Last Tuesday, 12th July, I had the pleasure of
attending the Tiffin Cup Final in the kitchens of House of Commons. The Cup celebrates the
best South Asian food that this country has to offer, and I was delighted to be
supporting one of our own fantastic restaurants, Haveli, in the process.
The food was judged by celebrity chef Ainsley Harriot among
other independent assessors on a blind tasting, and I must say that I also sampled a fair amount of the food, purely to
make it a fair test! Haveli chose to produce their Goan Prawn Curry, which is
probably my favourite dish on the whole menu. The dish was a hit with the
judges, and ensured that Haveli secured a very respectable fourth-placed
finish.
Haveli is one of the North East’s culinary high-points, and
I was very pleased to see them do so well. Just to make it to the final was
enough, but to come 4th out of the whole country is staggering. We
should all be very proud of them.