Spice Island chef Milion Miah is second to naan

BARNARD Castle has its very own reality TV star after a town chef won a cooking competition.

Spice Island’s Milon Miah won The Chef after pitting his culinary skills against the best Indian restaurant cooks from across the North East. The programme was broadcast weekly on Channel I Europe, a hugely popular London-based Bangladeshi station which goes out on the Sky platform.
In a format similar to Masterchef, Mr Miah cooked head-to-head against other chefs in front of the TV cameras.
He said he was nervous to begin with as this was the first competition he had ever entered.
“I got more confident as the competition went on, but there were a lot more experienced chefs taking part. I think I was the chef with the second least experience.”
Mr Miah said he was shocked to be told he was one of the top ten who went through to the final.
“When they announced my name as one of the finalists I was just like ‘wow’.
“To be in the top ten in the final was an achievement for me,” he added.
For the final cook-off, the chefs had to produce a starter and a main course.
Mr Miah, 36, who has been head chef at Spice Island for the past four years, came up with a Barta roulette for his starter, using potatoes, salmon, mixed herbs, cheese and chilli flakes.
His main was Kofta khiladi, a dish of minced fish made into patties with a base of tomato and spiced onions served on rice.
He said he owed his success to his mentor, Babul Miah, the founder of Spice Island and father of current manager Zak Ahmed.
“He taught me everything I know,” said Mr Miah.
Babul Miah paid tribute to Milon’s efforts.
“He had been working and training under me since he was very young.
“When I retired, it was an easy decision of who would take over as head chef at Spice Island.
“He’s just gone and proved to everyone how good of a chef he is. I can’t express how proud I am of him.
“He is still young and I know he can go on to achieve so much more. The apprentice has well and truly become the master.”
Mr Ahmed said Spice Island was lucky to have a chef of Milon’s abilities.
“Not only is he talented, he has the passion to cook and he enjoys doing what he does,” he said.
“In recent times there has been a shortage of skilled chefs in the industry. Good chefs are very hard to come by as many chefs have now retired and younger ones haven’t come through.
“We are very lucky to have Milon. He is very experienced for his age and is probably one of the youngest Indian head chefs in the North East. We are so happy for Milon -  he’s made us so proud.”
Part of his prize for winning the show is an invitation to take part in the prestigious Tommy Miah’s International Indian Chef of the Year competition, which takes place in London on October 9.
And despite his success, the was no sitting back and enjoying the plaudits – Mr Miah was back at work in Spice Island the day after being crowned The Chef champion.