least 600 metal carts.

Mr Greenberg said: “They used to be a blight on London and put many people off hot dogs for life. But the new, upmarket hot dogs have been steadily growing in popularity and we are chasing more outlets through 2014.”

Bubbledogs led the way with its breakthrough restaurant in Charlotte Street, which now attracts queues for tables. Herman Ze German, which has branches in Villiers Street and Old Compton Street, is also popular.

Sandia Chang, who opened Bubbledogs with her chef husband James Knappett in August 2012, said: “I think a lot of people were surprised because the last time they experienced hot dogs it was not very nice processed food.

“But we use 110 per cent beef or pork and it is a world away from the hot dogs of old. I think hot dogs will get even more popular and there will be more restaurants serving them.”

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