The winners of the 2011 British Curry Awards will be announced at the Battersea Evolution, London, on Monday 28 November.
An amazing 2,700 restaurants were entered for the awards from a record 68,000 public nominations. These have now been whittled down to a shortlist of 100 from which the nine regional winners and the Newcomer of the Year will be announced.
Awards organiser Enam Ali MBE said: “This is the seventh year of the British Curry Awards and the standards get higher every year. To reach the shortlist is a tremendous achievement.
“Interest in the competition has been greater than ever this year. It just goes to show the tremendous support there is out there for Britain’s favourite food.”
The British Curry Awards – which Prime Minister David Cameron dubbed the ‘Curry Oscars’ when he attended the awards dinner in 2009 – remained the gold standard, and the biggest night of the year for the near 100,000 people involved in the industry.
This year’s awards dinner at the Battersea Evolution will be hosted by TV celebrity chef James Martin and attended by around 1,600 restaurateurs, VIP guests and celebrities
Restaurants shortlisted for Surrey
Bengal Lounge, The Street, Farnham (01252 713222)
Chak 89, Bond Road, Mitcham (0208 646 2177)
Maya, Brighton Road, Surbiton (0208 399 0094)
Owner of The Bengal Lounge, Ashiq Islam, has worked in restaurants since he left school, so is well placed to run his own business. He went on to take over The Banaras in Downing Street, Farnham and has owned the Bengal Lounge for the last 5 years.
Putting his restaurant's success and his customer's loyalty down to the excellent quality of food and personal service, he confirmed “I always try to make my customers feel happy and do my very best to meet their requirements”
Ashiq has a friendly placid manner and seems to take everything in his stride but when asked what winning the British Curry Awards would mean to him he excitedly replied “I would be dancing!”
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