Awards TikTok videos earn curry house major prize
ABRISTOL restaurant has won a newly introduced award at the ‘Curry Oscars’ – the celebration of the UK’s best curry houses.
Urban Tandoor went home with the Diners’ Choice Award, recognising its efforts in engaging audiences on social media.
Urban Tandoor, which has restaurants on Small Street and Whiteladies Road, was also on the shortlist for the Best in the South West category with another Bristol restaurant, The Mint Room. In the end, Prithvi Restaurant, of Cheltenham, took that crown.
Urban Tandoor, well-known for its colourful decor and mouthwatering menu, fended off strong competition to win the Diners’ Choice prize at the awards, officially entitled the British Curry Awards.
Any nominated establishment in the country had a chance to win, with the eventual victor the restaurant securing the highest number of live public votes cast on the night.
Urban Tandoor has taken the video hosting platform TikTok by storm this year, with its most popular video attracting almost 3.5 million views. The restaurant has 30,000 followers and has had well over a million likes.
Speaking about the award, owner Sujith D’almeida said: “It was a different type of award to win – it happens on the spot. People kept voting until the end at 10pm, when they closed the line. It was time for us to come back and I said ‘I don’t think we’re winning anything – let’s make a move.’ That’s when they announced it!
“When you see the big names there you already give up. I didn’t think we were in that category. It was good to be recognised all over the UK for a different twist.”
Urban Tandoor beat the likes of Dishoom and Ashas, who have huge social media followings but have not broken through to TikTok.
Sujith added: “It shows the power of social media. We’re not that big but the noise we make with our videos has gone everywhere now.”
At first, he was not convinced about TikTok but quickly saw the potential when the team started their account in August 2021. Sujith said the whole team was involved in making the videos, focusing on social media trends and current events, including Boris Johnson’s resignation and Love Island UK.
“The staff like to dance and that encourages more students to work with us now. We have now created three or four jobs for the videos.”
The restaurant is no stranger to awards, having won in the Fine Dining, Restaurants and Products category at the Good Food Awards 2021. It also scooped Best Healthy Curry provider at the 2018 English Curry Awards and Best Restaurant in the South West at the Asian Curry Awards.
It is a challenging time for the hospitality industry. Curry restaurants have seen their bills increase by an average of 40 per cent in recent months.
Although he admitted it was a tough time, Sujith said he was remaining positive: “The worst for us was Covid – you can’t get any lower than that. But what we’ve got in Bristol is the community spirit and everybody likes to support each other.
“Even during Covid I was thinking are we even going to open again. But what many of our guests do is they order something like champagne, something expensive or gift vouchers, those kinds of things, to make sure we’re in the market. The community won’t let you collapse.”
» Find Urban Tandoor at 211 Whiteladies Road, Bristol, BS8 2XS, or 13 Small Street, Bristol, BS1 1DE.
❝We’re not that big but the noise we make with our videos has gone everywhere now
Sujith D’almeida