There’s something quietly extraordinary about a Cardiff street food trader walking into one of the UK’s most prestigious culinary ceremonies and walking out with the top prize. But then, Keralan Karavan has never done things the expected way.
Chef Krish “Pankaj Krishnan” – the Indian-born, Cardiff-adopted cook who has spent a decade feeding Wales from a 3m x 3m street food gazebo – was named Street Food Chef of the Year at the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards on Wednesday 10th June. Often described as the Oscars of the professional kitchen, the Awards celebrate craft, originality, and excellence across the full breadth of the British food industry. To win one is to be judged worthy by your peers.
Krish founded Keralan Karavan in Cardiff in 2015, driven not by a business plan but by something more personal: the desire to share the food of his heritage with the city he’d made his home. Wales, it turned out, was ready to be wooed – by coconut and tamarind, black pepper and curry leaf, the warmth of the Malabar coast arriving on a rainy Cardiff afternoon. The flavours of Kerala found a deeply loyal audience. Dishes like the Raj Burger, the Bombay Tikka Taco, and the cult-favourite Disco Fries became fixtures at festivals and markets across the country, the kind of food people talk about on the drive home.
The connection between Wales and the Indian subcontinent runs deeper than most people realise. Cardiff’s Tiger Bay was home to one of Britain’s earliest South Asian communities, and the city has long been shaped by the cultures that arrived at its docks. Keralan Karavan is, in its own way, part of that ongoing conversation. A business that carries the spices and stories of Kerala into Welsh life and sends something back in return.
The Craft Guild award follows a string of recognised successes: Welsh Street Food Awards Champion in 2021, Best Sandwich and People’s Choice at the British Street Food Awards, and a longstanding presence on BBC Wales Radio and national television, where Krish has consistently championed the street food community. But this one, he says, feels different.
“Winning a Craft Guild of Chefs Award is an absolute dream come true,” said Krish. “We started Keralan Karavan over ten years ago in Cardiff simply out of a love for sharing the vibrant flavours of my heritage. To be recognised by the industry at this level, while staying true to our roots and our community in Wales, is incredibly humbling.”
Ten years in, Keralan Karavan is still growing – through festivals, supper clubs, collaborations, and a community that has made the brand its own. The business is proof that street food, done with genuine conviction, is more than a meal. It’s a bridge between worlds. In this case, between Kerala and Cardiff – and now, officially, between the street and the summit of British culinary life.
