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North East food favourites join forces for new taste of summer

Food fans across the North East are getting ready for a taste of the future after news broke of a unique collaboration between two regional trailblazers.

Colmans Fish and Chips and Meat:Stack are fusing the old with the new as one of Tyneside’s longest-established family restaurants joins forces with Newcastle’s beloved burger creators.

For one month only, visitors to Meat:Stack will be able to wrap their tastebuds around the limited-edition Hot Fish Sandwich.

And the latest mouthwatering creation from the award-winning Meat:Stack team will be served alongside salt and vinegar chips, fresh stottie and curry sauce.

“We’ve spent years obsessing over burgers and sandwiches — how they eat, the balance of flavours, textures and making sure every ingredient earns its place,” explains Charlie Mair, co-founder and Operations Director at Meat:Stack.

“Colmans bring more than 100 years of knowledge when it comes to fish and chips, so being able to take that experience and combine it with the way we approach a sandwich has been brilliant.

“The Hot Fish Sandwich is exactly what we want from a collaboration like this — familiar enough that you immediately want to eat it but different enough that you couldn’t get it from either of us normally.”

Colmans are ramping up this year’s centenary celebrations as the fifth-generation South Shields-based family business marks 100 years at their world-famous Ocean Road restaurant.

The award-winning fish and chip firm are the subject of a new exhibition at South Shields Library.

And last week saw Colmans confirm work is underway to create a new coastal village adjacent to the hugely popular Seafood Temple at Sandhaven.

“The guys at Meat:Stack never stand still and we love that they’re always looking to reinvent the wheel,” said Dominic Colman Ord, Director at Colmans.

“All year we’ve been keeping an eye out for unique ways to celebrate our 100th anniversary and the Hot Fish Sandwich is a fantastic twist on a firm favourite

“Collaborating with another North East restaurant that shares our commitment to serving quality food and delivering outstanding customer service was too good an opportunity to turn down.

“Meat:Stack has a reputation for doing things differently — and doing things well — so we know this partnership’s going to be a huge success!”

Meat:Stack made their name on Newcastle’s Quayside Market as far back as 2016 and a decade of brilliant burger drops has been the talk of Tyneside.

Co-founders Charlie, Allan Hyslop and Tom Westman met growing demand with a move to the city’s Grainger Market before opening up a permanent Groat Market base.

In 2022 Meat:Stack opened its Leeds restaurant and earlier this year the team announced an emotional return to the Grainger Market — marking the first time the firm has been able to boast two Newcastle bases.

Creating a new menu with Colmans is bound to get the Meat:Stack faithful talking and Allan adds: “Colmans is one of those North East businesses that everyone knows but when you look a little deeper at what they’ve built over more than 100 years, it’s pretty incredible.

“As an independent business ourselves, there’s a huge amount of respect for that.

“We’ve always loved collaborations where both brands have a really strong identity and neither has to change who they are to make it work.

“This feels exactly like that — Colmans doing what they do brilliantly, Meat:Stack doing what we do and finding the bit in the middle where something new and exciting can happen.”

Colmans diners in 2026 include HRH The Princess Royal and TV historian David Olusoga and the family is currently putting the finishing touches to its new Village Café acquisition in Whitburn.

Collaborating with Meat:Stack represents another landmark moment in the business’s centenary year and Director Richard Colman Ord adds: “The North East needs independent hospitality to be a success and this is something we’ve been keen to do for some time.

“We’ve really enjoyed getting to know Charlie, Allan and Tom and we all share the same ethos when it comes to creating special experiences around food.

“This is a great opportunity to celebrate two staples of the region’s buoyant food scene and prove that there are always new ways to enjoy the nation’s favourite.

Meat:Stack starts serving the Hot Fish Sandwich from Friday [August 21] with the new menu — including complementary iced tea cocktails and mocktails — officially launched at Fenwick the previous day.

“We started out as a tiny independent business in the North East, so to be working alongside a family business that has survived and thrived here for generations is pretty special for us,” adds Meat:Stack’s Managing Director Tom.

“The region has a brilliant independent food scene and I think collaborations like this show what can happen when established institutions and newer businesses work together rather than operating in their own lanes.

“Hopefully it gives people another reason to get excited about eating out in the region.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Rushworth .