Indian restaurant wins 'best in Northumberland' award

Lal Khazana in Shilbottle was named Best Restaurant of the Year (Northumberland) in The Chef TV Reality Show Awards.

The award was based on food, quality, ranking against other Indian restaurants and customer feedback

Head chef Mohammed Ali said: “It’s a privilege to receive this award and we would like to thank our amazing customers that help us achieve everything we have and for the continuous support.

“I would also like to also thank our team, all of whom have been with us since first opening in 2016. We hope that our hard work continues to pay off as we grow.”

The Chef TV Reality Show is a TV series on Asian channel iON TV (Sky 782) which exhibits the very best of curry talent in the North East and also showcases just how popular the cuisine is.

From an initial 29 restaurants and takeaways taking part in the MasterChef-style show from as far as Alnwick to Wakefield, finalists representing the best in the curry industry were whittled down to face the judges at the final held in The Newcastle Students’ Union, Newcastle University.

Judges were Keka Ferdousi, an award-winning chef from Bangladesh, and Douglas Jordan, from North East Culinary and Trade Association (NECTA).

The Chef TV Reality Show award winners were Rahim Uddin as the winner of The Chef Season 2. Syed Sani Miah and Jahir Ullah were also handed awards for their second and third place finishes.

Best restaurant award winners were Lal Khazana (Northumberland), Shampan (North Tyneside), Cafe Spice (Newcastle), Jolsha Marton (Teesside), Bengal Merchant (Tees Valley), Bengal Brasserie (Leeds), Cinnamon Lodge (Wakefield) and best takeaway award went to Masala Tandoori (Newton Aycliffe).

Founder and organiser of the series, Mohammed Alamgir, said: “It was a wonderful night with around 200 people in attendance.

“I would like to thank all of those who came. I would like to say a special thanks to our chief judge Douglas Jordan and our competition ambassador, Keka Ferdousi, who flew in all the way from Bangladesh.”