Reporter James Vukmirovic tries out the new spud van Streat Spuds, in Dudley town centre.
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00:00Welcome to Dudley. This is Old Tom's Donuts. It's one of the leading parts of the food scene here in Dudley.
00:07It's a stall that's very popular, has lots of people coming in from all over the country.
00:11One place that's now started up next to it, which is not a competitor but a companion of that, is Street Spuds.
00:17It's owned and run by Nicola Westwood, who is currently serving at the moment.
00:22You can smell, you can't get this on camera, but you can smell it and the smell is absolutely wonderful.
00:28So we'll speak to Nicola in just a second.
00:31So Nicola, tell us a bit about the place, tell us about how you got started.
00:34I started working on the Old Tom's Donuts stand, which is next door, and then I thought I'd give it a go running my own business.
00:41Was potatoes always a thing that you were interested in running?
00:43Yeah, it's something everybody's interested in.
00:47And how long is it since you've set up?
00:49Our first day was last Monday, so we've been here a week so far.
00:54And what's the level of interest been like since you started?
00:56It's been massive. It's been busy every day, we've been selling out of potatoes every day, so it's a massive hit round here.
01:03Sounds like a bit of a silly question, but what is the secret to a good potato?
01:10You can't beat it out of one of these ovens. Nice and mushy on the inside, loads of butter.
01:16Sort of cooked properly, with good ingredients to go with it as well?
01:19Yeah.
01:20Are the ingredients all locally sourced?
01:22All locally sourced. Chilli con carne is one of my favourites.
01:27Well, I was going to ask about that. While we're here, could I have a chilli con carne, please?
01:31Yeah. With cheese?
01:34Yes, please. Why not? Make it all good.
01:39See there, all coming out of the oven.
01:43Are those ovens sort of standards for what you would do here?
01:48Yeah, they're standard. I think we need two of them, really, for how busy it gets.
01:53Because this is the thing, we came here earlier to talk about this, but then we found out that the place had actually sold out of spuds and they were making new ones.
02:01Yeah.
02:02This probably tells you about the popularity of the place. The Lunchtime Rush, I suppose you'd call it?
02:05Yeah. Between 12 and 1, we get a lot of people and we sell out fast.
02:11Are you having butter, salt and pepper?
02:12Yes, please.
02:14You can see there, nice, big, plump potato. Fluffy on the inside.
02:21Yeah, nice and mushy.
02:23And all the good stuff to go with it as well.
02:29It's one of those things where you're looking at this and you're calling it your lunch.
02:32It's also just a work of art as well because it smells.
02:35It's enough to fill you up for tea as well.
02:37Well, I'm hoping that will be the case anyway.
02:39Yeah.
02:40And where did the name Street Spuds come from, particularly with the eat at the end?
02:45Me and my husband were deciding on a name and we thought it's better to have the eat in Street because it sounds better.
02:51And do you feel that in a way you're sort of taking over Dudley because you've got this in the doughnut stall?
02:55Yeah, because a lot of people already know me around here from doing the doughnuts.
03:00And was it a surprise to them when they walked in and they went, oh, you're doing spuds now?
03:04Yeah, but a lot of people already knew because we had the toys on our down break anyway, which we have a big following for.
03:11Let's just take a look at the taste there before we call it off.
03:14I've got to say, that is a work of art.
03:17Just seeing the chilli oozing on the outside.
03:21I look forward to tucking into that in a minute.
03:25And what are your hopes, just to be as successful as you can be?
03:28Just to do well and give everybody a good service, some good food.
03:33Because Dudley's a good area in terms of food and lunchtime options, isn't it?
03:37Yes, there's a lot of food sites around here to contend with.
03:42But world domination for yourself?
03:45Yeah, hopefully one day.
03:47Well, this is like one of those unveiling videos that you do.
03:50I've got my jacket spud in here with cheese and chilli con carne.
03:54So let's open it up, let's have a look and let's have a taste.
03:57Because I'm a person who likes a good bit of chilli.
03:59I think it's been established that I like eating hot things.
04:02So let's work our way through all of the tin foil.
04:07You can see already there, a lovely bit of chilli poking out the outside.
04:11Let's get that open, let's get that open and then let's just see that.
04:15And that looks absolutely phenomenal.
04:18Let's poke it in, a bit of the chilli.
04:22Poke it in, a bit of the potato, a bit of the cheese, a bit of the chilli.
04:26Right, so that lovely bit of cheese sort of coming off the end there.
04:35Ooh, that is, yeah, that is really good.
04:37Lovely, lovely tangy chilli, the cheese works really nicely
04:40and lovely fluffy potatoes to go with it.
04:43Just make sure that this is a potato from Street Eats.
04:47Please come here. Potatoes cost £3.50 for a plain potato, £4 for one filling
04:54and £4.95 for a second filling plus additional fillings along the way.
04:59You can get chilli con carne, you can get cheese, beans, chicken curry,
05:03minced beef and onions, tuna mayo and coleslaw.
05:06So come on down and have a spud.