A TURKISH restaurant in Prestwich has been named the best in the country.

Istanbul Grill won Turkish Restaurant of the Year at the Asian Restaurant Awards 2018.

Owner, Bayram Erdemli said he was 'really pleased' and 'honoured' to receive the award with his team.

Mr Erdemli attended the awards ceremony at the Hilton hotel in Deansgate last week.

He said: "It's great to win, we were really pleased. We were honoured to receive the award and I feel we owe this to our staff, our team members, who are very good. And we owe it to our loyal customers who support us and have helped us to win."

The Asian Restaurant Awards were held at the Hilton by the Asian Catering Federation and the winners of each category was chosen by a panel of five judges including Curry Club founder Pat Chapman, George Shaw and the Michelin-starred Bill Poon.

Mr Shaw, said: “More than 25 years ago culinary pioneer Madha Jaffrey told me that too many Asian restaurant owners were in a race to the bottom, under cutting each other’s prices, with enormous menus of poorly cooked dishes. Tonight, we celebrate the achievements of those in a race to the top.”

Istanbul Grill in Bury New Road serves a wide selection of meals including vegetarian options and has been open almost seven years.

The evening in Manchester city centre was attended by around 500 leading restaurateurs, chefs, food journalists and VIP guests. It was hosted by BBC TV news anchor Barbita Sharma.

Other winners in the region were Ziya Asian Grill in Wilmslow Road, Manchester and The Naz in Monton Road, Eccles, which won Best Bangladeshi Restaurant and Best Indian respectively.