Indian Tiffin Room and Rosa’s Thai among Leeds restaurants shortlisted for national Asian Curry Awards

The annual Asian Curry Awards celebrate Asian cuisine across the country and this year, a number of the city’s best Asian restaurants have made the final.

Indian Tiffin Room is the only Leeds restaurants to be shortlisted for the Asian Resturant of the Year category in the North of England. Last year, this award was won by Lala’s Restaurant in Pudsey.

Meanwhile, Indian Fusion is also the only Leeds takeaway which has been shortlisted for the Takeaway of the Year category. This is the second time Indian Fusion has been nominated for Takeaway of the Year, also being nominated at the English Curry Awards earlier this year. In the Group Restaurant of the Year, a total of three local restaurants have been shortlisted. These include, Akbar’s Group, Aagrah Group and Rosa’s Thai.

Akbar’s is a south Indian restaurant chain with venues across the North and Kashmiri restaurant Aagrah has three locations in Leeds. Rosa’s Thai was founded in London and opened its first Leeds site in May 2019, in Trinity Leeds.

The Asian Curry Awards are organised by the Asian Catering Federation (ACF) which represents the nation’s 30,000 restaurants and takeaways. It is also the only award ceremony in the UK which celebrates all Asian cusines.

Chairman of the ACF Yawar Khan understands the struggles resturants are currently facing. Dubbed the ‘quadruple whammy’, restaurants across the country are experiencing rising food prices, increasing energy costs, and staff shortages, alongside customers experiencing a cost of living crisis.

Yawar said: “Every week I hear from another owner closing their restaurant because they cannot see an end in sight to the economic situation – but an award win can bring a massive upsurge in trade”. Leeds restaurants which have experienced closure due to these issues include Dapur Malaysia in October of this year, stating it was “impossible” to keep running the restaurants with the rising prices.

This year, the Asian Curry Awards will also present an inagural Pat Chapman Memorial Award to one restaurant, in honour of the late long-time juidge who passed this July. Judges will announce the winners at London’s Grosvenour House on Sunday November 20.