Aigburth curry house lands top nomination

A family-run restaurant in Liverpool has been shortlisted for Britain’s Best Curry Awards.

The Gulshan, in Aigburth, has been included in the nationwide nominations for the second time. The restaurant finished runner up for the ‘Best in the North West’ title to the Indian Ocean in Ashton-under-Lyne.

Shajad Rahman, of The Gulshan, attended the awards. He said: “It was a great honour to reach the shortlist, and get recognised in the industry as a family business. I was over the moon. However, we were slightly disappointed at having missed out on the North West Award, which went to the well-deserved Indian Ocean.”
 
The only other Merseyside restaurant involved and awarded Top 100 status was the Spice Lounge in Liverpool’s Albert Dock. Only five North West food spots reached the finals out of 2,700 restaurants.

Mr Rahman puts the restaurant's success down to experimentation, he said: “It is all about tradition with a bit of modern twist. Our food is essentially Indian, but we try to come up with new dishes and experiment. The insides of the Gulshan are kept sleek and modern, as we try to move away from the heavy Indian theme look and attract younger people.”

Mr Rahman's grandfather opened the The Gulshan in 1986, which was the first Indian restaurant in Liverpool. All the chefs have passed an initial training in Bangladesh and were taught specific Indian dishes by the owner’s mother, Noorah Rahman.

The restaurant gets involved in various charity events and has strong links with the local community. Mr Rahman said: “Our customers are extremely loyal and very involved in the business, they give us the support we need to keep on developing. We have a great base of regulars.

“One particular customer comes every week, and if he does not come one week, he apologises and comes twice the next.“

The British Curry Awards are recognised as the ‘Oscars’ of Britain’s £3.5bn spice restaurant industry. This year's ceremony was held at London’s Battersea Evolution and hosted by Sir Trevor Mc Donald. Conservative party leader David Cameron was among the 1,500 guests who saw the Gulshan pick up the award as one of the best curry restaurants in the North West.