Tandoori Sep/Oct 2014 | Page 6

national news Chef award for Cinnamon Soho 16,000 Raju Ramachandran, head chef of the modern Indian restaurant Cinnamon Soho, has won the prestigious Ethnic Chef Award at The Craft Guild of Chefs Awards 2014. Held at London’s Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel and attended by more than 650 guests, the awards recognise leaders across the industry, from fine dining restaurants through to pubs, military units and in contract catering. Up against strong contenders from Indian and Moroccan restaurants, chef Ramachandran joined other winners on the night including Eric Chavot from Brasserie Chavot, Gymkhana and Martin Powell from the RAC Club. Chef Ramachandran said: “Being recognised as a top chef in my field and winning the thnic Chef Award is a real achievement for me. Myself and the team at Cinnamon Soho work hard to develop and modernise Indian cuisine, producing innovative and unique dishes to keep diners coming back for more.” Cinnamon Soho is the third restaurant from executive chef Vivek Singh, sister restaurant to The Cinnamon Club and Cinnamon Kitchen. Offering an accessible menu with sharing plates and comfort food classics, sample dishes includes fat chillis filled with root vegetables and paneer, stir fried shrimp with curry leaf and black pepper along with mains such as chargrilled rump of Kentish lamb with saffron sauce and ucknow style free range chicken biryani. Desserts may feature mango and cardamom brulee whilst afternoon tea is also served. The restaurant has won a host of accolades since opening including; ‘Best Menu’ at the London Restaurant Festival Awards; ‘100 Best Small Dishes in London 2012’ for its Bangla Scotch egg dish and came second place in ‘Best in Taste of London’ for the lamb’s brain dish. Dipna Anand gets beyond brilliant Very much the “face” of the famed Brilliant restaurant in London’s Southall, Dipna Anand, who along with her father Gulu Anand, owns the establishment, has published her first cookery book entitled Beyond Brilliant. Anand, who also heads up the cookery school at the restaurant and is a chef lecturer at the University of West London, has stated that she found the experience of writing the 6 T A N D O O R I // September/October 2014 006_007_TM_Jun_Jul14_National News.indd 6 SQUARE FOOT AND CATERING FOR 420 CUSTOMERS IS THE CAPACITY OF THE NEW RED HOT WORLD BUFFET SITE IN LEICESTER 7 IS THE STREET NUMBER IN THE ADDRESS OF THE NEW INDIAN RESTAURANT IN WEYBRIDGE, NO 7 TEMPLE cookery book – with recipes inspired primarily by the dishes on Brilliant s un abi style menu as well as some of Anand’s own – as being quite “strange as well as intriguing.” Diligently promoting the new book, Anand stated: “I have been actively involved in the restaurant industry now for over ten years, from helping dad manage the restaurant, assisting chefs in devising new dishes and more. All of a sudden I was being being called a chef and author as opposed to a chef or a lecturer and to me it was something positive that added to my image and role in the sector I’m in.” The book includes 54 recipes in total of which 40 are from the Brilliant, whilst others are those which Anand has learnt from her mother. The remaining ones are, which she teaches her students at the university and the others are healthy option recipes, which she won her national A’level’ award for from the British Nutrition Foundation. www.tandoorimagazine.com 27/08/2014 11:24