A Kenilworth street food business has reached the final of the National Burger Awards and will today (April 20) compete alongside 15 other top chefs at a live cook-off in London.

Meat Meets Bun was launched by Chris Hardy in April 2021 after he quit his job as an aerospace engineer to return to working with food.

With the business having just celebrated its first anniversary, Chris will head to the Islington Metal Works in London today for the final.

Each of the 16 chefs will have to complete a number of different challenges.

Firstly, they will have to cook their signature burger which they were nominated for – the Black and Blue for Chris – then they will have a technical challenge to create a burger from ingredients revealed on the day.

And they will also compete in a meat-free round sponsored by The Vegetarian Butcher and Kerrymaid, and a 'mayo-mixologist challenge' sponsored by Hellmann's.

Speaking ahead of the final Chris said he was nervous but also excited.

"I'll be cooking alongside the UK's best burger chefs. I thrive on this sort of stuff, to take something I have created and battle against these sort of chefs, it is just unbelievable really," he said.

"I have been there before and I know what a buzz it creates and that everyone just has a great time.

"It is a really good feeling and I am really looking forward to it."

Chris describes himself as a 'burger snob' now

Whilst Chris had worked in hospitality for years before taking a job as an engineer, he launched Meat Meets Bun on the back of his food blog 'The Fat Foodie'.

Having sampled street food all over the country he branded himself as a 'burger snob' and decided what he wanted to do with his own dishes.

"I have always loved a burger, and I think everybody does really.

"The issue I have always had is that I was having burgers from chain restaurants where they come in frozen, are cooked to within an inch of their life and are all dry.

"But it had also got to that stage where people were taking burgers that little bit too far and the concept with Meat Meets Bun is taking it all back to what the burger should be about and that is the beef."

To find out more about MMB, click here to read our in-depth interview with Chris last month.