HELENSBURGH'S thriving food scene has been given another major boost with the announcement that a local Indian restaurant has won a national award and been nominated for four others.

Annaya's, on West Princes Street, was named overall winner of the Five Star Indian Restaurant of the Year gong at the inaugural Scottish Asian Food Awards on Monday.

It has also been selected in four separate categories in the annual SPICE Awards, which celebrates the best of Scotland's ethnic cuisines.

The popular takeaway, which opened in 2014, is up for best buffet, best in the west of Scotland, best takeaway and best chef, and manager Rocky Aziz could not hide his excitement when contacted by the Advertiser.

He said: "We are absolutely delighted, over the moon.

"We feel very privileged to be a part of these awards.

"We're just a wee place, but out of 1500 restaurants we are in the top 10.

"We're chuffed for Helensburgh and thank all the people who have voted for us."

When asked what the secret to the restaurant's success was, Rocky replied: "Dedication, hard work and taking the time to actually make sure that everything is proper."

He added: "We want people to come to Helensburgh and we don't want anyone to leave disappointed.

"You're getting the real McCoy at our restaurant with the way we prepare our curries. That's why we're different from the rest.

"We intend to keep that dedication and commitment to quality."

Head chef Zak Haiver competed in a live cook-off on Tuesday at the City of Glasgow College against top chefs from around the country for the right to be named best chef.

And ahead of the second instalment of the awards, with the final gala dinner on December 3, manager Rocky said he was proud of his team's efforts.

He said: "To win would just be the crème de la crème, it would be a dream.

"It would be a reward for all the hard work and hours that we put in everyday.

"You look at La Barca and Cattle and Creel – they are award-winning restaurants. All we need now is an award-winning Chinese and then Helensburgh has just cracked it!"