Windsor’s Mango Lounge Wins at Asian & Oriental Chef Awards

Chef Vikas Soni of the Mango Lounge in Windsor has scooped the top award at this year ’ s Asian & Oriental Chef Awards BBC news anchor Samantha Simmonds presented the awards at a special at the House of Lords on 1st March hosted by Lord Kamall The evening was also used as a launch platform for the Asian Catering Federation s [ACF] full awards programme for 2023

Chef Soni s winning entr y Three Ways of Seafood Jewels – a star ter of oriental chili tiger prawns, battered fish with carom seeds, lobster cake with caper, rosemar y and aubergine salsa, beets coolie and herbal froth For the main, Vikas ser ved Tandoori Marinated Rabbit Loin, stuffed with rabbit kebab mince , red chili, coriander, baby spinach plus lababdar jus, ser ved with rabbit keema matter parcel, grilled corns, shallots, baby carrots and herbal sauce

A panel of judges was chaired by renowned restaurateur Rajesh Suri of the Michelin-ranked Grand Trunk Road in London

Suri acknowledged the incredibly high standards at the cook-off and paid tribute to the technical skills, originality and enthusiasm of the new generation of chefs competing in this year ’ s event

He commended on winning Chef Soni’s “perfect timings, enticing combinations of colours and textures, impressive skill set and braver y in selecting a set of notoriously challenging ingredients ”

The Runner’s-Up award went to Jiwan Lal of Babur Forest Hill in London with Vinod Singh, Head Chef of Pushkar restaurant in Birmingham, the second runner-up Jun Au of Edinburgh’s Pomelo was named top Scotland chef Saroj Thapaliya of Pananas Gurkha, Lewisham was awarded Best Nepalese Chef Mohammed Najjib Ali of Maya Bar & Restaurant, Atherstone collected the regional award for the Midlands

Commenting on the competition, ACF Chairman Yawar Khan said:

“Despite standards rising exponentially among our up-and-coming chefs, even the best establishments are facing unprecedented challenges on the viability of their business with rising energ y food and wage costs and cash-strapped customers He called on the government to slash the 20 percent VAT rate on hospitality sector, to stem the growing number of business closures

The event was also used to launch the Asian Restaurant Awards which will take place in Manchester on 19th June and Edinburgh on 18th September and the Asian Curr y Awards in London’s Grosvenor House on 19th November