A BRADFORD restaurant has taken home a top prize at the inaugural English Asian Food Awards.

MyLahore, the British Asian restaurant chain which has its flagship restaurant on Great Horton Road, has been named Pakistani Restaurant of the Year at the awards held on Monday.

The family-run company, which also has restaurants in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham, received one of 20 awards handed out on the night.

Ghafoor Farooq, director of MyLahore, said: “It is a big achievement for us and we are proud to have won the award, we were not expecting it.

“We started here in 2002, Bradford was the original, and we brought the fusion concept to the area.

“This is big for us after winning about five awards at the Bradford Curry Awards last year.

“These awards are good for the industry, it gives us recognition and pushes businesses to strive further.

“We’ve opened up restaurants around the UK, and we’re proud to be from Bradford and to have gone to other cities and been successful.

“We always strive for the highest standards and want people to get the ‘wow’ experience, and we’re constantly trying to improve and listen to customer feedback.”

The award ceremony has been set up to recognise and reward Asian restaurants, takeaways and other food establishments across England.

Another local restaurant was recognised at the awards as the Royal Delhi Restaurant in Brighouse was named 5 Star Indian Restaurant of the Year for the North, although it failed to taken home the overall prize.

The event was organised by ethnic consulting and promotions organisation Oceanic Consulting, which is responsible for a number of events, including the Curry Awards, and the British Muslim Awards.

Irfan Younis, CEO of Oceanic Consulting said: “We would like to congratulate all of the winners and finalists from the first ever English Asian Food Awards 2019. The evening was a great success, particularly given the fact that this was the first award of its kind in England.

“We are keen to carry the momentum on from tonight, to future awards ceremonies celebrating Asian food in England, and to keep rewarding those who help this industry grow and shake markets year on year.”

Other local finalists included The Imperial Chinese in Shipley for Chinese Restaurant of the Year, North; Future Balti in Bradford for 5 Star Indian Takeaway of the Year, North: and PIND Restaurant and Jinnah Bradford in the Pakistani Restaurant of the Year category.

The list of finalists was compiled based on hundreds of nominations received by the public and included more than 300 establishments across a number of categories.