Green Chilli Café's Sunil Thakur wins Scottish Curry Awards' Chef of the Year
Green Chilli Café's Sunil Thakur has won the accolade of Chef of the Year at The Scottish Curry Awards 2016.
The award comes less than two years after Thakur and business partner Peter Janampally took over the restaurant which is located in the Finnieston area of the Glasgow.
Green Chilli Café, which is part of the Harlequin Group, was also short-listed in the awards' Best of Glasgow category.
Thakur said: "This award stands as testament to the quality of our menu, which is comprised chiefly of authentic-style North Indian cuisine cooked in a traditional style."
"We are delighted with this recognition, which validates our determination to offer something different to the very competitive curry market in Scotland by focussing on traditional curries prepared in a traditional method."
Speaking to The Caterer, Janampally, who oversees customer service at the restaurant, added: "Indian restaurants are very popular in Scotland. Just in this area there are nine Indian restaurants within a two miles radius so we knew we had to be different. We aim to make our curries authentic, giving each its own distinct flavour and we also make sure we give our customers the best dining experience. So we work well as a team."
Thakur started his career in the Ashoka Group in 2009, after moving from India where he had qualified as a professional chef. After being promoted to head chef, Thakur teamed up with Janampally, a former restaurant manager at Ashoka Shak in Coatbridge, to take on The Green Chilli Café under a franchise partnership.
All Green Chilli Café dishes are prepared to order. Dishes include chicken shaslik, which is cooked in a clay oven after being marinated with spices and yoghurt and infused with peppers and onions; salmon tikka, marinated with carom seeds, Indian spices and mustard oil in yoghurt sauce; Tandoori jinga which is king prawns marinated in Indian spices and infused with lemon juice and tandoori spices; and murgh malai tikka which involves chicken breasts marinated in cashew nut paste, cream and fresh lemon juice and flavoured with green cardamom.
