One’s an internet sensation, the other is a Nottingham institution
SpudBros has arrived – but how does it compare to the city’s favourite?
Who doesn’t love a baked potato? As temperatures cool, a hot spud with lashings of butter is far more enticing than a sandwich at lunchtime.
After Nottingham welcomed SpudBros Express at a site near Trent Bridge earlier this year, I wanted to see how they matched up against my go-to jacket spud potato van in the city centre, Dinner Jackets in St Peter’s Square.
Here’s how I got on:
SpudBros Express
The first customers camped out from 2.30am — more than eight hours before the viral sensation opened at a petrol station, EG on the Move, in June. As the day progressed, customers waited for hours in the blazing heat for a spud.
Now that all the hype has died down, I walked straight up to the counter at the site, in London Road, and was served straight away. Promising the ‘greatest spuds on earth’, the prices start at £5 for a classic spud with garlic butter.
All the usual toppings are there — cheese and beans, coleslaw, and chewna (eh? Oh, they mean tuna), plus specialities, garlic chilli chicken and salt and pepper chicken. I ordered The Spudfather Chilli for an eye-watering £10.50.
Obviously, TikTok stars, brothers Jacob and Harley Nelson, from Lancashire, weren’t behind the counter, but the guy serving me was chatty and friendly, asking if it was my first visit and telling me it was very busy on football days.
Unfortunately, he forgot that I’d asked for no coriander, so he had to start over. There are a couple of tables for eating in, but I took it back to my car.
When you remove it from a branded brown paper carrier bag, it’s not like the average sloppy-looking jacket potato; it’s attractively presented in a branded cardboard bowl.
There’s plenty of spud, two medium-sized potatoes, which are fluffy inside, but the skins aren’t crispy. The highlight for me is the chilli, which doesn’t shy away from spiciness.
And with the jalapenos on top, I’m getting the sweats, so the sour cream helps to cool me down. The crispy onion adds a bit of crunch, but I’m not enamoured with the ‘famous’ tram sauce, a spicy orange mayo, which tastes overwhelmingly sweet.
If there’s one disappointment, it’s the cheese… or lack of. I had been asked if I wanted to double up on it, but that would have added another £1.50 onto the price, so I declined. While I was expecting gooey stretchy cheese, it’s as if it had never existed after blending into the chilli.
Dinner Jackets
The van near M&S has been a Nottingham fixture for as many years as I can remember. It’s not big on social media with one post and 36 followers on Instagram compared to Spud Bros’ 5.5m fans on TikTok.
Nor has American superstar Will Smith ever swung by for a potato in Nottingham… as far as we know.
But Dinner Jackets doesn’t need to be a viral sensation, thanks to its long-standing presence in the city centre, which brings queues of customers every lunchtime.
I’m fortunate that it’s just a few minutes from the Nottingham Post office, so it’s the ideal location for a hot, filling lunch.
As expected, there’s a small queue, but it doesn’t take long for the people in front of me to be served. A spud with one, two or three fillings is £6 with a choice including cheese, beans, chicken curry, beef and onions, tuna mayo and pineapple.
Last year, the business was taken over by new people. The lady serving me strikes up a conversation about what I’ve got in my shopping bag (a wedding anniversary gift), so we get chatting about the length of our marriages.
I come away with a plain recyclable container wrapped in tinfoil, but I’m not bothered about fancy branding. The large spud wouldn’t win any prizes for presentation, but it would for the sheer amount of topping, almost spilling out of the tray.
It’s run-of-the-mill catering-style chilli, but it leaves a pleasant warmth in my mouth, and I’m very happy with the cheese that stretches from the spud as I dig in. The garlic butter is plentiful too, just how I like it, making the potato lovely and soft.
Verdict
Jacob and Harley Nelson seem like lovely lads, and their social media videos are entertaining, but they are what make SpudBros so popular rather than the potatoes themselves.
While I enjoyed the taste of chilli and appreciated its quality, I can’t justify spending £10.50 on a spud, not even one with all the bells and whistles.
To me, a baked potato is humble and simple, yet hearty and comforting. When I ask for cheese, I want to see cheese.
For value-for-money and cheesiness, Dinner Jackets has to be my winner.
