Charity kitchen spices up awards shortlist

A CHARITY curry kitchen that feeds students and worshippers is to go head-to-head with Scotland's top Michelin star restaurants tonight.

Edinburgh's Mosque Kitchen – which serves curry on a paper plate for 4 – has been shortlisted alongside Tom Kitchin and Albert Roux's award-winning eateries at the Scottish Restaurant Awards.

The kitchen was set up following the 9/11 attacks to open up the mosque to people of different faiths in the city. Mohammed Akbar, spokesman for the Edinburgh Central Mosque, said: "There had been a lot of negative stuff in the media and we wanted to show people the true nature of Islam.

"We used to just serve food to people who came in for prayers. But we wanted to be able to provide everyone with a decent meal for a very low cost, so we opened up."