International on Sticker Lane is named Best Restaurant

International on Sticker Lane has been named Best Restaurant at the Curry Life Awards 2023.

The flagship restaurant, which only opened in December last year, is the latest venture from Safeer Khan, whose family has owned International on Bradford's Morley Street for the last fifty years.

Mr Khan said the Sticker Lane restaurant is going from strength to strength - impressing customers and proving popular with locals and visitors alike.

The International team picks the award up (Image: The Curry Life Awards)

After the awards, he said: “We’ve worked hard to achieve good results, and it’s paying off, as we have a lot of customers. They’ve shown a great interest in the new restaurant.”

Top dishes include the chicken shashlik, king prawn grill, and the chicken nawabi khana, which features 21 ingredients in a special masala sauce with coriander.

The team at International outside the Sticker Lane restaurant (Image: International)

International took over the site from The Three Singhs, offering space for up to 300 diners over two floors, a 150-space car park, a large bar, and a waiting area at the front.

The awards, which took place on October 15, celebrated the elite in the UK's multi-billion-pound curry industry and featured 44 prizes across five categories: Editor’s Choice, Best Restaurant, Best Takeaway, Best Chef, and Best Recommended Restaurant.

The awards ceremony attracted an audience of more than five hundred, including Lord Karan Bilimoria, the founder of Cobra Beer, who is a current House of Lords member.

Speaking at the awards, Lord Bilimoria said: “I congratulate the award winners. Everyone who was on the stage has made sacrifices and worked hard. Your achievements inspire all of us, particularly younger people, to aspire and achieve themselves.”

The ceremony, held at the London Marriott, Grosvenor Square, also highlighted the curry industry's tenacity, which has survived despite the pandemic and cost of living crisis.

The awards were created by brothers Syed Pasha and Syed Ahmed, who came to the UK from Bangladesh in the 1970s and were surprised by the British appetite for curry.

International pick up a prize at the Curry Life Awards 2023 (Image: Curry Life Awards)

They launched Curry Life magazine 20 years ago, and the debut Awards were held in 2009.

Syed Pasha said: "We travelled thousands of miles this year visiting restaurants up and down the country, and it made me realise precisely why the curry industry will not only survive, but also thrive.

“It is the sheer determination, hard work, and a positive attitude from employees and employers alike and their sheer commitment to what they do.”