Food and drink

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From washer-up to supermarket king


29/ 4/2005

About town with top chef Aazam Ahmad

From washer-up to supermarket king
Now a word on Manchester's other great foreign culinary tradition, Chinese food. The city is home to the UK's finest Chinese restaurant and supermarkets bar none.
This Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rooster, I was the guest of Mr Wing Yip the very generous owner of the Wing Yip supermarket chain, at his store on the Oldham Road, Ardwick. Typical of his enterprising countrymen, Mr Yip has graduated from washing up in a Hull Chinese restaurant, via a tea shop in Clacton-on-Sea to being the UKs leading Chinese grocers employing more than 300 staff.
The Rooster banquet, in the aptly named Glamourous restaurant, above the store, was simply fabulous with a sea food theme we progressed from prawn dim sum via beautifully flavoured lobster, to my favourite, sea bas in a sweet and sour Sichuan sauce. The Glamourous has got to be rivalling Yang Sing in the Chinese dining out premiership - well done to Tommy Hung, its jovial, friendly owner.
You can now sample some of the delights of the Wing Yip through its Internet shopping website: www.wingyipstore.co.uk


A hilarious comedy of errors
Over 400 guests paraded the red carpet for the Manchester premiere of this summer's British Asian comedy - Chicken Tikka Masala.
The Preston shot film follows the fortunes of the Chopra family of Preston as they arrange for their only son Jimi (Chris Bisson) to become engaged to Simran, a pretty, well-educated girl from a respectable Indian family. Simran is perfect in every way but there's one major problem, Jimi is in love with someone else...his boyfriend Jack!
The comedy continues with many hilarious twist and turns including a phantom child and a proposed marriage to a white landlady.
Chicken Tikka Masala is a comedy of errors, examining relationships and love that rise above issues of culture, age and sexuality.
Some scenes are extremely funny and had me in stitches.
Young actress Katy Layton who plays Vanessa's daughter did a superb job in her role with great facial expressions and good body language.
Chris and Sally played their roles well and it was enjoyable to watch.
To top it off, I was then invited to the after-show party at the Shere Khan restaurant in the Trafford Centre.
The food, as always, was excellent and I even got to taste their new northern brand of curry sauces. My favourite was the korma, a nice smooth rich sauce.
With food in mind yours truly will be dining out with Sally very soon - so watch this space.

Last month I was invited as a judge for the Oldham Advertiser sponsored Oldham curry chef competition.
Not knowing what to expect before I went, I was genuinely quite impressed by the standard of chefs from Oldham.
In fact, I reckon these chefs can easily give those in Rusholme a good run for their money.
The standard has improved ten-fold over the years, not only in taste but also professionalism.
The young chef from the Ashiqee restaurant on Middleton Road, Jit Sunar was highly deserving of his first place position. It was a tough call but thanks to the judges who came from all walks of life including the Oldham Mayor Abdul Jabbar, our minds were made up.
Interestingly, there are now a few colleges doing courses in Pan-Asian cuisine. This has been long overdue, but it's still better late than never.


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