Husband and wife duo rebrand street food business to incorporate traditional live-fire cooking and smoked BBQ
A husband and wife duo have rebranded their long-standing street food business to incorporate traditional live-fire cooking and barbecue smoked meats.
Alexandru and Liene Savu are the founders of Mr & Mrs Smoke, which originally launched under the name of Laura’s Kitchen back in 2016.
Having initially specialised in Romanian street food, the business has recently taken a new direction to add to the offering and evolve with the demand among the Northampton community.
The pair have invested in a large Santa Maria charcoal grill and traditional wood-burning smokers to cook with real charcoal and natural wood. Their menu now includes smoked meats, barbecue, grilled dishes and traditional Romanian food, all prepared with a strong focus on authentic cooking methods.
Alexandru’s mother Laura is a talented cook of Romanian food, which was always admired by friends and this encouraged them to launch the family-run business in 2016. The aim was to serve the Romanian community and encourage others to try it for the first time.
“We don’t want to forget where we came from,” said Liene. “But we want to try something different and grow. After Covid, there have been ups and downs and we’ve been trying to find what we could introduce. It’s a mixture of eastern European food now.
“We have roots in Hungary too and have travelled a lot. We have experience with food and thought let’s bring something new. We’ve invested a lot of money in the equipment and we want to do private events and markets. Serving the Romanian community is not enough to survive.”
Mr & Mrs Smoke is located in the car park of Domino’s Pizza on Horseshoe Street in Northampton town centre, but they can move the food trailer to attend events and private bookings.
Existing customers have shown excitement for the new menu items, including large platters, and the team want to continue doing their best for loyal visitors who have kept them going.
“We’re very friendly and family based,” said Alexandru. “Customers can get proper smoked, charcoaled and homemade food. We want to see more people around the UK at food festivals and show off our smokers.
“Mr & Mrs Smoke is where smoke makes a difference, and we want to keep the same quality and passion for family that we started with in 2016.”