The Social & Kitchen by Chef Matei Baran opens its doors this weekend after transforming the old Pallion Workingmen’s Club in Waverley Terrace from its former guise as The Pickled Radish.

It’s the second venture in the city for the MasterChef, the Professionals 2018 quarter finalist who already owns Posh Street Food at Stack Seaburn.

The new restaurant will be serving his signature street food, such as ‘posh kebabs’, which he also serves at pop ups around the region, as well as quality classics such as burgers, a range of parmos, sharing boards, sandwiches, toasties and Sunday dinners.

It’s proved a popular brand for the chef who recently came third in the Northern heats of the British Streetfood Awards.

Speaking about how the new venture came about, Matei said: “I’d worked with the landlord of the building on an event and was looking for a new prep kitchen so he suggested I look at the one here. It’s a good size space where I can prep the food for Seaburn as well as for all the catering and events we do. Then he suggested we do the food at the restaurant here.

“It’s a really impressive building with a great history behind it and we wanted to give it some personality with a friendly space for families. We’ve kept it very fresh and not too high end. We’ll be taking it step by step and seeing what people want, we’re happy to adapt and change.”

Matei said: “It’s been an incredibly difficult two years of trading with Posh Street Food at Seaburn, but we were determined to weather the storm.

“The Social & Kitchen by Chef Matei Baran is something that we are extremely proud of and want to offer a warm, relaxed atmosphere to the people of Sunderland and surrounding areas.

“You need to watch this space though, as we have another project underway in North Shields, which we will be unveiling very soon.”

The Social & Kitchen will be serving food Monday to Saturday, 12 noon until 11pm and Sunday 12 noon until 10pm.

A bitesize version of the menu

::Steak burger with parmesan and chimchurri fries and spicy slaw – £11

::Classic parmo with three cheese sauce, spicy slaw and truffle parmesan fries – £12

::Southern fried chicken wrap with sriracha yoghurt, posh coleslaw and house salad – £6.50

::Ham, cheese and mustard mayo toastie with coleslaw and salad – £7

::Homemade chicken goujons from the kids menu – £4.50

::Small Pinot Grigio – £3.05

::Prosecco – £5.50

::Decent Days and Nights craft beer – £4.50