A Bridgnorth restaurant has scored a major success at the national Curry Life Awards 2023.
Amjad Ali, head chef of Eurasia Tandoori, is delighted after winning in the Best Chef category at a gala ceremony in London’s West End.
It is the latest in a string of awards for the restaurant, which was established in 1975 and goes from strength to strength.
The Curry Life Awards celebrate the elite in the UK’s multi-billion-pound curry industry and featured 44 awards across five categories: Editor’s Choice, Best Restaurant, Best Takeaway, Best Chef and Best Recommended Restaurant. The awards attracted an audience of more than five hundred, including beer magnate Lord Karan Bilimoria, who founded Cobra Beer, and representatives from headline sponsor Just Eat.
A delighted Amjad said: “I’m proud of what we do and the quality of the food we provide here and it’s great to have won an award! I want to say thanks to our customers, to my team and to Curry Life for helping businesses like ours get recognition for what they do.”
Amjad opened the Shropshire-based restaurant with his business partners, Shamim Haque and Abdul Shahid Ahad, sharing the responsibilities for front-of-house management and the kitchen. Amjad and his team combine European flavours with Indian cuisine to come up with modern twists on classic dishes.
Guests on the red carpet event included Paul Scully MP, Minister for London, Tech and the Digital Economy and Steve Double MP, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury.
Also in attendance was Rushanara Ali, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow and Shadow Minister for Investment and Small Business, Sir Peter Bottomley, MP for Worthing West and Father of the House, who has been an MP since 1975,
The 14th edition of the Awards, which took place at the London Marriott, Grosvenor Square, was presented by television presenter Lucrezia Millarini. The event was also an occasion to mark an additional celebration, as 2023 is the 20th anniversary year of Curry Life magazine, the promoter of the Awards.
The Awards were created by brothers Syed Pasha and Syed Ahmed, who came to the UK from Bangladesh in the 1970s and were surprised by the British appetite for curry. They launched Curry Life magazine 20 years ago, and the debut Awards were held in 2009. The brothers also organise an annual British curry festival promoting Angrezi (English) curry worldwide.
Speaking at the Awards, Syed Pasha said: “From our humble beginnings, here we are today, the voice of a billion-pound, entrepreneurial and innovative industry, and one which contributes significantly to the UK economy. We travelled thousands of miles this year visiting restaurants up and down the country, and it made me realise precisely why the curry industry will not only survive, but also thrive. It is the sheer determination, hard work, and a positive attitude from employees and employers alike and their sheer commitment to what they do.”
