By Maesam Khan
Leicester restaurants are making preparations and getting down to brass tacks to win the battle of ‘Curry Capital of Britain 2014′. A special award ceremony will be held on 26 October in London.
Leicester city is taking part in ‘Curry Capital of Britain’ contest since 1999, when it was first introduced. Four leading restaurants will be representing Leicester this year named Curries of India, Shimla Pink, Curry Fever and Swatlands. Sunil Anand, who owns Curry Fever on Belgrave Road with his brother Anil, said: ”We’ve represented the city in this competition in the past and always made a good effort and as well as winning – we’ve been runners up in the past. There’s a brilliant variety of curry houses in Leicester with the great south Indian cuisine, the vegetarian restaurants, food from other areas and then the Asian-run pub kitchens all over the city are adding a lot.”
Leicester is known as a really good place to eat and winner of ‘Curry Capital of Britain Award 2007′.
Leicester will be up against 14 other cities as well as London, which has been split into five regions for the competition. Leicester’s nearest rivals are Nottingham, Northampton, Birmingham and Wolverhampton. The four Leicester restaurants will campaign over the next weeks on behalf of the city and draw up a case for the judges. Bradford has won the title for the past three years running and Leicester Chefs are aiming to get this title out of Bradford this year.
The event idea arose from the bad publicity following racial unrest in parts of London some years ago, unrest that has been repeated in other cities. The intention was to provide a showcase for selected cities in United Kingdom with large ethnic communities through the medium of food and drink, focusing on what the cities do for their ethnic communities and, in return, what the multiracial community brings to that city. A more recent focus has been on the cooperation between the council, restaurants and education bodies to promote the curry industry and thereby assisting in alleviating unemployment and promote community cohesion. The National Curry Week 2014 will run from 13-19 October and the winner will be announced on 20th October.
