THE competition hotted up as four chefs battled it out to become the top curry chef in Bolton.

Winning dish in the contest at Bolton Community College was north Indian garlic chicken with a side dish of Mumbai aloo and basmati rice, cooked by Alkas Ali.

Mr Ali, who has cooked in the Mumbai restaurant on Chorley New Road for two years, said: "I'm very pleased, but I was confident in the dishes I made."

The chef did his training in London and was taught by a chef from Nepal. He came to Bolton to work in a takeaway, run by Mumbai, before transferring to the restaurant.

Mumbai manager Mohammed Abdul-Rahman said: "I'm very proud, but we had confidence because the dishes prepared are successful ones we provide in the restaurant. The dishes were well decorated, full of colourful vegetables on top, but full of flavour underneath."

Runner-up was Raju Majumdoor, of Rukshmani's on Derby Street, Bolton, who has only been in England eight weeks.

Manu Mistry, manager, said: "The chef who was supposed to be entering the competition has an arm in plaster, so Raju stepped in - and he has done really well."

Both will go through to the North-west finals later this year.

The competition was organised by Bolton Council and Bolton Primary Care Trust in conjuction with the Food Standards Agency.

The other two chefs who took part were Shajid Miah and Mohammed Ullah.

Chef Paul Durrant, the senior judge, said: "We tried a variety of dishes, some of which were different and exciting, and all the contestants have done brilliantly."

The judging was carried out by Jan Hutchinson, director of public health for the Bolton Primary Care Trust, Patrick Trodden, director of Culinary Arts at Salford University, Ayyub Patel, from Ethnic Minorities Business Service, Mayor Cllr Prentice Howarth, Bolton Evening News reporter Kathryn Eccles and senior chef Paul Durrant.