MP congratulates local Tiffin Cup winners

Mike Penning MP has presented certificates to the winners and runners-up of the local round of the ‘Tiffin Cup’.

Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning has visited the winners and runners-up of the Hemel Hempstead constituency nomination for the Tiffin Cup and presented a banner to the winner and certificates to the runners-up.

The Tiffin Cup is awarded each year by a cross-party group of Members of Parliament called the Tiffin Club. Each Member of Parliament is invited to nominate the best South Asian restaurant in their constituency.

Mike selected his local nomination by holding a competition with members of the public voting for their favourite.

The winning restaurant is Sitar of Boxmoor, second place The Pavilion in Markyate and third Bengal Spice in Hemel Hempstead.

The winner will now go through to the next round. The competition concludes with the national finalists attending a Grand Final special “cook-off” at Bellamy's Restaurant in the Houses of Parliament presided over by TV’s Ainsley Harriott. This high profile event attracts a large number of visitors and raises money for the Tiffin Cup’s chosen charity which this year is 'World Vision' which works globally to speak out for children affected by injustice and poverty.

Mike said:
“I congratulate all the restaurants and hope that our winning nomination, Sitar, gets through to the grand final in London. This is a great opportunity to promote South Asian food and the high quality of our local restaurants. I am delighted with the huge public response to the competition which attracted the highest number of votes since we started.”

Last year’s national winner was ‘Tamasha Restaurant’ of Bromley in south London. The local nomination was Cinnamon Lounge who achieved a ‘Highly Commended’ in the national competition.

Sitar was also selected as the local nomination in 2008.