insideKENT Magazine Issue 22 - January 2014 | Page 16

NEWS SHAMPAN AT THE SPINNING WHEEL AWARD WINNERS LOCAL BUSINESSMAN MAKES HISTORY IN FRONT OF PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON SHAMPAN AT THE SPINNING WHEEL WINS AWARD FOR NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR 2013 Shampan at the Spinning Wheel in Westerham was crowned Newcomer of the Year 2013 at the British Curry Awards held at Battersea Evolution on Monday 25th November 2013. more than 200 years after the first curry house opened in this country, British-made curry is now heading the other way, to Mumbai, to Calcutta, to Delhi.” Shampan’s owner Sufian Miah said: “We are so incredibly proud to be awarded a British Curry Award for the third year running, for Shampan Welling in 2011 and for Shampan at the Spinning Wheel in 2012 and now 2013. It is a fantastic honour to be part of this and to be making a difference in the Indian hospitality industry. Winning this award goes to show hard work, passion, desire, devotion, commitment and integrity always pay off in the long run. They made history by becoming the first restaurant in the event's history to win the award two years running. This is Shampan’s third consecutive British Curry Award win after the Welling branch, Shampan 3, scooped one of the honours in 2011. “Our vision within Shampan Group is to take the Indian hospitality industry to another level and this accolade is recognition that we are on the right path to achieving this. We’d like to say a massive thank you to all of our loyal customers who nominated us for the award. It’s a very proud day for everyone involved.” Prime Minister, David Cameron, was the guest of honour at the star-studded ceremony hosted by Chris Tarrant and guests included Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, Keith Vaz MP, England World Cup winning rugby manager Clive Woodward, James Whale, Melinda Messenger, James Martin and Lizzie Cundy. Now that Shampan has won a British Curry Award for the third year in a row, the next aim is to win it for the fourth time at the tenth annual British Curry Awards, and next year will be a competition between the Shampan restaurants as from next year, Shampan at the Spinning Wheel will be included in the category of Best restaurant in London Suburbs. Elaborating on the popularity of Indian cuisine, Cameron said: “It used to be that selling curry in South Asia was a bit like selling ice to the Eskimo, www.shampangroup.com 16