Restaurants honoured at British Curry Awards
The UK's favourite curry restaurants were honoured at the British Curry Awards earlier this week.
Guests at the awards ceremony, at Battersea Evolution in London, included: Home Secretary Teresa May; Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman of UB Group; MPs Chris Grayling, Andrew Rosindell, Nicky Morgan, Keith Vaz; footballer David Seaman; Paralympian David Weir; broadcasters Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Maxine Mawhinney, Rageh Omaar; actors Adil Ray, Shobu Kapoor, Shobna Gulati; Sgt Johnson Beharry; TV presenters Lizzie Cundy and Pat Sharp; Nancy Dell'Olio; Neil and Christine Hamilton.
The event hosts were broadcasters Kate Silverton and Hardeep Kohli.
The nomination process invited members of the public to put forward their favourite Indian eaterie for a deserving accolade. This year, 206,378 public nominations were received via post, app and online, from diners nominating their favourite curry restaurants, with 2,641 restaurants being nominated.
The British Curry Awards 2014 winners were:
Best Spice Restaurant in London Central & City: The Cinnamon Club, Westminster
Best Spice Restaurant in London Outer & Suburbs: Shampan Welling, Kent
Best Spice Restaurant in South East: Maliks Restaurant, Maidenhead, Berkshire
Best Spice Restaurant in South West: Myristica, Bristol
Best Spice Restaurant in North East: Aagrah Midpoint, Thornbury, West Yorkshire
Best Spice Restaurant in North West: Blue Tiffin, Oldham
Best Spice Restaurant in Midlands: Mem Saab, Nottingham
Best Spice Restaurant in Wales: Rasoi Indian Kitchen, Swansea
Best Spice Restaurant in Scotland: Light of Bengal, Aberdeen
Best Casual Dining: Dishoom Covent Garden
Newcomer of the Year: Five Rivers A La Carte, Walsall
Best Delivery Restaurant/ Takeaway by Justeat.com: The Chilli Pickle, Brighton
This year's Special Recognition Award was presented to one of the UK's founding curry restaurateurs, Shams Uddin Khan of Maharani restaurant, Clapham.
The British Curry Awards were established by restaurateur Enam Ali who founded the event in 2005.