St John’s Curry Club in Corstorphine won two awards recently at the annual Scotland Asian Restaurant Awards.
At a glitzy ceremony last month, owner Sadiqur Rahman was really delighted to pick up the awards for Best Chef and Best Takeaway in Edinburgh.
He invited The Edinburgh Reporter along to St John’s Road to find out what made the restaurant a winner. He said : “The difference is that our staff make an effort to make that difference. We have the best chef, who works with fresh top quality ingredients. Apart from his outstanding cooking everything ordered whether for sit in or takeaway is cooked fresh. We celebrated with a party for the staff and to allow our customers to celebrate with us we have been running a Facebook competition.”
The awards were presented by Samantha Simmonds who is a journalist and broadcaster. She has covered all the main programmes for BBC World News including The Briefing on BBC1.
Over 70 Asian restaurants across Scotland were shortlisted through a series of public votes, to be narrowed down to just 16 winners, recognising the best Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Malaysian, and Nepalese restaurants and takeaways in the country.
Restaurants were judged by a panel of chefs and Asian cuisine experts, including Michelin Star chef and Chinese Masterchef winner Bill Poon; award-winning author and food critic Ria Amber Tesia; former restaurant inspector for the Good Food Guide George Shaw; and chaired by founder of the Curry Club and editor of the Cobra Good Curry Guide Pat Chapman.
“The Scottish Asian Restaurant Awards recognises the excellence of Asian and Oriental restaurants in Scotland,” said ACF Chairman Yawar Khan, who added, “They allow us to celebrate the many different cultures and cuisines that contribute so much to our economy.”
The Asian Restaurant Awards are organised by the Asian Catering Federation, (ACF) which represents the nation’s 30,000 Asian and Oriental restaurants.
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