Birmingham restaurant Lasan wins Gordon Ramsay's F Word final

Jan 7 2010 Birmingham Post

Birmingham restaurant Lasan has won TV chef Gordon Ramsay's F Word contest.

The Indian diner, based in the city's Jewellery Quarter, beat off competition from 10,000 restaurants to be crowned Britains Best Local Restaurant in the F Word final on Channel 4 on Thursday night.

Head chef Aktar Islam and his co-chef Aysan Shaikh won their showdown with rivals from The Pheasant gastro pub in Cambridgeshire to land the title after four months of challenges.

Birmingham-born Aktar said the victory was a triumph for Indian cuisine and his home city - and said his new target was to make Lasan the first Michelin-star Indian restaurant in Birmingham.

Its a massive achievement, he said. Its hard to describe the emotions I was going through when Ramsay said we had won.

Winning the title is a massive step in raising the profile of Indian cuisine beyond takeaways and Tikka Massalas.

"My menus are designed to challenge perceptions, whilst still retaining authentic and original recipes, and the restaurant aims to be the height of sophistication and fine dining.

I always wanted to prove Indian food could kick it with the best of them and I hope this win shows that.

Theres a sophisticated side to it and it deserves to be revered alongside modern British, French and Italian cuisine.