Hawke's Bay celebrates best of Asian flavour

Winner of the Best Asian Restaurant award category was the Thai Chef's Restaurant the award accepted by managing director Nattachai Changrattanachaichok (Chang). PHOTO/PAUL TAYLOR

Judging the Asians in the Bay Awards "was a real eye opener," says former Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Murray Douglas.

He said he always knew the contribution from the Asian community was large but had not appreciated the full extent of the "higher-level professional roles that we rely upon for our overall social and economic infrastructure".

"There are some extraordinary people out there, filling huge gaps in the infrastructure of Hawke's Bay," he said.

"Some are New Zealand Asians but some have had to cross a language barrier and retrain for the New Zealand system. "We critically rely upon them."

The awards, in their third year, recognise the contribution of the Asian community to the economic development of Hawke's Bay. They also celebrate the efforts of organisations to promote their own culture.

The Best Asian Business award went to MP Foods. The Hastings company is a retail and wholesale trader, distributing to several North Island cities from their Queen St West base in Hastings.

Judges said the business had a broad base and the retail outlet a consistently Indian theme.

"There seemed to be a pride of their ethnicity in their shop," the judges said.

"Their range of goods is very extensive and well laid out. Customer service was friendly and helpful. Although it is a basically a bulk-food store, they have a lot of associated items for sale, related to their ethnicity, that are colourful and eye catching."

Winner of the Best Asian Restaurant award was Thai Chef's Restaurant in Napier's Onekawa.

Judges said the Taradale Rd restaurant showed "a lot of invention and innovation in the fusion of food styles".

"They still had traditional dishes but also mixed it up a bit with a New Zealand style."

The Best Asian Practising Professional award was shared between Dr Kamal Karl and Dr Umesh Pandey.

Judges said they had "real difficulty" choosing a winner because of the high calibre of backgrounds and expertise.

"It was quite humbling to run across people with extraordinary backgrounds - many had CVs to die for," the judges said of the finalists.

Dr Karl is a director of the Wellness Centre in Napier and is an active member of several prestigious medical bodies. He specialises in treating chronic illnesses and lectures to professional groups.

Dr Pandey is Hawke's Bay District Health Board radiology head of intervention. He has been a member of Interventional Radiology Society of Australasia, Roentgen Society of North America, European Society of Radiology and the Indian Radiology society. He has an interest in vascular and non-vascular interventional radiology, image guided procedures and cross sectional radiology.

Other award categories were: Best Asian Community Group, won by the Philippine Community; Best Asian Community Event, won by Diwali Festival of Lights; and Best Asian Secondary School Student, won by Marina Arai of Iona College.

The awards are organised by Multicultural Association Hawke's Bay to promote co-operation and a culture of excellence within Asian business and professional communities.

Keynote speaker at last night's award ceremony at the Ellwood Rd Function Centre was Massey University vice-chancellor Professor Paul Spoonley.

Prof Spoonley said the main reasons immigrants chose New Zealand was for the lifestyle, its safety and high standard of education.

Population growth was set to be primarily in Auckland and part of the solution to spread economic growth to regions such as Hawke's Bay was "an even spread of immigrants".