Street Food Championships interview

We speak to 2021 finalist, and previous National Burger Awards winner, Simon Xavier, executive chef for The Restaurant Group, which includes Chiquito...

Why did you enter the awards?
I was in the finals of the National Burger Awards [which are organised by our sister publication Dine Out; Simon won the Technical round] back in 2016 and then the Street Food Championships popped up. I wasn’t around for the first one, so when I got the invite for this one, I thought I’d give it a go.

I entered a new dish from Chiquito’s menu and made it to the finals. I had a great day, there were some great chefs there.

How did you decide what to cook?
A couple of years back I was fortunate enough to get sent on a fact-finding mission to Mexico City. It was a great trip and a big eye-opener. While I was there, pretty much every street vendor I came across was doing an el pastor dish with pork and either raw pineapple or pineapple salsa.

I did a version of what I found out there. I got the slow-cooked carnitas – small pieces of pork, slowly cooked, nice and tender – and did a nice little home-made pineapple salsa on some soft tacos.

That’s kind of how we serve it in the restaurant and in delivery. I thought it would be a great little street dish, because that’s how it started. From the street food I saw out in Mexico City. That’s where the basis of that dish came from. It’s still on the menu now if anyone wants to come in and try it!

How do you stay calm under pressure?
As a development chef, every time I come up with a menu, when you’re putting your proposition in front of your MD and CEO, you’re kind of in that environment anyway. I’ve been an exec chef developing menus for, hold your breath, 18 years now and when you’re in front of people presenting, you kind of get used to it. When I get to competitions, I just put my presenting head on and that’s why I don’t get too nervous.

What effect has street food had on the UK food scene?
It’s had a huge effect. I went to one of the first street food venues when it had just started up in Digbeth in Birmingham for a competition. It was done with the vendors actually working from their street vans. It was a fantastic day and it was literally just under some arches, this was about six or seven years ago. The bar was in a derelict black of flats, it was a really cool little underground venue.

Of course, it’s all become much bigger now, which is great. But certainly that was an eye-opener for me and that was backed that with going out to Mexico City and seeing the street food in its raw form, and we make an anglicised version of that that is suitable for the UK market. It’s made a massive influence on all foods, not just Mexican cuisine like we produce, you can apply that to pretty much all of the casual dining scene.

Did you enjoy the competition?
It was really good. I knew a few of the chefs there already, like Glenn [Evans, who won the main award] from Las Iguanas, but it would was good to also see some of the independents. All the finalists there were at the top of their game.

Although I didn’t win, it was nice to take part and see what the other guys are coming up with. There were some spectacular dishes. If you get to the finals of these competitions, it shows you that you were doing something right in the first place to get there, but it’s also great also seeing what everyone else is up to.

I really enjoyed it and I’m certainly looking forward to trying to enter more of these and hopefully attending as a finalist again. It’s great fun. It’s superb publicity for the chefs and a good learning vehicle to see what the other chefs are getting up to.

What’s next for street food?
It’s ever evolving. I’ve just launched a banana blossom product and we are currently trialing it. We’ll be serving that in a street food format with nachos, in a taco or in a burrito.

For me, vegan food is improving no end, but I’m looking at using plant-based products, rather than products that are trying to be the alternative. So, if I’m using jackfruit, the jackfruit will be the star. You need to use the actual plant as the hero.

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