the UK's only restaurant awards open to all Asian cuisines.
The 2024 Asian Restaurant Awards took place on August 27, 2024, at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate.
The UK’s leading Asian restaurant owners, chefs and local dignitaries were in attendance.
Representing the UK’s 30,000 Asian and Oriental restaurants, the Asian Catering Federation (ACF) organised the event.
However, the event was interrupted by an emergency evacuation.
BBC presenter Samantha Simmonds hosted the event and she was coolness personified as she calmly urged the event’s 500 guests to vacate the venue.
Within minutes, Manchester’s fire service arrived and quickly declared the building safe to re-enter, allowing the evening’s festivities to be resumed.
In a statement, the venue 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.”
It was later revealed that the alarm was due to a “multi-sensor activation”.
The glittering ceremony resumed and Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year went to the Michelin-ranked Kahani in Sloane Square, London, led by acclaimed chef Peter Joseph.
Local and regional awards were also handed out.
Lala’s Restaurant in Leeds, Vadha in Stockton-on-Tees and Bardez in Manchester were just a few of the award winners.
The Asian Restaurant Awards are the UK’s only restaurant awards open to all Asian cuisines.
This includes Bangladeshi, Burmese, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Middle Eastern, Pakistani, Singaporean, Sri Lankan, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.
When it came to awards for different cuisines, The Zen in Lytham St Annes won Thai Restaurant of the Year.
Pan Asian Restaurant of the Year went to Kumquat in Tunbridge Wells.
Urmston’s Sau Surbhi received Indian Restaurant of the Year while 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 Takeaway of the Year.
Panda Mami, which has branches in Chester, Manchester, Nottingham and York, won Best Asian and Oriental Restaurant Group.
MyLahore was named Restaurant Group of the Year.
There were a few 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.
A special international award was bestowed on Madhu’s of Istanbul.
Dance and singing performances added to the event’s festivities.
Addressing the audience, 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.”
ACF Awards’ judge George Shaw 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 it on social media or communicate it to your customer database – if you even have a customer database.”
The ACF will also host the 14th Asian Curry Awards at the Grosvenor House, Mayfair in London on November 17, 2024, with nominations now open.
See highlights of the Asian Restaurant Awards with our special gallery:
Loading ...