AN INDIAN restaurant will fly the flag for Weymouth and the south west this week at the grand final of a prestigious competition.

Shalim's Balti House Indian of Weymouth is one of 12 national finalists in the annual Tiffin Cup competition.

The Grand Final of the Tiffin Cup 2018 is to be held at the House of Commons, London, on Wednesday.

The competition is held each year to find the best South Asian restaurant in the country.

The Tiffin Cup winner is chosen from a list of restaurants that have been nominated by local MPs.

The cook off event will be judged by MPs and guest celebrities with the proceeds going to a selected charity.

This year 60 restaurants were nominated by their MPs. Shalim's Balti House was nominated by South Dorset MP, Richard Drax.

Mr Drax said: “I am delighted that Balti House Indian has made it into the final of the Tiffin Cup 2018. This is such a prestigious award and I will certainly be there on March 27 to cheer on Balti House Indian and I am sure everyone in south Dorset will be rooting for our restaurant to be crowned the 2018 champion.”

Shalim said: “It is such an honour to be nominated by our local MP Richard Drax and be one of 12 finalists from across the country.

"The team and I have been working really hard over the last few years to make our restaurant one of the best in the country and this recognition shows we are on the right track.

"We cannot wait to go and join our fellow competitors at the House of Commons on March 27.”

The Tiffin Cup is named after the containers that transported light meals. The tiffins, or tiffinboxes are made up of three porcelain round trays with handles and lids in which lunches are delivered to workers.

They are delivered through a complex network of Dabbawallahs, who set off with the dishes after the men have left for work. This practice is still in use in India today.

The family run Shalim's Balti House Indian restaurant first opened its doors in Weymouth back in 1996 in the Clipper Cafe site on Commercial Road in Weymouth under the name of The Balti House Indian Restaurant. The father and son business grew from strength to strength in the 1990s and at the dawn of the new millennium in 2000 Shalim took over the business from his father.

Since then Shalims Balti House has won countless local and national awards including the British Curry Awards a total of five times. Shalim's Balti House has been a main stay of Indian cuisine in Weymouth for the last 30 years.