Hampstead curry house The Rajdoot has scooped Regional Chef of the Year at the Asian Restaurant and Takeaway Awards.

Bengal Tiger in Old Street, Islington won Best Restaurant East London.

The awards recognise the best of the UK's Asian cuisine with finalists selected from 2,370 nominations of South Asian takeaways, restaurants and chefs, based on a survey of 700,000 customers of the app Chefonline.

Quality of service, food, and value for money plus Hygiene ratings and Tripadvisor and Google rankings were put in the mix - with shortlisted restaurants invited to a cook-off for judges who scored dishes on flavour, appearance, texture, hygiene, and aroma.

The Rajdoot, in Fleet Road, and Kentish Town restaurant Monsoon missed out on north London's Best Restaurant award which went to Bayleaf in Whetstone.

But owner Mohammad Rahman, whose family founded their sister venue in Marylebone in 1964 and the Hampstead eaterie in 2017, said he was delighted to win best chef for north London.

"It was a lovely ceremony and we are very happy to win this award," he said. "The chef Abdur Rob is my younger brother and he's very good!"

Abdur cooked Bahari Lamb – a dish with tomatoes, green chilis and "chef's own spices" – and "chef's own recipe" Benaroshi King Prawn for the judges, who included Chand Rahman, Mohammed Mujibur Rahman, and Graham Taylor.

Mr Rahman added: "The dishes are very nice and special to our restaurant."

The coveted ARTA awards were handed out on Sunday at the InterContinental Hotel at The O2 in a ceremony hosted by BBC broadcaster Samantha Simmonds and magician Paul Martin.

Islington Gazette: Bengal Tiger in Old Street scooped best regional restaurant for East London in the Asian Restaurant and Takeaway AwardsBengal Tiger in Old Street scooped best regional restaurant for East London in the Asian Restaurant and Takeaway Awards (Image: Courtesy of ARTA)

Awards founder Salik Mohammed Munim said: "The ARTA Awards are a recognition of Britain’s vibrant Asian restaurants, takeaways, and chefs. Since the inception of ARTA, we have clearly seen the phenomenal quality of entrants, and the bar set by each, and every nominee has been increasing each year. I am truly blown away by the standards set by the competition and having been privy to exceptional quality extended by the nominees, I can confidently assert that Asian culinary industry in Britain is in safe hands. Every nominee and winner should be proud of their work."