The Michelin Star Chef Dominic Chapman arrived at Dhaka to celebrate and share the true taste of British curry in the weeklong British Curry Festival, starting October 21, 2022.
Spices and flavours are magical ingredients that bring diverse cultures together. The curry flavours are a perfect balance of flavours connecting food lovers worldwide. Over the years, these curry savours started gaining popularity in Britain. Today, British Curry is an essential part of the British way of life. Hence, to celebrate its magnanimity, the British Curry Festival was jointly organised by InterContinental Dhaka and Curry Life Magazine UK from Friday, October 21 until Wednesday, October 26, 2022. The festival has returned after more than two decades to showcase the best British curry experience, featuring Michelin Star Chef Dominic Chapman.
The British Curry Festival was inaugurated at the hotel’s Ruposhi Bangla Grand Ballroom with a grand gala dinner. All the curry dishes were presented by Michelin Chef Dominic Chapman, along with award-winning curry chefs- Chef Jamal Uddin Ahmed, Jafor Solim Uddin, Syed Nazrul Islam, Utpal Kumar Mondal, and Moloy Haider.
The curry industry in the UK has indeed thrived over the years. There are now an estimated 12,000 curry houses in Britain. 90% of these curry restaurants are established by chefs of Bangladeshi descent. Curry houses have been a feature of life in the UK for 200 years. Hence, the British Curry Festival was designed by brothers Syed Belal and Syed Nahas Pasha of the Curry Life Magazine UK to represent the delectable essence of the world-famous curry delicacies.
The chef experimented with the curry ingredients and flavours to exhibit a wide range of appetising curry dishes, such as naga fish balti, British chicken tikka masala, chicken biryani, shatkora mutton curry, shahi paneer, seasonal vegetable dhansak, lauki chana madras, plain naan, garlic naan, and vegetable raita.
Sharing the culinary experience, Chef Dominic Chapman said, “There is certainly a mutual ground between the British Curry and the Indian Curry. The subtle differences are merely in the level of spices, cream, and batter. That’s where we got to blend the two kinds of curry flavours to present a variety of dishes. Besides, I have had an excellent experience working with the Bangladeshi team here. We got to share and experiment with ideas to bring a new dimension to curry flavours.”
The British Curry Festival 2022 offered a delicious buffet experience for BDT 7500 per person. Buy One Get One Offers were provided with selected bank cards. During the weeklong festival, the diners actively interacted with the whole cohort of chefs to communicate ideas and views about the curry dishes in the festival.
Photographs: Shihab Mohammad