Cambridge Street Collective: We tried 3 kitchens at Sheffield's huge new food hall and one was a clear winner

Europe’s ‘largest’ purpose-built food hall has finally opened in Sheffield city centre - and we’re pleased to say it was worth the wait.

Cambridge Street Collective is an amazing space, filled with delicious aromas and imaginative touches around every corner.

The grand opening this week felt like a major turning point in the ongoing transformation of the city centre, which will hopefully win over the doubters.

It’s a major destination which brings some much-needed vibrancy and life to the heart of the city, which has suffered so many blows in recent years with big shops like John Lewis and Debenhams closing.

When I visited with my partner and our two young children on the VIP launch night on Wednesday, May 22, there were many things we loved and inevitably a few we felt could be improved.

Stunning space

The space itself is stunning inside and out, and so well thought out.

Despite its enormous 1,200 capacity, it doesn’t feel overwhelming and there are lots of different areas to explore - from the roof terrace to the children’s play area with a huge sandpit and the dressing up station with all manner of funny hats and glasses to try on, which kept our young son amused for some time.

There were inevitably a few teething problems. Almost all the tables we tried were wobbly and none of the buzzers we used to order from three different vendors worked properly, but those are things which can easily be sorted and probably already have been.

The live music and dancing created a joyous atmosphere and while it won’t be like that every night, it shows the venue’s huge potential and there are so many exciting events already lined up there.

As for the food itself, the choice was a little overwhelming, with 20 vendors offering cuisines from around the globe, and a choice of well-stocked bars.

Hungry Buddha, Unit and Little Penang

We tried dishes from the gourmet burger joint Unit; Hungry Buddha, serving up classic Nepalese street food; and the Malaysian kitchen Little Penang.

One thing we found was that despite the huge selection of dishes to choose from at the food hall, the range of children’s options appeared to be fairly limited.

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From Unit, we ordered our son’s favourite mac ‘n’ cheese, along with some fries. I quite enjoyed the unusual tang to the mac ‘n’ cheese but it was perhaps a little too grown-up for our boy, while the fries were well cooked.

At little Penang, we tried the Penang char kuey teow noodle dish with chicken, which was fine but perhaps a little underwhelming on the flavour front.

Our clear favourite was Hungry Buddha, where we tried the paneer dosa, a savoury crispy crepe made from rice and lentils and filled with curried potato and paneer cheese, served with chutney and sambar.

The spices were spot on and the dosa itself was incredibly moreish. At £9.50, it felt like fairly good value too.

We’ll definitely be back, but we still have another 17 outlets to try at this fantastic new addition to Sheffield city centre.