StrEATFood Awards interview

What's your everyday role?
I am a chef manager. It’s a really interesting and varied role, encompassing everything from cooking to accounting to management.

We provide hospitality services for a large worldwide health insurer, catering for around 700 customers a day through breakfast and lunch in our restaurant. We also provide hospitality to 43 different rooms in the building and host events for internal and national customers of up to 300 people.

Does street food feature a lot on your menus?
Yes. We change our menu daily, focusing on seasonality, styles and menu balance. Out of 10 weekly dishes, at least six are street food inspired. This ensures that we reflect high-street trends and continually engage our customers.

We have also proved that street food doesn’t necessarily mean spicy. One of our best offers is a simple fish finger sandwich on our homemade sourdough bloomer with a pimped garden pea and chilli salsa and saffron tartar. It goes down a storm!

What was your signature dish and how did you come up with it?
My signature dish was basmati and bhuna lamb shoulder rice balls and pumpkin chutney. I based the dish on what I would personally order – selfish I know!

We have great ovens in our kitchen, and this allowed me to cook a bhuna spiced lamb shoulder slowly overnight to get all the flavour and tenderness I was looking for. The rice is an obvious accompaniment to any curried lamb, so I wanted to represent it differently, hence the rice ball.

I have always liked a street food dish to be handheld with something to scoop up, which brought in the pumpkin chutney. It was inspired by Vivek Singh. I had done a cookery class with him at the Cinnamon Club, which inspired me to use more spices in subtle ways. The chutney complemented the dish well.

And your technical dish?
Really crunchy Keralan vada pav with blackgate beef striploin. This dish was inspired by the options available to us. When looking into what dishes to do with the crunchy fries, I didn’t want to do a dish ‘with chips’ or dirty fries as this seemed too simple. I wanted to be a bit more creative.

Vada pav is a traditional street food dish with potato at the heart of a sandwich. I did mine with two salsas or chutneys, including coriander and tamarind. They both complemented the spice in the dish with their fresh herbal and floral element and a sour freshness from the tamarind. Unfortunately for me, I came up against a better vada pav!

How did it feel to come third?
It was a massive achievement! I was so proud to bring something back to work. Being there on the day you realise the calibre of chefs you are competing against. It's not as easy as one might think, so I felt incredibly proud to represent my company, my site and myself.

Did you enjoy the event?
I loved it! It was a really fun day. Luckily, I was in heat one, so I got to produce my dishes and then watch and enjoy the rest of the competition. It was great to meet new people and see lots of chefs I know from years gone by. The competition itself ran seamlessly, which also made the day a great success and enjoyable for competitors and supporters alike.

The 2024 StrEATfood Awards
This year’s event is almost upon us – and you could be there!

The 16 truly talented contract catering chefs who have made the finals of our 2024 StrEATfood Awards have been chosen, and they include the two winners from last year. The seventh annual event will be held at Big Penny Social in north London on 8^th October.

It will see them compete in a series of culinary challenges. They will battle it out for the prized Street Food Dish of the Year title by recreating their signature dishes for our panel of expert judges. They will also compete in a Technical round, using products supplied on the day, as well as a Meat-free round sponsored by Tofoo.

If you would like to be there or require more info, please go to streatfoodawards.co.uk. The 2024 StrEATfood Awards sponsors are Britvic, Conglom, Major and Tofoo.

You may also be interested in…