A BRADFORD man is celebrating after he was named chef of the year, while his restaurant won a lifetime achievement prize at a city awards ceremony.

Waqar Mughal, of the Sweet Centre Restaurant in Lumb Lane, won the title at the Bradford Curry Awards.

The Manningham restaurant also won the lifetime achievement award at the ceremony, held at the Bradford Hotel on July 25.

Haji M Yasin and Sufi Mazhar Mughal, who previously worked at the Sweet Centre Restaurant, attended the ceremony to pick up the lifetime achievement honour.

Waqar, chef and manager at the restaurant, said: “I want to stick to my roots and remind people what curry really is. Good food is simple.

“It’s really overwhelming and humbling. I’m still learning. I have been approached to do masterclasses to help.

“It’s good for Bradford to be recognised for positive reasons. It was great for the Sweet Centre to win the lifetime achievement award too, as they worked really hard to set it up.”

The Sweet Centre Restaurant missed out on being named the best Indian on BBC Two’s ‘Britain’s Top Takeaways’ earlier this year.

Waqar Mughal and Hamayun Arshad, from the Sweet Centre, battled it out against representatives from four other restaurants for the crown of best UK Indian restaurant.