Four Scottish restaurants up for Gok Wan hosted Golden Chopsticks gong

FOUR Scottish restaurants will battle it out at a national awards ceremony celebrating the best of Oriental cuisine.

Two restaurants in Edinburgh and two in Glasgow have been voted by the public into the finalist stage of The Golden Chopsticks Awards’ Best Oriental Restaurant in Scotland category.

The four Scottish restaurants are Harajuku Kitchen, Japanese restaurant in Edinburgh, The Chinese Manor House also in Edinburgh, The Amber Regent, Cantonese restaurant in Glasgow and Julie’s Kopitiam, Malaysian restaurant also in Glasgow.

Fashion guru Gok Wan will host the awards bash next month. Picture: The Golden Chopsticks Awards

The chosen restaurants have been voted for by members of the public over a six-week period, with 20,000 votes registered.

Gok Wan, co-founder and host of the awards said: “After last year’s huge success of our first ever Golden Chopsticks Awards, we’re going bigger and better in 2019. The food industry has been crying out for a celebration of Oriental food in the UK. This year’s awards are already the talk of the Oriental food scene.

“When I was a kid, Chinese was considered very exotic. Today Japanese and Thai are up there and Korean, Vietnamese and Malaysian are well on their way.

“We are delighted to have finalists from all over the country and covering a range of different cuisines from hugely popular Chinese food to more unusual Vietnamese and Filipino.”

At the inaugural Golden Chopsticks Awards last year, Edinburgh Thai restaurant Chaophraya was announced the Scottish winner.

Franchises Wagamama and Cosmo appear as nominees in this year’s Chain category.

• The full list of finalists in the public awards are as follows:

1. The Golden Chopsticks Best Restaurant in England

Dragon Inn Club (London), Duck and Rice (London), Jinli Newport Place (London), Little Viet Kitchen

(London)

2. The Golden Chopsticks Best Restaurant in Wales

Gigi’s (Swansea) Sushi Life (Cardiff) The Dragon Palace (Saundersfoot) Zi’s Café (Cardiff)

3. The Golden Chopsticks Best Restaurant in Scotland

Amber Regent (Glasgow), Harajuku Kitchen (Edinburgh), Julie’s Kopitiam (Glasgow), The Chinese Manor

House (Edinburgh)

4. The Golden Chopsticks Best Restaurant in Northern Ireland

Abacus Restaurant (Belfast), House of Zen (Belfast), Jumon (Belfast), The Welcome Restaurant (Belfast)

5. The Golden Chopsticks Best Newcomer

Bao & Bing (London), Michael Wan’s Wok Inn (Blackpool), Mizu Pan Asian Restaurant (Cumbria), Sarap

Filipino BBQ & Lechon (London)

6. The Golden Chopsticks Best Takeaway sponsored by Just Eat

Golden Dragon Takeaway (Swansea), Hop Vietnamese (London), Tai Pan Express Oriental (Northwood),

Ying’s Thai Takeaway (Sunderland)

7. The Golden Chopsticks Best Fusion Restaurant

Chotto Matte (London), Inamo (London), Romulo Café (London), Sticky Mango (London)

8. The Golden Chopsticks Best Restaurant Chain

Cosmo, Itsu, Rosa’s Thai Café, Wagamama

9. The Golden Chopsticks Best Noodle Dish Award

Kanada-Ya (London), Peking Garden Restaurant (Northwood), Thai House Cafe (Newcastle), Tonkotsu

(London)

10. The Golden Chopsticks Best Vegetarian Dish Award

Golden Dragon Takeaway (Swansea), Mao Chow (London), Phung Kay (London), Your Thai Café (Liverpool)

11. The Golden Chopsticks Best Sweet Treat Award

Cuppacha (London & Sheffield), Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream (London), Tsujiri Matcha House (London),

Yolkin (London)

12. The Golden Chopsticks Best Street Food Award

Big Bamboo Asian Deli with a Twist (Hartlepool), Da Ja Street Food (London), Little Somboon Kitchen

(York), Tikk’s Thai Kitchen (York)

13. The Golden Chopsticks Best Dumpling Award

Baby Buddha Chinese Teahouse (Norwich), Din Tai Fung (London), Dumpling Shack (London), Yauatcha

(London)