The Scottish Curry Awards took place at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow last night. Founded to celebrate the men and women who make Scotland’s curry landscape such a lively affair, it’s always a spicy bash.
Big slaps on the back for Monir Mohammed, the owner of the Mother India empire, who won the Curry King of the Year title. There was similar acclaim for Balbir’s which scooped the Restaurant of the Year gong.
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Mrs Unis whose samosas, pakoras, pickles and curries are spreading across the UK.
The Takeaway of the Year went to the Banana Leaf on Old Dumbarton Road while Chef of the Year went to Ajmal Mushtaq of Mushtaq’s in Hamilton.
The Team of the Year went to the Ashoka in Johnstone, the second time in two that the restaurant has won the title. As their 5pm entry mentions, they may have been open for over twenty years but they still ‘curry flavour raita across Renfrewshire’. Boom boom!
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the vibrancy of its curry scene, the vast majority of the awards went to west coast players but other areas got a look in at the regional awards. Spice Tandoori in Fort William, Bombay Joe’s in Dundee and Suruchi in Edinburgh all won in their geographical categories.
The Curry Lover of the Year was a hotly fought category with Hector’s Curry Heute blog squaring off against the Record’s Tam Cowan and Trampy and the Tramp’s Glasgow World of Curry blog which was anointed as the Curry Lover of the Year in 2010.
The gong went to Tam Cowan, his second crown in six months after winning the Critic of the Year award at December’s Glasgow Restaurant Awards.
This blog was mostly brought to you by the tweet updates from Trampy and the Tramp.