A Bexhill Indian restaurant has received the ‘highly commended’ status in a competition run by the House of Commons. The restaurant was nominated by the area MP. The contest, called the Tiffin Cup, was supposed to identify the best South East Asian restaurant in the UK and The Shiplu emerged among the runners-up. The Indian restaurant’s name was forwarded by the MP, Huw Merriman after it received the highest number of nominations when the constituents had been asked to vote for their favourite earlier in the year.
The owner of the restaurant, Abul Azad, was happy to have achieved such a high ranking especially after being named the ‘Curry house of the year’ by the Observer. He said that taking part in the Tiffin Cup and achieving the ‘Highly Commended’ status in the grand final was an honour. He stated that he’d been surprised to have even been nominated and he extended gratitude to the restaurant’s supporters who had gotten it this far. He also thanked the mystery diner who had given them the high ranking at a time when the restaurant is extremely busy on a daily basis.
The House of Commons runs the Tiffin Cup as a way of applauding South Asian food in Britain and also as a way of raising money for charity. The competition this time around was raising funds for Water Aid and World Vision. The Shiplu got the highly commended status after they were visited by the mystery diner. The Grand Final was held at the House of Commons on 12th July and Huw joined business partners, Azad and Ahmed Ali, to celebrate their achievement. The MP stated that he was happy the Shiplu Tandoori had received the highly commended status in the Tiffin Cup. He added that it was a shame they didn’t make it as far as the Grand Final but the fact that they had made it as far as they did was proof enough of the excellent work that was done by the restaurant and its staff to give customers a great eating experience.
MP Keith Vaz who is the co-chairman of the Tiffin Cup stated that they were delighted that the Shiplu Tandoori had been highly commended in the 2016 competition and the achievement was a fitting tribute to the restaurant and also to the Bexhill and Battle constituency in general.