Curry House Is Hot Stuff For Award Judges

 

 

The Tiffin Cup organised by Keith Vaz MP and the Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP aims to support the South Asian catering industry and to boost charitable causes.

A celebrity panel of judges, including Ainsley Harriot, picked the winners following a tense "cook-off" at Westminster this week.

A panel of celebrity TV chefs, chaired by Ainsley Harriott including Sanjay Anand from Madhus and Anuirudh Arora MBE from the world famous Oberoi Hotel Udaivilas in India, scrutinised, cogitated and consumed items from each finalist's menu, prepared by the restaurant's own chefs and declared Bekash in London to be the winner of The Tiffen Cup for 2007.

"Succulent sizzling stupendous" is how Ainsley Harriott describes Essex restaurant the Maharaja Indian Restaurant, based in Benfleet and nominated by Bob Spink MPwhen declaring them to be the runners-up narrowly beating The Queen's Spice, in South Queensferry.

The dish cooked by Queen's Spice in the final was a classic king prawn jalfrezi. Owner Javid Ashraf said: "We went for traditional dishes with authentic flavours and they seemed to go down very well." Edinburgh West MP John Barrett, who nominated the restaurant, said: "To be the top South Asian restaurant in Scotland is a major achievement, I am sure the whole of Queensferry will be proud of them."