Tse sisters win award for cookbook

British-Chinese twins Helen and Lisa Tse, who became an internet sensation in China when they cooked for Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to the British prime minister's residence in 2014, have won an award for their latest cookbook.

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards announced last week that the Tse sisters' A Chinese Street Food Odyssey, published in September last year, has won the national award in the China category for this year's competition. The twin chefs of Sweet Mandarin restaurant in Manchester, UK, will now compete in a worldwide competition against winners from other countries for best in the world held in Yantai, Shandong province, on May 27 and 28. The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau, now feature 211 countries taking part. Every year, the awards honor the best food and wine books, printed or digital, as well as food television shows.

When they opened Sweet Mandarin in 2004, the twin chefs became their family's third generation of restaurateurs. The restaurant won Gordon Ramsay's best local restaurant award on The F Word in 2009, beating 10,000 other restaurants for this accolade. In 2012 the sisters appeared on BBC TV's Dragons' Den and received two offers of investment to help them launch their range of Sweet Mandarin sauces.

Since launching their range of sauces, which are stocked worldwide in what has expanded to a Sweet Mandarin line of 40 products, they have been invited to Downing Street, and were awarded MBEs by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the food and drink industry. The twin chefs have cooked for many VIP occasions, including the visit of Premier Li when he was hosted by then prime minister David Cameron in 2014.

After that dinner, Lisa Tse said that Li was very friendly and spoke to them in English.

"He was proud of us and said we were a great example of a Chinese success story and congratulated us on our excellent cooking and sauces."

Helen and Lisa Tse have published two previous cookbooks, Sweet Mandarin Cookbook and Dim Sum: Small Bites Made Easy. Helen Tse has also won praise for her memoir Sweet Mandarin, which has been distributed in 33 countries. It has been optioned for a feature film.