A TALENTED chef finally saw his street food dream come true - after a bout of coronavirus threatened to derail his plans.

Ben Egan is cooking up a storm with his range of pan-Asian dishes after overcoming a string of setbacks.

He had previously applied for a street trader licence in Gourock, only to be knocked back by Inverclyde Council.

His dream was resurrected by successful local businessman Gary Lewis, owner of Jax Snax, who offered to let Ben use his second street food truck at James Watt Dock Marina to host a tasty pop-up.

Things finally seemed to be going right for the young culinary expert - then he tested positive for Covid just days before his venture was set to open.

Ben said: "It was probably the worst time ever for me to get Covid.

"I'd managed to dodge it up until literally hours before I was set to go.

"I seem to have the worst luck, but when I recovered I was just so glad to be able to get on with things and open up.

"I was almost expecting something to go wrong on the day, like a thunderstorm or a blizzard to roll in!

"Thankfully we managed to get over the line and it was a complete relief."

The accomplished cook told the Tele that the preparation for the two-day pop-up was a stretch.

He added: "The prep was crazy, I only got two hours of sleep the night before.

"I was still up at two o'clock in the morning making spring rolls, I didn't get to sleep until four am, but it was so exciting to bring my style of food to the people here and find out what everyone thought of it."

Ben says that the feedback from the hundreds of customers who flocked to the truck made the hard graft worth while.

He added: "It went really well and I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who supported the pop-up.

"I hope to see everyone again soon."