The 12th British Curry Awards 2016

The 12th, annual British Curry Awards in association with Kukd.com will take place on Monday 28th November 2016 at The Battersea Evolution. Last year the industry at large, foodies, celebrities, MP’s and dignitaries collectively paid homage to the nation’s finest curry restaurants. Guests included GBBO runner-up, Tamal Ray; Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP; Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP; actress Laila Rouass; Adil Ray (Citizen Khan); Eastenders actor Nitin Ganatra; celebrity restaurateur, Prue Leith CBE; Channel 4 News presenter, Krishnan Guru-Murthy; TV personalities, Stephen Mulhern, Lizzie Cundy and Casey Bachelor; The Apprentice contestant Sanjay Sood Smith; broadcaster Zillur Rahman; Ann Main MP, Sharon Hodgson MP and Paul Scully MP. The event was hosted by BBC newsreader, Jane Hill.

British Curry Awards is now established as the biggest event in the hospitality industry calendar and regarded as the curry ‘Oscars’. Last year we have created history and broken records by generating widespread global exposure and a publicity campaign with an unprecedented media evaluation of £48M with a global audience of 434M as reported by ITN

British Curry Awards has become a key fixture on the UK social calendar, lauded as a national institution in its own right as the first and landmark event to celebrate the industry’s achievements. The nomination process invited members of the public to nominate their favourite curry restaurant for a deserving accolade. This year, a phenomenal 218,000 public nominations were received via post, app and online, from diners nominating their favourite curry restaurants, with 2,459 restaurants being nominated.

Winners of British Curry Awards 2015:

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD: Reza Mahammad

BEST CASUAL DINING: Dabbawal Jesmond, Newcastle

BEST DELIVERY RESTAURANT IN ASSOCIATION WITH KUKD.COM: The Chilli Pickle, Brighton

BEST NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Calcutta Club, Nottingham

BEST IN SCOTLAND: Karma Restaurant, Whitburn

BEST IN NORTH EAST: Aagrah, Leeds

BEST IN NORTH WEST: Viceroy, Carlisle

BEST IN MIDLANDS: Pushkar Restaurant, Birmingham

BEST IN WALES: Sheesh Mahal Restaurant, Llanelli

BEST IN SOUTH EAST: Shampan at the Spinning Wheel, Westerham, Kent

BEST IN SOUTH WEST: Spice Lodge Restaurant, Cheltenham

BEST IN LONDON CENTRAL AND CITY: The Cinnamon Club

BEST IN LONDON SUBURBS: Green Spice Restaurant, Dartford

Via video message, Prime Minister David Cameron said “200 years ago, the Hindustani Coffee House opened in Westminster, the first curry restaurant in Britain. 200 years later, it’s one of the nation’s favourite dishes and this country is home not to one curry restaurant but to ten thousand. Today, the industry generates £4.2bn for our economy. It employs 100,000 people and every single week we eat 2.5m curries. These awards, founded by the formidable Enam Ali, celebrate the people who made that happen and they celebrate British Curry, a unique cuisine that merges western tradition with eastern flavours giving the world prawn puri, onion bhajee, Bombay aloo and, yes of course, chicken tikka masala. I want to thank everyone in this room for what you do. You represent the very best of British values of family, running your restaurants with parents, children and spouses. Enterprise, starting businesses from nothing, hard work, dedicating every hour of everyday to what you do. And above all patriotism, flying a flag for British food right around the world. So congratulations to the winners and to everyone involved in this great British industry.”

British Curry Awards founder, restaurateur and editor of trade publication, Spice Business, Enam Ali MBE said, “Staff shortages mean many of us are struggling to meet customer expectations, and it is almost impossible to expand as we would like to. I promised myself I wasn’t going to talk again about our industry-wide staffing problems, but as people are constantly contacting me about this issue I cannot let it pass. I fully understand and sympathise because I am one of you. I have drafted a very constructive new visa scheme to help the industry survive in the current climate. I believe my document will help to tighten migration to the benefit of the country while giving us access to the skilled curry chefs we need.

At the same time, looking to a long-term solution rather than depending on foreign chefs, I am proud to tell you I have formed the Le Raj Academy in partnership with NESCOT (North East Surrey College of Technology). From the beginning of next year, together we will be training the chefs and front of house staff to become the stars of the future.”

Founder, Kukd.com says, ““It is a great honour to be a part of the original and benchmark award ceremony that was established to celebrate the achievements of such an integral and significant industry within the UK. British Curry Awards has set a precedent in the industry and we are proud of the association.”