Curry House of the Year: Three Corstorphine restaurants take top spots

PEOPLE would be forgiven for thinking Corstorphine was more famous for its pandas than its Peshwari nans, but the spice is right for the Capital's new curry mile after three local restaurants took the top spots in the Evening News Curry House of the Year awards.

Jas Singh of winner The Spice Lounge in Corstorphine.

It is the third year running curry kings The Spice Lounge Kitchen have been crowned the cream of the curry crop and owner Jas Singh was delighted. The family run business on Craigmount View is only in its sixth year of business, but have cemented themselves as firm favourites for their fans. Jas said: “It feels great to win the hat-trick. Everyone works really hard to give our customers the best food.”

The restaurant offers sit-in dining, takeaway and caters regularly for weddings, parties and other events. This year at the festival Jas and some of his 18 staff drove a catering van around the city cooking up their dishes on the go and serving hungry revellers their award-winning fare. Jas said: “The food is really good quality. It’s the food my family and I eat and no-one has ever said a bad word about it.”

St Johns Curry Club came in at third place.

Jas, from the Punjab region of northern India, has lived in Corstorphine for 35 years after visiting Edinburgh for a holiday. He fell in love with the city and its weather. He said: “I love the weather and the rain.” The popular restaurant is busy all year round and sometimes Jas lends a hand in the kitchen. He is proud of the title and is looking forward to welcoming more customers.

Jas said: “Our customers are really glad that we have won and I want to wish the other winners well too.”

Abida Restaurant, opened in 2009, on St John’s Road came second on the list. Nearby St Johns Curry Club, also on St John’s Road, grabbed third place in the competition, which is voted for by the general public. Manager Sadiq Rahman said: “We are very happy and our customers are very happy. We cook food from all across subcontinental Asia, including Thailand, India and Pakistan.” His most popular dishes include chicken Balti and chilli garlic chicken.

Staff at the restaurant, which has been open for 18 years, pride themselves on their fresh ingredients and imported spices. Sadiq said he was pleased the area was finally getting the culinary recognition it deserved.

Abida Restaurant was second in the curry house awards.

Cllr Scott Douglas: “This is great news for Corstorphine and the curry houses that have been recognised.

“For a long time our area has been one of the best places in Edinburgh to come and eat and this result proves that.

“I hope this news will mean residents across Edinburgh will come along to Corstorphine to try these award-winning curries.”

Euan McGrory, deputy editor of the Evening News, said: “Everyone tends to talk about Glasgow as being Scotland’s ‘curry Capital’, but we have so many fantastic curry restaurants in Edinburgh and the Lothians now that we can certainly give them a run for their money. The way our readers voted in such great numbers for their favourites shows how much we love our curries.

“It is incredible that one area has managed to dominate this year’s awards by winning the top three spots in our public vote. Corstorphine is clearly Edinburgh’s curry ‘hot stop’.”