Wigan village's double curry success

Wigan Post and Wigan Observer readers voted in their droves for their favourite curry houses and Cinnamon Indian Cuisine, in Standish, was crowned champion, going one better than the runners-up spot secured last year.

Other news: Man in 'serious' condition after pub assaultThe Preston Road restaurant has been serving up mouth-watering Indian dishes for the past 17 years and was opened by owner Abdul Boshor at the tender age of 19!

The jubilant boss said: “We are all delighted to win it. Our customers will be very happy too, they were all saying we deserved to win! We were very close last year, coming second, so now we’re really happy, and we appreciate all the customers voting for us.

“We would like to thank them for all their support over the years.”

And the secret to their success?

“It’s just our quality of food. We use all the best ingredients and products. People only come back if they have good food here,” he said.

As well as the British favourites such as the tikka masala and biryani, Cinnamon’s signature dish is the Murghi balti, a South Indian dish packed with tandoori chicken, mincemeat, coriander and spices in a special balti sauce.

And hungry Wiganers don’t have to go far to try out the second-placed either.

Just a mile down the road from Cinnamon is Standish Tandoori, where Shamshur Rahman has been chef-owner for more than a quarter of a century, serving up authentic Indian cuisine to locals right in the heart of the Wigan township.

The veteran curry-maker opened the takeaway on Pole Street in 1993, after joining his previous five generations of family in the UK and it became an immediate hit with spice-hungry Wiganers.

Close on their heels was Bindi of Aspull, located on Lucas Nook, which has been described as a “remarkable dining experience” where you can “relax and have a meal in a cosy atmosphere”.