CHEF Tariq Mehmood served up a tasty treat to be picked as Burnley's top curry cook.

Tariq, chef at the Shalamar Tandoori Restaurant, Church Street, faced strong competition in the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health 2000 national curry chef of the year competition from other finalist Sultan Khan from the Eastern Delight Takeaway, Harle Syke.

Judges first carried out a thorough assessment of the chef's kitchens looking at food hygiene and safety standards before asking the finalists to prepare three dishes for tasting, a curry dish, a side dish and bread or rice.

On the judging panel were Sufi Miah, from Burnley College community access division, Tariq Mahmood, from Burnley Community Access Point, Andrew Mason, Burnley Council's environmental health and cleansing unit manager and Jill Wolfendale, environmental health officer.

Mr Mason said: "This is the first year that Burnley's Environmental Health and Cleansing Unit has been able to host the local competition and I am very pleased with the high standard of entries.

"The competition shows that Burnley has a lot of offer when it comes to good standards of food hygiene and top quality chefs."