16/07/2026
She left Gujarat with a clear head and a strong belief. Twenty years on, the head chef at Prashad has a Bib Gourmand, a Chef of the Year title and one thing still firmly in her sights.
Some people tell you who they are. Minal Patel shows you, and she does it on a plate.
Sit down at Prashad, the family-run vegetarian restaurant in Drighlington, and the first thing that reaches you is not the awards on the wall. It is the food. Gujarati cooking, done properly, built from herbs and spices and the kind of care you cannot fake. One mouthful and you understand why people travel from all over the world to eat here. This is a woman who has spent two decades getting one thing exactly right, and it shows.
But this is a Women of Substance feature, and Prashad is only half the story. The other half is Minal herself, and how a girl from Gujarat became one of the most quietly determined chefs in the north of England.
Read more here: https://thetravellingtelegraph.com/women-of-substance-minal-patel/
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