Brick Lane teenage curry boss proves he’s hot stuff winning award for his new vegan menu

A new vegan menu dreamed up by a teenage curry house boss earned Brick Lane’s City Spice the ‘best vegan Indian restaurant’ title at last night’s Bangladesh Caterers’ Association awards.

The crowning moment 19-year-old Abdul receives his prestigeous award at the Park Lane Plaza. Picture: Bangladesh Caterers Association - Credit: BCA

Abdul Muhaimen, the restaurant’s 19-year-old manager, created the menu of 14 hot dishes after his dad went to a culinary masterclass with Michelin star chef Rupert Rowley in Sri Lanka.

“Brick Lane is an incredible institution,” Abdul said. “But every institution needs a kick up the bum once in a while! Pallets are changing and ‘the Lane’ needs to catch up.”

Being recognised by the curry trade is just the tip of the iceberg for the family-run business which has now served up 1,000 vegan dishes since the menu started—enough to pay the first year’s tuition fees for the young entrepreneur’s university course!

The awards at the Park Lane Plaza are “the ‘Oscars’ of the curry world” which were voted on by 12,000 restaurants which belong to the association.

But it isn’t the first taste of success for City Spice, which scooped up ‘restaurant of the year’ title in 2017 and ‘best Asian restaurant’ in 2016.

The new dishes were Brick Lane’s first-ever vegan menu started in the summer heatwave, which hotted up to a 170 per cent rise in the restaurant’s bookings in the first two months.