Oiishi restaurant flew the flag for Lanarkshire at The Golden Chopsticks Awards 2022 landing the prestigious 'Best in Scotland' title.
The exemplary award-winning East Kilbride eaterie specialises in fresh sushi and authentic Japanese cuisine inspired by traditional Japanese street food.
Opened in October 2017, it has expanded the culinary choices and palate of many locals, and is frequented by food lovers from Glasgow, Edinburgh and beyond.
Thanks to head chef Stephen Lau's team of experts, the restaurant has been voted multiple times as one of the top 100 restaurants in Scotland.
Commenting on their big win, Oiishi posted on their Facebook page: "Now that the dust has settled on what was an extremely memorable night, we would just like to say a massive thank you to two critical groups of people who made this happen - our sensational staff and our incredible, supportive customer base.
"Best Restaurant in Scotland 2022... still pinching ourselves!
"We literally couldn't have done this without you. You've played a huge part in the success of not only last night, but our ability to continue to grow through difficult times in the pandemic and current financial situation around the globe."
The Golden Chopsticks Awards winners were announced on Monday, September 26, at a glittering ceremony at the Marriott, Grosvenor Square in London's Mayfair, hosted by Gok Wan MBE.
The awards, co-founded by friends Lucy Mitchell, Sarah Lewis and Gok in 2018, has become one of the largest and most prestigious celebrations of East and South East Asian food in the world.
The judging panel included Head Judge Ken Hom CBE, Sunday Brunch presenter Simon Rimmer, School of Wok’s Jeremy Pang, Eric Yu, founder of The Breakfast Group, Sonny Leong CBE, Katy Tse Blair MBE and previous Masterchef winner, Ping Coombes.
Many of the chosen restaurants were voted for by members of the public over a six-week period, with more than 33,000 votes registered.
Separate industry prizes were awarded by a judging panel which includes influential figures from the industry.
A surprise performance from Blue rounded off the evening.
Gok Wan MBE, co-founder and host of the awards, said: "After the amazing success of our first three awards, we knew it was going to be a tall order to go bigger and better this year, but we feel we pulled it off!
"The Golden Chopsticks Awards has well and truly cemented itself into the culinary. What an amazing night, bringing together the good and the great from the oriental food world in one room, with finalists covering the broad spectrum of E and SE Asian food from Chinese, Japanese and Thai to Vietnamese, Malaysian, Filipino and Korean.
"It was fantastic to see so many accomplished restaurateurs in the room, alongside the rising stars of the future! It was a real honour to host what is now one of my favourite nights of the year!"
Ken Hom, CBE, added: "I am more than delighted to be part of the fourth Golden Chopsticks Awards which sets the highest standard from which East and South East Asian restaurants in the UK can all be judged. I congratulate all the winners and finalists as well as the judges for their hard work!"
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