London: One of the most important events in the UK’s hospitality calendar – the Asian Restaurant Awards – was abruptly halted when its host venue, the Hilton Manchester Deansgate had to be evacuated midway through the glittering awards ceremony on Tuesday 27th August.
MC for the evening BBC News anchor Samantha Simmons, was coolness personified as she calmly urged the event’s 500 guests to vacate the building. The city’s fire service was in attendance within minutes and quickly declared the building safe to re-enter, allowing the evening’s festivities to be resumed.
A statement issued by the Hilton said, “[The] hotel is equipped with a state-of-the-art fire detection system. The alarm activated and the alarm bells sounded on all floors.”
The alarm was due to a “multi-sensor activation.”
The top award went to the Michelin-ranked Kahani in Chelsea, London, led by acclaimed chef Peter Joseph, winning Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year.
Local and regional awarded went to: My Delhi Streetery Newcastle of England; Ayaan’s in Bolton, Lala’s Restaurant in Leeds and Bradford Bardez in Manchester; 1988 Indian Restaurant in Sully, Wales; Vadah in Stockton-on-Tees; Sigirya Grill in Knutsford; Madhu’s @ The Grove, Chandler’s Cross; Vadha in Stockton-on-Tees, Orissa in Donnington Castle, Kumquat in Tunbridge; Sai Surbh in Preston and Bangla in Bangor, Northern Ireland.
The Zen in Lytham Saint Annes won Thai Restaurant of the Year; Kumquat n Tunbridge Wells was Pan Asian Restaurant of the Year; Sau Surbhi in Urmston – Indian Restaurant of the Year, My Delhi in Sunderland was named Street Food Restaurant of the Year; Kebabish Original in Blackburn was awarded Best Casual Dining Restaurant; Balti Hut in Middlesbrough received the Takeaway of the Year trophy; Panda Mami (Chester, Manchester, Nottingham, York) – Best Asian & Oriental Restaurant Group; My Lahore (My Lahore in Manchester. Blackburn. Bradford and Birmingham) was revealed as Restaurant Group of the Year.
Striking a positive note given the continuing challenges faced by the hospitality sector and ubiquitous closures, there were a number of regional Newcomer of the Year Awards – BKC in London, Babaji in Sunderland, Chennai Lounge in Southampton; and Sai Surbhi in Urmston.
Zameer Khan, CEO of International Restaurants in Bradford received a special recognition award.
Lala’s in Huddersfield was highly commended.
A special international award was bestowed on Madhu’s of Istanbul.
Addressing the audience of the country’s leading Asian restaurant owners, chefs and local dignitaries – awards organiser, Yawar Khan, Chairman of the Asian Catering Federation (ACF), said, “These accolades can give a major advantage to the winners in gaining new customers and engendering customer loyalty.”
The sentiment was echoed by ACF Awards’ judge, George Shaw who warned against complacency, having witnessed many previous winners fail to capitalise on their wins by marketing the achievement: “If history is anything to go by, half of you in this room won’t put the award on your website, won’t mention in on social media or communicate it to your customer database – if you even have a customer database.”
Later this year the ACF will also host the 14th Asian Curry Awards at the Grosvenor House, Mayfair in London on 17th November 2024, with nominations now open at www.asiancurryawards.com.
