Hooked on Food Hut – Wickford's Weekend Seafood Secret
Mobile hot & cold seafood stall • 82 Runwell Road, Wickford, Essex SS11 7HJ •
Quick take: Hooked on Food Hut is a brilliant weekend seafood stall in Wickford, Essex — serving fresh cockles, mussels, rollmops, seafood platters, hot battered seafood, fish finger ciabattas, and proper pie & mash, all from a gleaming mobile trailer on Runwell Road. If you grew up eating seafood at a market stall, this will stop you in your tracks. If you didn't — this is where you start.
⏰ Saturday: 11am – 6pm | Sunday: 10am until sold out
📍 Location: Construction House, 82 Runwell Road, Wickford, Essex SS11 7HJ
📞 Phone orders: +44 7768 856041
📸 Instagram: @hookedonfoodhut
The Seafood Stall That Wickford Needed
There's something deeply satisfying about a proper British seafood stall. No white tablecloths, no tasting menus, no sommeliers — just incredibly fresh shellfish, a confident operator, and a queue of people who clearly know what they're doing. Hooked on Food Hut is exactly that, parked up on Runwell Road in Wickford, Essex, every weekend and ready to do serious damage to your appetite.
The operation is run with real care. The range spans everything from classic cold shellfish — cockles, mussels, whelks, brown shrimp, shell-on prawns — through to dressed crab, rollmops, jellied eels, and lobster tails. Then there's a full hot food menu running alongside it: battered seafood platters, chicken wings, fish finger ciabattas, fish and chips, and a proper pie and mash service that would not look out of place in East London.
We turned up on a Saturday afternoon, worked our way through an embarrassing quantity of cockles and mussels, and left extremely happy. Here's everything you need to know.
What's On Offer – The Full Menu
The display cabinet alone is worth a visit. Platters are built to order and sit wrapped and gleaming in the chilled counter — an abundance of crab claws, shell-on prawns, crayfish, mussels, and more. The medium platter at £24 is spectacular value for two people grazing through a lazy afternoon.
🐚 Fish & Shellfish
| Item | ½ Pint | Full Pint |
|---|---|---|
| Cockles | £4.50 | £8.00 |
| Mussels | £4.50 | £8.00 |
| Shell on Prawns | £4.50 | £8.00 |
| Whelks | £4.50 | £8.00 |
| Brown Shrimp | £4.50 | £8.00 |
| Peeled Prawns | Small £4.50 | Large £8.00 | |
| Crayfish | Small £4.50 | Large £8.00 | |
| Jellied Eels | Small £4.50 | Large £8.50 | |
| Crevettes | £1 each or 6 for £5.00 | |
| Crabsticks | 25p each or 5 for £1.00 | |
| Ocean Pinx | 60p each or 4 for £2.00 | |
| Lobster Tails | £2.50 each or 3 for £7.00 | |
| Rollmops | £2.00 each | |
| Dressed Crab | Check board for prices | |
🥗 Cold Food & Sandwiches
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Seafood Platter | From £12.50 |
| Seafood Platter Medium | £24.00 |
| Small Dressed Crab | £6.00 |
| Prawn Cocktail Sandwich with seafood sauce & lettuce | £5.50 |
| Seafood Mixed Sandwich with seafood sauce & lettuce | £5.50 |
| Side Salad | £3.00 |
| Extra Sauce Pots | 50p |
| Bread & Butter | £1.00 |
🔥 Hot Food
The hot food menu runs alongside the cold counter and it is genuinely impressive for a mobile unit. The battered seafood platter is the headline act — a mix of Tempura Prawns, Coconut Prawn, Squid in Salt and Pepper, and Crab Claws. You can order 8 pieces of the same item, 8 mixed pieces, or go for the group platter deal.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Hot Battered Seafood — 8 pieces same item | £7.50 |
| Hot Battered Seafood — 8 mixed pieces | £7.50 |
| Platter for 5 (buy 4 get 1 free) | £30.00 |
| Chicken Wings — BBQ, Peri Peri or Plain, with small salad, spring onions, chilli, parsley, jalapeños & crispy onions | £6.50 |
| Fish Fingers Ciabatta — served with mushy peas & tartar sauce or lettuce & tartar sauce | £7.00 |
| Fish Fingers Ciabatta with Cheese | £7.50 |
| Fish Fingers, Chips & Mushy Peas | £8.50 |
| Scallop, Bacon, Chorizo, Parsley & Garlic Butter Ciabatta | £7.50 |
| Bacon Sandwich | £5.50 |
| Portion of Chips | £3.00 |
🥧 Pie & Mash with Liquor or Gravy
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| 1 Pie & 1 Mash | £6.00 |
| 1 Pie & 2 Mash | £6.50 |
| 2 Pie & 1 Mash | £9.00 |
| 2 Pie & 2 Mash | £10.00 |
🍰 Something Sweet
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Homemade Cake | £2.50 a slice |
☕ Drinks
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Tea / Coffee | £1.50 |
| Cans / Water | £1.50 |
What We Ate – Cockles, Mussels & Rollmops
We started with a full pint of cockles. They arrived plump and generously portioned, with the clean, briny freshness that tells you these haven't been sitting around. A dash of vinegar, a crack of pepper, and they were gone embarrassingly fast. Cockles at £8 a full pint is outstanding value — this is the kind of portion that would cost you twice as much at a London market.
The mussels followed and they were superb. Meaty, fresh, and loaded with that orange-golden colour that signals proper quality. We went for a full pint between two and it was the right call. Served cold in the traditional British shellfish stall style — no sauce, no fuss — and all the better for it. This is honest food that trusts its ingredients.
The rollmops were the standout surprise. At just £2.00 each, these are proper pickled herring — sharp, vinegary, and intensely flavoured. The rollmop is one of those foods that divides opinion sharply, but if you're in the camp that loves them, these will not disappoint. The wife was not in that camp. More for me.
Pie & Mash — A Proper East End Tradition
The pie and mash menu at Hooked on Food Hut deserves a special mention. Served with liquor or gravy, starting at £6 for one pie and one mash, this is comfort food done with real respect for the tradition. If you want to explore the broader pie and mash scene across Essex and beyond, we've put together a full guide to the best pie and mash restaurants — essential reading for anyone serious about this British classic.
Love Seafood in Essex? Try The Essex Oyster Company
If Hooked on Food Hut has whet your appetite for serious Essex seafood and you want to take things upmarket for a special occasion, we'd strongly recommend heading to The Essex Oyster Company at No.10 Restaurant in Basildon. It's a genuinely impressive operation — proper oysters, a full seafood menu, and a dining experience that punches well above its Essex postcode. The two experiences couldn't be more different in style, but they share the same commitment to quality shellfish. Consider doing both on the same weekend.
When to Go & How to Order
⏰ Saturday: 11am – 6pm
⏰ Sunday: 10am until sold out — and it does sell out, so don't sleep in.
📞 Phone ahead: +44 7768 856041 — phone orders welcome, especially for platters and pie & mash.
📍 Find them at: Construction House, 82 Runwell Road, Wickford, Essex SS11 7HJ
📸 Follow on Instagram: @hookedonfoodhut for specials and updates.
⚠️ Please inform a member of staff of any food allergies.
A word of practical advice: if you are planning to order one of the larger seafood platters or a pie and mash spread for a group, call ahead on +44 7768 856041. The team are friendly, efficient, and will make sure everything is ready when you arrive. Turning up on Sunday mid-morning and watching them run out of stock while you're still in the queue is a pain worth avoiding.
Hooked on Food Hut is the kind of find that makes a weekend in Essex genuinely worth planning around. Get there early on Sunday. Bring cash. Order more than you think you need. You won't regret it.