THE BRILLIANT Restaurant in Southall had its name in lights thanks to a TV contest on Channel 4 last night, but sadly didn't get the top prize.

The long-running, family-owned restaurant appeared in Gordon Ramsay's latest series, which aims to find the best local restaurants in Britan.

A packed house gathered at the restuarant to watch the results on the in-house TV screens. In the category for Indian restaurants, the accolade went to Parshab, a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Bradford.

But Gulu Anand, director at The Brilliant, said that it was still an amazing experience being involved on the show. The eaterie in Western Road even had Gordon himself helping out in the kitchens last week.

Mr Anand said: "The whole thing for us has been fantastic. Appearing on TV is one more milestone for the Brilliant and working with Gordon was great. He spent a while day with us, learning how to cook real Punjabi food for one of his TV shows."

It turns out that Gordon is a familiar face the Brilliant. His visit last week was the fourth time he has been there as he worked with staff in the past to get hands-on knowledge of the best ways to cook and serve Indian food.

And the world-famous chef, known as much for his colourful language in the kitchen as he is for his Michelin-star restaurants, racked up an impressive 12 hours preparing food

Mr Anand said: “The restaurant got extremely busy but he managed to get his dishes out on time. He was absolutely fantastic working in the kitchen.”

Gordon, well known for his occasionally aggressive manner, had no harsh words about Brilliant. Mr Anand said: “He said this was one of the best organised Indian restaurants he had ever seen and added he loved the food.”

Photo: Dave Pullig