11:55am Wednesday 3rd November 2004
By Croydon Guardian
A man who only moved to the UK from India two years ago was crowned Croydon's Curry Chef of the Year last Thursday.
Thirumugam Sundaram, 28, chef at Banana Leaf in Lower Addiscombe Road, won by a narrow margin over three other Croydon curry restaurants in the final.
Restaurant manager Rajkumar Rengaraj said afterwards: "This is great, we are very happy. There's lots and lots of Indian restaurants opening so it's good to have some reputation."
Banana Leaf has won the title three times before with the restaurant's owner Sitaraman who went on to represent Croydon in the national title.
Thirumugam won the Guardian-sponsored title with a menu of chettinadu kozhi curry, tender pieces of chicken with a rich dark sauce of onions, tomatoes, cinnamon and cardamom, khai kari khorma, garden vegetables cooked on a tangy coconut sauce and finished with a hint of green chilli, served with lemon rice.
The runners-up were Monir Miah of Zaal in Purley High Street, Shalim Uddin of Sitar in Portland Road, South Norwood, and Maskoor Siddiqi of Planet Spice in Selsdon Park Road.
The judges Councillor Paul Smith, Guardian editor Alison Hepworth, Croydon College catering lecturer Juan Martin-Pahl and Dr John Thomas, consultant of communicable diseases marked each chef on different criteria including the taste, smell and appearance of the dishes they prepared, as well as cleanliness.
The competition is organised by Croydon Council every year in a bid to maintain good practice in Croydon's curry restaurants. This year 29 chefs from 24 restaurants entered and four reached the final.
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