Bridgwater-based Spice Club is leading the way in Indian cuisine after triumphing in the Best Restaurant category at the Curry Life Awards 2023.

Commenting after the awards, chef Mohammed said: “It’s such a good feeling to have won this award and it feels like a real achievement. It’s thanks to our dedicated staff and all our customers who have helped to make this happen.”

The Curry Life Awards 2023, which took place on 15 October, celebrated the elite in the UK's multi-billion-pound curry industry and featured 44 awards across five categories: Editor’s Choice, Best Restaurant, Best Takeaway, Best Chef and Best Recommended Restaurant. The awards attracted an audience of more than five hundred, including beer magnate Lord Karan Bilimoria, who founded Cobra Beer and is a current House of Lords member, and representatives from headline sponsor Just Eat.

The restaurant's concept is based on creating an ambience embedding Indian culture, hospitality and high-quality food for groups, local people, and functions. Mohammed views the restaurant as being more than simply a restaurant, seeing it as a community-led business providing jobs, involved with fundraising events and acting as a central community hub.

Since opening, the restaurant has won various awards and competitions, including Chef of the Year with Curry Life and it has also joined the British Curry Festival team working alongside five-star chefs at the Hyatt Regency in Chennai, India.

“We want to continue doing what we’re doing - and doing it better,” said Mohammed. “The award has inspired us to do this.”

Guests on the red carpet event included Paul Scully MP, Minister for London, Tech and the Digital Economy and Steve Double MP, Member of the Parliament for St Austell and Newquay and Government post of Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury. ”

Also in attendance was Rushanara Ali, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow and Shadow Minister for Investment and Small Business, Sir Peter Bottomley, MP for Worthing West and Father of the House, who has been an MP continuously since 1975,

The 14th edition of the Awards, which took place at the London Marriott, Grosvenor Square, was presented by broadcaster and television presenter Lucrezia Millarini. The event was also an occasion to mark an additional celebration, as 2023 is the 20thanniversary year of Curry Life magazine, the promoter of the Awards.