North East restaurant picks up Oscar of the curry world

A South Tyneside eaterie has curried favour with judges to be named as the North East Restaurant of the Year.
Shah ChoudhuryShah Choudhury
Shah Choudhury

Zeera in Ocean Road, South Shields, proved their spice is right after winning the title at this year’s English Curry Awards, held at the Mercure Hotel in Manchester.

Held annually to celebrate the country’s best curry houses, the competition is based around nominations and Zeera came out top among tough competition in the North East region.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The restaurant was also shortlisted nationally in the Best Marketing campaign section on the back of its successful sponsorship of this year’s South Tyneside Festival.

Restaurant owner Shah Choudhury said: “All the team here are on cloud nine and we would like to thanks all our customers for their kinds words and support in helping us achieve this major accolade.

“We were happy to be nominated alongside some of the best restaurants in the region so to take the top honour is amazing. The award is reward for the Zeera team who work so hard to bring our customers the best and we already working on exciting plans for 2017 to make the experience an even better one.”

“The award is reward for all the hard work we put in to make the Zeera experience an excellent one. We will strive to continue to bring our the best in Indian Cuisine and we have exciting plans for 2017.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The restaurant opened back in December 2007 after brothers Shahanoor, Kohinoor and Abadur Choudhury decided to go it alone and open their own place.

Zeera quickly became a favourite haunt for curry lovers visiting Ocean Road from across the region and head chef Kohinoor went on to win South Tyneside Chef of the Year twice in 2009 and 2011 and North East Curry Chef of the Year 2012.

In 2012 Zeera also doubled in size to cope with demand and now caters for up to 80 people in two adjoining contemporary Bollywood-style dining areas.