Curry Top 3

The Festivals Company is pleased to announce that the Top 3 Indian Restaurants competing for the title of Welsh Curry House of the Year 2008 are:

North Wales:

Asha Balti House, 4 Denbigh Street, Llanrwst. LL26 0LL. Tel: 01492 641910

Mid and West Wales:

Sheesh Mahal, 53 Stepney Street, Llanelli. SA15 3YA. Tel: 01554 773773

South Wales:

Nawab Tandoori Restaurant, 12 Christina St, Swansea. SA1 4EW. Tel: 01792 470770

"I would like to congratulate the Top 3 for reaching this far in the competition. The response from the Welsh public has been spectacular with just over 6,000 votes registered for their favourite Indian restaurants. We have 260 Indian restaurants in Wales and to be included in the Top 3 is an amazing accolade and recognition for the staff of the top 3 restaurants. I wish all 3 every success in the final part of the competition," said Berwyn Rowlands from the Festivals Company.

What next?

The three regional finalists will now battle it out to become Welsh Curry House of the Year 2008 by cooking for the National Independent Jury. The three finalists will be judged on their presentation skills, the taste of their dish, the use of Welsh produce and their ability to cope under pressure.

The winner of the Welsh Curry House of the Year 2008 will be announced on Wednesday 12 March 2008 at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay.

National Independent Jury:

The three National Independent Judges responsible for deciding the winner of the Welsh Curry House of the Year 2008 competition are:

Shadek Ali

Shadek Ali’s Sopna Indian Restaurant at Pontrug near Caernarfon was the 2007 winner of the Welsh Curry House of the Year competition. He is known to his customers as Sid and has been running the popular North Wales restaurant for almost 4 years. At the end of 2007 Sid opened a second Sopna Restaurant in Menai Bridge offering the people of Ynys Mon (Anglesey) an opportunity to taste his award winning food.

Uma Sims

Cookery Tutor Uma Sims established Cardamom Queen in October 2005 to provide genuine, high quality Indian food to the more discerning customer in the Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff areas. Her locally sourced produce includes Welsh Lamb in the meat dishes (Lamb Pasanda and Lamb Rogan Josh) and Organic potatoes in the Bombay Aloo with all dishes free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives. Cardamom Queen’s unforgettable Kulfi - was nominated for a Waitrose Small Producer Award.

Peter Stead

Swansea based writer, broadcaster and cultural historian Professor Peter Stead is a self confessed curry fanatic. His passion for Indian cuisine started during his university days sharing one or two curries with Neil Kinnock! Extensive travelling over the past 40 years, including many visits to India, has allowed Peter to experience traditional Indian cooking at first hand.