A place I’ve noticed mentioned a lot on the Cambridge food van circuit lately is Pigcasso. Maybe it’s the fantastic name which made it pop in my memory more than the other food vans but it’s certainly a place which has a popular following either way.
The Haddenham Cherry Tree is a pub in the next village along from me and often hosts food vans, so when I heard that Pigcasso was visiting I had no choice but to swing by with my son and see what all the hype was about.
They have a good selection of burgers to choose from, from the classic Pulled Pork Butt to the Smokin Chicken burger. They even had a vegetarian option, the Bangin Bhaji.
Prices came to around £8, which is about standard for a burger in a restaurant. So I was looking forward to seeing what kind of burger I could get from a van which doesn’t have anywhere near the same overheads.
The staff were lovely and incredibly approachable. They waved us over and told us about their special – The Glazed Smoked Sausage (with sesame seeds). Naturally, we had to try this.
My son went for the Smokin Chicken burger and I had the Pulled Pork Butt. We also ordered some chips for good measure. The total came to around £25.
We were given a small device which vibrates and flashes when your food is ready. The range is good enough to reach the pub so you can have a swift pint while you wait. This is just as well, as it’s very popular and though it did not appear like there were many people waiting, there were lots of people waiting in their cars too. Our food took about 20 minutes, so I’d recommend popping into the Cherry Tree for a drink to stay out of the cold.
Once our food arrived we were told that we were allowed to eat the food in the pub, which was great for this post as it meant we could get photos in good light. The sausages were fantastic. For a side dish I thought they were a really decent portion.
My Pulled Pork Butt was excellent too. The texture of the burger was fantastic and it was incredibly juicy. The size was about as expected. Not huge, but a fair size.
What I notice with the cost is that you are almost certainly getting more meat for your money when compared to a restaurant and the quality is slightly higher too. This shows the power of the food van, as overhead costs are reduced to an absolute minimum and most of that gets passed onto you.
Better yet, you don’t have to travel into Cambridge or Ely to eat high quality food, as they come to you!
I tried to taste some of my son’s chicken burger but didn’t fancy losing a finger, so decided to ask him instead. His response was something along the lines of “Oh my god, dad! This is the best burger I’ve had in ages!”
He may only be 11 but gets around when it comes to food. He is acutely aware of the quality you’d expect from Herbies or Ed’s Easy Diner and he has told me that he prefers Pigcasso to this. I’ll leave it to you to decide from the pictures.
One thing which stood out in my memory is how Herbies tried to cram so much into it’s burger that it’s bun dissolved and collapsed in on itself. You don’t get that here. My burger bun was able to hold strong, despite the burger being incredibly succulent and juicy. This makes the entire experience significantly better, especially as a lot of people will be eating these on the go or in their car!
The chips were pretty good too. Crunchy on the outside and quite fluffy for thin chips.
I must admit, we were both impressed with our first visit and look forward to coming back again in the future. There was literally nothing to complain about from our visit and I personally thought that the quality was as high as the value.
I highly recommend!
Have you tried Pigcasso? Let us know what you think on the Cambridge Foodies Facebook group! Or better yet, get in touch with me and write a review for the blog yourself!
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