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A local Indian restaurant has scooped a national award in a glittering ceremony in London.

Dabbawal, an Indian street food kitchen based in Newcastle, has won the ‘Best Casual Dining in the UK’ accolade at one of the biggest annual events in the Indian culinary trade’s calendar – The British Curry Awards.

The restaurant saw off stiff competition from fast-growing favourite Dishoom, which has four branches in London and one in Edinburgh, as well as the renowned Chilli Pickle in Brighton, to be crowned the best in the UK.

Dabbawal was founded in 2008, and was one of the first fully-fledged street food restaurants in the country. Since its opening, the concept of serving Indian street food in a restaurant-style setting has become incredibly popular.

The British Curry Awards, which is now in its 13th year, recognised Dabbawal for a number of innovations which gave it the edge over its competitors, including the fact that the Dabbawal team created an original street food concept inspired by the famous Dabbawalas of Mumbai, and focused on recreating authentic recipes found on the streets, as well as home-style recipes going back generations.

The restaurant also scored highly on its quirky branding and bold menu choices, giving customers the choice of small plates, big eats and all-around sharing.

Jane Matthews, business development manager at Dabbawal, said: “We are delighted to have been recognised at The British Curry Awards for being pioneers of what has become one of the most popular restaurant concepts in the industry. We spend onerous amounts of time in all aspects of the business to ensure we are pushing boundaries and bringing original, exciting innovations to our customers, from the flavours and style of food right through to the graphics and interiors. We are very happy to be recognised for being ahead on a national level, and we are so proud to bring this award back to the North East.”

Dabbawal has two venues in the North East. The first 70-seat restaurant opened on High Bridge in Newcastle city centre, and proved to be such a hit that the team opened a second restaurant in one of Newcastle’s popular suburbs, Jesmond, featuring 82 seats plus a veranda.

For further information about Dabbawal, visit https://dabbawal.com/

To read the original article, visit https://bdaily.co.uk/articles/2017/11/30/dabbawal-is-crowned-the-uk-s-street-food-champion