The much-awaited Bradford Curry Awards is back with its fourth edition on 10 July. More than 200 establishments competed for the coveted title to be the Best of the Best 2023, with around 30 making it to the finals, in nine categories, ranging from best restaurant, eatery, caterer and best marketing.
Each day, we hope to introduce you to a finalist, so you can find out more about their food and their journey as a finalist. Akbar’s Bradford is running for the best restaurant category, which aims to judge everything from food and presentation to comfort and ambience, basically providing an all-round service. Other finalists along with Akbar’s are, Bala Hissar, International, Lala’s Leeds Bradford, MyLahore and Prashad.
Akbar’s situated on Leeds Road, Bradford was started by Mr Shabir Hussain in 1996, now slowly it has grown into a brand and has branches across the UK.
“My journey was fuelled with passion and enthusiasm. It was motivated by the constant reminder of my respected father.” Shabir says.
Shabir Hussain adds, “With this our journey continued, I have never stopped, we went from strength to strength. Having the ability to cook and create my own recipe, has been a huge advantage, having then taken time out to study at Bradford college, to further enhance my experience also was a big edge that I have over the industry at that time.
“With this vision and drive to become a household name, what I achieved in 15 years. Akbar became a household name throughout the UK including Scotland. This was all built organically and was self-funder.”
Covid, Shabir says, was the biggest challenge Akbar’s faced in its 27 years of being present in the industry.
“Like everybody, we also struggled through Covid. It was a very struggling time; it was a very demanding time for every business. Being closed for months and months, hit us financially, it hit us with manpower. It escalated prices for the energy, raw materials, labours and we had no great help from the Government or any external party. It became a game of survival of the fittest. It was very sad for us to many of our colleagues and comrades in the industry for years, who are no longer now in business. People had to lose staff and lose businesses.
“This resulted in many people losing jobs, people have no choice to downsize. It has been a very challenging time.”
Speaking of the food variety the restaurants serve, Shabir says, “In Bradford, Akbar’s is a pioneer in the Indian food business industry. Akbar was the original restaurant to introduce high-end quality ice creams like Mövenpick into Bradford and other cities. Akbar’s was the first restaurant to serve halal continental food alongside the desi Asian food.
“We offer Chinese and Thai dishes, and to do it with a twist of Indo-Chinese twist, like what we have in Pakistan.
“Akbar’s café was the first dessert parlour, which started in 2008 and since then around the country, we have had thousands of desserts parlour opened. But I can assure you, Akbar’s was the first.
“Akbar’s café was also the first to introduce the charsi style of cuisine. Since then, there are about ten charsi style restaurants that have opened.”
When asked, what would the title of best curry restaurant mean for Akbar’s, “It would mean that my hard work, hard work from my team, hard work for the customers have paid off. The time we have spent in creating these dishes, it shows that it has been recognised. To receive this award, amplify the joy and happiness for my team, which would mean that they deserve it for their hardwork”.
It would all be down to the decision being made on 10 July, watch this space and follow the fourth Bradford Curry Awards to see if ‘Akbar’ is coronated as the ‘shehenshah’ of the Bradford Curry sultanate.
Stay tuned on this space.
