The winners of the first Asian Restaurant Awards were announced at a glittering awards ceremony, held at the Manchester Hilton, on Monday 5th March.
The evening, attended by over 500 leading restaurateurs, chefs, food journalists and VIP guests, was hosted by TV news presenter and BBC World Service news anchor, Barbita Sharma.
The shortlist, was determined by over 100,00 votes from members of the public were able to nominate their favourite Bangladeshi, Burmese, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Middle Eastern, Singaporean, Sri Lankan, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese restaurants and takeaways.
From Yorkshire the Aagrah Restaurant Group won Best Asian Restaurant Chain (North of England), while Akbar’s Café in Bradford up a regional award.
Accepting the award Aagrah’s Director, Mr. Naeem Aslam said: “It is a great honour for Aagrah to receive this accolade.
“The Asian Curry Awards recognise the best in the industry, encouraging ever higher standards and to inspire the next generation of chefs and restaurateurs to join the dynamic multi billion pound dining sector.
“Only the best, most innovative and creative restaurants get a shot at the prestigious award categories – and an award can lead to opens doors to further success.
The Asian Restaurant Awards were organised by the Asian Catering Federation (ACF) which represents the nation’s 30,000 Asian and Oriental restaurants.
Like their sister accolades the Asian Curry Awards which take place in London and are in their eighth-year, the Asian Restaurant Awards have national significance.
The Manchester location was chosen to make the event more accessible to venues outside London and the south east. Avoiding the term ‘curry’ means the awards reflects the rich diversity among many of the world’s great cuisines.
In his keynote speech, ACF Chairman Yawar Khan declared the Asian Restaurants Awards a great success and promised to return next year with “an even bigger and better event.”
Asian Restaurant Awards judge, George Shaw, commented: “Over 25 years ago culinary pioneer Madhur Jaffrey told me that too many Asian restaurant owners were in a race to the bottom, under cutting each other’s prices, with enormous menus of poorly cooked dishes. Tonight, we celebrate the achievements of those in a race to the top.”
The awards, for which Asian Express Newspapers are official media partners, are sponsored by Just Eat and Booker Wholesale and supported by ACF Utilities, the Asian Hospitality Federation of Europe, Aroma Ice Cream and Mohammed Shah & Co Accountancy.
