We tried the £6.50 New York hot dog at the Bristol harbourside food market and it’s a ‘banger’

Malaysian comfort food, Tibetan dumplings and wood-fired pizzas are just three of the delicious global foods you can eat at the Harbourside market in Bristol each week.

This popular gathering of the city’s independent street food traders draws huge crowds on Wednesday and Thursday lunchtimes and all day at weekends.

Organised by Buoy Street Food, the food and drink stalls, which are located near Cascade Steps on the pedestrianised area between Anchor Road and Narrow Quay, face specially designed bench seating for around 100 people.

When the weather’s good, this alfresco quayside beer and food deck is the go-to hot spot for hungry sun-seekers.

Whether it’s rice bowls, burritos, nachos, pizzas, burgers, sausage rolls, cannoli and coffee, there really is something for all tastes and budgets.

To make it more of a festival atmosphere, there are even DJs some Sunday afternoons. During the week, the stalls attract plenty of local office workers looking for global dishes more interesting than their usual Tupperware box of homemade sandwiches but the weekends tend to be more families and tourists.

We visited on Sunday when the sun was blazing and large crowds had descended on the harbourside and city centre.

As is often the case when it comes to making a snap decision when faced with a range of food stalls, we simply chose the one with the biggest queue at the time.

On this occasion is was NYC Eats, a Bristol market regular serving a range of New York-style hot dogs (£6.50/£7) and Philly cheesesteaks (£9).

There was a bit of a wait due to the number of people in the queue but our Coney Island hot dog (£6.50) was ready in five minutes. But it was worth the wait.

With no tape measure to hand, it’s difficult to say quite how big the jumbo frankfurter was but it must have been 20cm long. It was certainly too big for the roll.

Piping hot, juicy, slightly smoky and with a proper twang and snap to it, it was a New York hot dog as good as any you would find on an Upper West Side street corner.

The bun was soft, the diced onions sweet and buttery, the dill pickle crunchy and the squiggles of ketchup and mustard just right - you knew it was there but it didn’t overpower the frankfurter.

Sitting in the sun looking down Cascade Steps towards the docks, it was an unplanned alfresco Sunday lunch with a difference and I’m already planning to go back and try the Philly cheesesteaks.

That’s if I’m not tempted by the aromas or lengthy queues at one of the other stalls at this irresistible street food port of call.

The harbourside food market is on Wednesdays and Thursdays (12noon-2.30pm) and Saturday/Sunday (11am-4pm).