Eight finalists line up for Indian chef prize

PROFESSIONAL chefs make up seven of the eight finalists selected from 3,000 amateur and professional entries in the 1999 International Indian Chef of the Year Competition.

Kevin Williams, sous chef in the officers' mess on board HMS Fearless; Gurmit Sing Pank, chef-proprietor of the Plaza Indian Tandoori restaurant in Sparkbrook, Birmingham; Shamsu Miah, chef from Oldham, Lancashire; Elizabeth Grimston-Heaton, head chef at the Red Lion hotel in Spalding, Lincolnshire; Surendra Yejju, head chef at Café East in Bromley, Kent; Michael Godfrey, sous chef at Guinness Brewing in Park Royal, London; and Sumit Malik, executive chef at Noon Products in Southall, Middlesex, will compete against one non-professional cook in the final at Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh, on 12 February. Their task is to prepare and present two meat and two vegetarian dishes in three hours.

Last year's title and £1,000 prize went to Niall Gordon of Alpha Flight Services, which supplies the in-flight catering for British Airways' Gatwick flights. It was the first time the competition had been won by a non-Asian chef.