Zaman's Restaurant Newquay chef wins Bangladeshi Masterchef

Eshan ‘Mo’ Miah from Zaman’s Restaurant on Henver Road, Newquay was one of the shortlisted 16 finalists from more than 500 chefs who entered nationally by submitting a menu that was unique to Bangladeshi cuisine.

There were two categories which each finalist had to choose to create. The first category was starters followed by mains, or mains followed by dessert. Mo opted for starter and main and spent three days getting the all-clear from his clinic researching and practising his ingredients and recipes during closed hours of Zaman’s restaurant.

Mo decided to create a starter and a main for the competition (Image: Supplied)For his starter, Mo made a dish called ‘Sita-Fita-Bortha’, a traditional floral-shaped pancakes made from two-part flour and one-part plain flour served with spiced mashed potato and egg stuffing balls and green chutney mint, coriander, cashew nuts and lemon sweetened with fresh pomegranate.

For the main, Mo decided to create ‘Sorisha Seabass’, which consists of sea bass fillet roulades filled with a coating of roasted poppy and mustard seeds and fresh spinach leaves wrapped in orange peel, then poached and served on a bed of whole peeled cucumber which is cooked in a sauce flavoured with garlic, turmeric, lemon, coriander, and baby vine tomatoes.

Mo made a dish called ‘Sita-Fita-Bortha for his starter which consists of pomegranate and spiced mashed potato (Image: Supplied)On the day, each menu was marked by a panel of judges on various skills of knowledge, hygiene, presentation, time management and taste and flavour.

However, due to being diagnosed with renal failure and being on dialysis for two years, Mo was unsure if he would be able to enter the competition. He said: “I wasn’t sure if I would be able to enter the competition due to isolation restrictions.

“However, I got the all-clear from the renal clinics on November 17 and three days later I entered the prestigious cook-off competition for the title of the UK International Bangladeshi Masterchef hosted by Northampton College in Collaboration with Muhammed Ali – a Northampton businessman and known chef.”

Mo who was trained by his father from a young age mastered Bangladeshi cuisine and was named the Bangladeshi Caterers Association (BCA) Chef of the Year award for Hemel Hampstead in 2014 and 2019. After the Covid pandemic, Zaman was awarded the Curry Lives Editor Choice Award in 2022.