A Belfast Chinese restaurant has taken the top spot in Northern Ireland at a prestigious Asian food awards ceremony.
The Golden Chopsticks Awards recognises East and South East Asian cuisine across the UK with a mission to celebrate the enormous contribution of restaurateurs and food businesses to the UK catering industry and champion the food heroes working within it.
The Welcome in Stranmillis in South Belfast has been named the Best Restaurant in Northern Ireland for 2022. It beat out other Belfast establishments The Dumpling Library and COSMO who were also shortlisted for the accolade.
Read more: Two Belfast eateries nominated for Restaurant of the Year at Asian food awards
The Wong family opened their first Welcome Restaurant in Northern Ireland in 1973. The Stranmillis Restaurant was opened in 1982 and is now in its second generation. Charlie and Michael Wong, sons of the founder, took over the restaurant in 2016.
The GCAs was founded in 2017 by TV presenter Gok Wan, Lucy Mitchell, Managing Director of Oriental Food Specialist SeeWoo UK and Sarah Lewis, leading food and drink PR and communications specialist.
The Founders, united by their love of East and South East Asian cuisine and culture were surprised that there was no event dedicated to celebrating the successes of this sector, and decided to launch The Golden Chopsticks Awards.
The Welcome has been finalists at the Golden Chopsticks Awards in both 2018 and 2019 but this is the first year the restaurant has taken the crown.
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