Herne Bay based Indian takeaway Masala Bay will be hoping to serve up a win on Monday night when they attend the glamorous gala awards ceremony in Battersea, whose previous guests have included David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Sir Trevor McDonald and Heston Blumenthal.

The establishment will be looking to add to its bulging trophy cabinet after also scooping an award for the best takeaway in the South East at the English Curry Awards last September.

But the restaurant could be the first of many with ideas already in mind for a chain of takeaways throughout East Kent.

Manager and co-owner  Amad Uddin was delighted with the nomination. He said: “The British Curry Awards has one of the toughest selection processes. Just to be in the finals is a remarkable achievement.  Whatever the result on the night, we will still enjoy a great night out in London.”

However Mr Uddin admitted that the restaurant’s ambitions lay beyond a win at Monday night’s ceremony.

He said: “Our immediate plan is to refurbish the shop and in a few years’ time maybe we’ll open some more takeaways around the area because we’ve got a high demand at the moment. [We want] not just one Masala, we want 10, 20 Masalas.”

Co-owner Zahid Rahman pointed to the business’ customer-focused attitude as one of the reasons behind their success.

He said: “We feel the secret to our success is that we are focused on food that gives customers the ultimate taste experiences.  The other main factor is we have staff that have been with us for many years in an industry renowned for high staff turnover.  We look after our staff well and pay over the industry average.”

PRESS ARTICLE BY: Josh Margrie-Rouse

Articles online:

https://centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk/scooponline/?p=171 (Slide pics available at the end of this article link)

and

https://www.themedwire.co.uk/2013/11/25/kent-curry-house-looks-after-being-named-one-of-britains-best/