Wakefield restaurant reaches final of the Asian Curry Awards 2021

Rice 'n' Spice on Kirkgate is in line to receive the Casual Dining Restaurant of the Year award at the glam event held at London's Grosvenor House on November 21.

A record number of nominees will now be whittled down by an online public vote before visiting judges determine the eventual winners.

The event, organised by the Asian Catering Federation (ACF), which represents the nation’s 30,000 restaurant and takeaways, are the only accolades acknowledging the full panoply of Asian cuisines, is widely regarded as the sector’s most prestigious.

The Asian Curry Awards cover all Asian and Oriental cuisines: Bangladeshi, Burmese, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Middle Eastern, Pakistani, Singaporean, Sri Lankan, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.

Spice lovers can vote here.

ACF chairman Yawar Khan said: “The pandemic has been devastating for many hospitality businesses and its workers.

“These awards will acknowledge the sector’s resilience, innovation in the face of such adversity.”

Andrew Kenny, Managing Director of Just Eat UK, headline sponsors of the awards said: “Just Eat has worked closely with the Asian Catering Federation for a number of years.

"As we begin to recover from the pandemic, I’m delighted to celebrate our partnership by helping to recognise the fantastic achievements of those in our industry who have worked tirelessly through the last 18 months and continue to do so.”

In order to survive, some Michelin-starred fine dining restaurants began offering takeaways for the first time.

Others sold finish-at-home meal kits, containing pre measured ingredients and recipe instructions.

Others operated pop-up delivery kitchens, based in locked-down pubs, or run online cookery courses.