Food fusion festival will have a real Pex Appeal

The keen chefs have their own individual mobile food businesses which they take around popular events but have now teamed up for a series of Saturday night events throughout February at the Three Wise Monkeys in Colchester High Street.

Paul Hagger, who is behind street food favourite Mex Appeal and Nathan Grinham and Jessie Brown, who together own and run Peck, will merge to become Pex Appeal.

As a a result they have carefully merged their menus to create a Mexican flavoured array of friend chicken-based treats, which Peck provide to hungry customers on a regular basis.

Nathan and his girlfriend Jessie met while working for a popular independent burger restaurant in Colchester about two years ago and having learned the trade, including running an outside catering stall, they decided to set up on their own.

Nathan says they chose chicken as their main ingredient as this was their go to late night snack after a night out.

He says : "But we found it quite hard to find exactly what we wanted, with the right flavours, nearby and decided to work on coming up with something we would want to buy ourselves."

Peck was born and has not looked back - appearing at festivals including the Colchester Food & Drink Festival last summer.

Paul and his business partner Leith Salha were both old friends of Nathan and had also learned the street food trade serving up burgers across the country.

He says it came to a point where they decided they wanted to do their own venture.

"We all pretty much decided at similar times we needed to go out on our own.

"For me Mexican food was a pretty easy choice because it is fun and and there are a lot of different flavours and obscure ingredients you can use.

"And it is just so popular right now, really up and coming," he explains.

He and Leith, a chef at Bills in Colchester, launched Mex Appeal just a few months ago but, like Peck, are already booked up for the food and drink circuit this summer.

Jessie explains the idea for the month long residency with their friends at Mex Appeal came about after they were initially approached late last year with a view to hosting a Christmas party.

"After a lot of back and forth with the venue we all decided that the project was good enough to expand in to whole month's worth of events," she adds.

The quartet promise the collaboration will include a unique spin on their trademark Mexican and fried chicken styles by curating a fusion menu consisting of Chicken Burgers, Tacos, Loaded Nachos and vegan options.

Nathan, says of the planned menu they have come up with : "We have spent the last few months testing various recipes alongside the Mex Appeal guys and we're over the moon with the results.

"Although we don't want to give too much away, we are certain we have created something completely unique for people to try."

This includes the Lovechild Burger which combines Jessie and Nathan's Buttermilk Fried Chicken with the Mexican flavours of roasted red pepper, mayo, nachos, double Cheese, jalapeno and Pico De Gallo.

The three Wise Monkeys is also entering into the collaborative spirit of the takeover.

Its brewing arm, Other Monkey Brewing, has been working alongside Peck and Mex Appeal to create two exclusive craft beers which will only be available from the bar throughout February.

Paul says : "Working alongside Peck was inevitable.

"We are all close friends and have shared an interesting journey in the street food world over the last couple of years.

"With both businesses relatively new, we wanted to create a showcase for the skills we have accumulated along the way.

" A lot of credit has to be given to the Three Wise Monkeys for understanding our vision and we're now counting down the days until we can get stuck in."

Pex Appeal launches on February 3 at the Three Wise Monkeys and will run for each Saturday for the rest of the month.

Food will be served from 8pm until late and although booking is not essential, tables can be reserved by calling the venue directly.