By founder, Dan Aldridge.

This week, I represented eat the bird at the annual Streetfood Championships.

Here’s how it went down.

The Streetfood Championships are the annual celebration of all current and former streetfood traders, coming together at a brewery in East London and cooking their hearts out. 16 of the best from all over the country and all there for one mission, to scoop the big one. The Streetfood Dish Of The Year.

This coveted prize has been awarded 3 times previously and only to the absolute sock removing dish of the day. To be the best and to represent the whole streetfood scene is a privilege that only a few brands can say is theirs, so the heat was on.

I was given 55 minutes to cook 3 dishes. Easy enough, should take no more than 5 or 10 for each. I’d even done a couple practice rounds on my own beforehand to check I’d be within the time. Each time coming in at around 32 minutes.

Each dish comes with its own prize. There’s a sponsor’s round where you have to do a kind of “Ready Steady Cook” thing and cobble together a dish from some fairly eclectic ingredients which included steak, cheese, chips, char siu sauce and burger buns. Then a wings round and finally “The Showstopper”, the signature dish. That iconic dish that defines you. I chose The Chicktator. Our Korean inspired fried chicken burger is a knockout combo of sweet and sticky sesame and chilli glaze, our homemade kimchi and umami rich ssamjang. It’s been middle of the sales charts for many years but top of the flavour chart forever. The kind of burger that’s the connoisseur’s choice.

Rounds take place in four heats of 4 competitors, so there was a chance to catch what everyone else was cooking before my turn. I watched as some killer dishes started flying off each of my fellow competitor’s stations. I knew straight away that I would have to bring the fire. (Not literally of course, that’s generally frowned upon at these events).

We were given minimal equipment; a griddle and an induction hob. But that’s part of the fun, eh? Years of streetfood have taught me to be resourceful. So despite there being no fryer en place, I could skillet fry my chicken one at a time. Skillet frying is a skill all of its own. Chefs in some restaurants in the US will only cook their chicken in one. It is an infinitely better method than a normal fryer but an incredibly difficult one due to the extra vigilance around temperature control of the oil, flipping and moving the chicken often to get an even fry and it being just generally being a fairly unpredictable way to cook. When you’ve done it once, you understand why fryers are so popular.

Nevertheless, I had no choice but to get on with it and show that chicken some love.

So I stepped up to the station. A tiny 2m x 0.5m table which was mostly taken up with the equipment. A narrow strip was afforded to me for plating up and storing my ingredients.

I started prepping my first 2 dishes. Got my sponsor’s dish out in super quick time and the wings followed them straight after. Then I plonked my skillet on the heat, filled it with oil and cranked up the temperature. Except… there was a problem. The hob I’d been given had half the power of my one back at the restaurant. So I put it on full power, shut my eyes and kept everything crossed.

“37 minutes left!” came the call from our splendid host, Mr T-bone Chops.

Ordinarily it takes 10 minutes a piece of chicken, so I knew it’d be tight. But that 10 minutes was on my super duper industrial strength hob with predictable heat control.

Time continued to tick as I dropped in my first floury coated piece of chicken. Slowly but surely I watched it cook about half as quickly as I was used to. “At this rate it’ll take 20 minutes a piece” I thought. And that would take me well past time.

I persevered and with temperature probe in hand, tamed my cooking equipment. Minutes went by and piece by piece I was getting somewhere. Just not as quickly as I’d like.

My fellow competitor’s were plating up their final dishes around me and just in the nick of time, I glazed up my 3 pieces of fried gold and sent them on their way to be judged.

Later on at the evening awards presentation, prizes started to flow for the sponsors round and wings round, plus a blogger’s round. Then came the main event. The big prize has 3rd, 2nd and then the top award. The coveted first place and the crown of Streetfood Dish Of The Year.

The bronze and silver prizes were called and I clapped along, showing my peers some love. I felt a little rumble in the ol’ stomach and thought about what was next to eat, so I jumped on my phone quickly to see if the local pizza shop was open to grab a post-awards bite, thinking I’d get to leave in a couple minutes and fill a hole. I was keeping an ear and half an eye out to hear who was first and the call came out.

“In first place” the host shouted and then took a double take on his prompt card “The Chicktator by Dan Aldridge from eat the bird!”.

I’d done it. I had won the big prize of the Streetfood Dish Of The Year at this year’s Streetfood Championships. Absolutely blown away and still as much in shock now as I was when my name got called out to go up and collect my prize.

Nearly rendered speechless. Not quite. (if you know me, you know what a feat that would take!). If you see any pictures of me accepting my award, the genuine shock is real.

I’m super honoured to be representing a supremely amazing and diverse corner of our incredible hospitality industry.

I love streetfood.

That can’t come as surprise. After 7 years of towing a trailer round the Devon countryside and setting up every day in a new location. I’ve traded through all kinds of weather, dealt with faulty generators, forgotten stock, had a unit burn down, showed up to festivals that resemble mud pits, prepped 1000 portions and sold 10 and everything else in between. I feel fortunate to have been given the opportunity to turn my business from the streets to bricks, but I’ll always be streetfood deep down at heart.

So this one also goes out to everyone who has inspired me over the years. Everyone who backed me when I first started and was there week in week out through all kinds of weather. Everyone who has been (or even thought about coming) to an eat the bird. And every single heroic member of staff who has put up with me over the years.

But most of all, proud to represent the streetfood scene. My hat goes off to all of you who are out there trading your arses off. Hopefully I’ll get to try your amazing food soon. Keep doing what you’re doing because next year’s champion could be you and without you, we’d all be hungry.