UK Curry Championships 2026

The UK Curry Championships – a live cook off event – which is regarded as one of the most challenging curry cooking competitions, will take place at Central Bedfordshire College in Dunstable on 28th May.

Hosted by Asian hospitality group UK Curry Connect, the UK Curry Championships “celebrate British curry culture, providing a platform for culinary professionals to showcase their expertise.” Well-known industry figure Shah F. Athar has played a pivotal role in establishing the competition’s reputation, making it a highly anticipated event within the industry.

The event which claims to be one of the nation’s largest live culinary competitions, featuring side events, in collaboration with the Craft Guild of Chefs, including the ‘Vegetarian Main Course’, ‘Street Food,’ and ‘Dessert’ categories, each offering Best In Class awards.

Each chef will cook two courses – a vegetarian/seafood starter and a lamb-based main course, all within the space of one hour. Participants can prepare any style of curry – whether traditional or modern, from any corner of the world – showcasing their creativity and skill.

The cooking event is intensely competitive, with participants allotted one hour to prepare unique and exceptional dishes for evaluation by a distinguished panel of judges.

Upon completion, entries are assessed, and medals are awarded based on performance relative to peers, with gold, silver, and bronze distinctions. The highest-ranking gold medallist will receive both the trophy and the title of National Curry Chef of the Year /
UK Curry Champion 2026.

Previous entrants have included chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants and others known to TV viewers, all sharing a deep passion for their craft and aiming for top honours. The competition upholds principles of fairness and transparency; chefs are evaluated solely
on the dishes prepared during the event.

The following chefs will be competing:
 Praveen Singh Rawat – Essence at The Pantiles by Atul Kocchar, Royal Tunbridge Wells
 Arup Dasgupta – Euphoria by Chef Arup
 Shiv Kapoor – Mister Nice, Mayfair
 Rohan Wadke – Cameron House Hotel, Loch Lomond
 Dheeraj Singh Kaira – Benares, Berkeley Square
 Shabu Natarajan – Kinara by Shabu Natarajan, Glasgow
 Manikantan Sree Rajhan – The Belfry Hotel, Sutton Coldfield
 Dev Biswal – The Cook’s Tale, Canterbury
 Jit Sunar – Mount Gurkha Village, Derby
 Md. Sohel Khan – Babaji, Sunderland
 Nigar Parvin – Stoke Place Hotel
 Vikas Negi – London
 Gianmarco Lupi – Italy
 Steve Heap – Birmingham
 Visakh Pradeep Kumar – London
 Saskar Shawnim – Birmingham
 Layla Hamid – Birmingham

http://www.ukcurrychampionships.co.uk