Winners of the Asian Restaurant Awards 2021

A number of prominent restaurants catering for Halal were among the winners at the prestigious Asian Restaurant Awards 2021.

Grand Trunk Road, Darjeeling Express, DUSK, and Heritage were awarded at a glamorous ceremony yesterday held at the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly hotel.

Former head chef of Grand Trunk Road, Dayashankar Sharma’s debut restaurant Heritage in Dulwich, which FtLion rated 5/5 this year, won Best Newcomer award.

The big prize went to his previous employer’s in London’s South Woodford where Rajesh Suri’s Grand Trunk Road (rated 5/5 too by FtLion in 2017) won Best Asian Restaurant.

Meanwhile, Asma Khan’s all-female led Darjeeling Express in London carried on her winning ways securing the Best Casual Dining Restaurant.

For his skills in molecular gastronomy, “India’s answer to Heston Blumenthal” Chef Stephen Gomes received the award for Best Fusion Restaurant at DUSK in Brentwood, Essex (rated 4.5/5 by FtLion).

Kushi in Essex, who is also run by the folks behind DUSK with Chef Gomes instrumental in the creation of their menu, also won the Best Group Restaurant award.

With this being the Asian Catering Federation’s (ACF) first awards ceremony to host a live audience since 2019, the organisation will now be hosting the same awards for Scotland at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Edinburgh on 20 September.