A cook has been shortlisted for a best chef award in British-Indian cuisine.

Head chef Steven Lee at the Hakkaland restaurant in Harrow has been nominated for the Best Chef of the Year award in the 2018 national Curry Life Awards.

The event has been organised by Curry Life magazine in association with Just Eat.

Chef Lee will attend a gala event at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in central London on October 7, alongside the first ever World Curry Expo. The ceremony will be hosted by journalist and broadcaster Jon Snow.

He said: “It's lovely to get shortlisted for a national honour like this. I don't get out of the kitchen much so look forward to sitting back and being served myself for a change.

"It's a team effort at the end of the day so this is a reflection on the whole team's work. We're a big family and will celebrate like one."

The annual Curry Life Awards are a national celebration of British-Indian cuisine and its most innovative chefs.

Editor of Curry Life, Syed Belal Ahmed, said: “Our judges were particularly impressed to see the Hakkaland restaurant offering a great variety of Indo-Chinese dishes, adapting Chinese

cooking techniques to Indian flavours and tastes."

General Manager and director of Hakkaland, Amit Kadam, said: “Learning that we had been nominated for the award by our customers was especially wonderful.

“We're delighted our customers have enjoyed themselves so much that they wanted to nominate us for the Curry Life award."

For more information, visit www.currylifeawards.com

All nominations are placed in a prize draw to win free flights, beer or a meal at a restaurant.