I headed off to Meadow Street in Preston this month where there is small establishment by the name of Ali's Chippery and Curry House.

Established in 2002 this place was recommended to me by some Prestonians I met trying to hitch a ride on the M6 back from Glasgow.

Apparently they'd lost their way up there...but that's a different story altogether.

As I was feeling all festive I decided to take along with me a referee (Shahid) and one of Canaries FC's finest (Abdul Rauf).

Ali's Takeway (as it is known) has an impressive array of dishes on offer from Kebabs and Omelettes to Burgers and Pizzas.

The house specials looked extremely tempting too and all the curries (and there were a lot of them!) come with 2 chapattis, 1 nans, rice or chips.

However, I went for the Asian Style pizza and my accomplices settled for the local big seller - the Mixed Grill with spicy donner and seek kebab.

Ali's Chippery is clean, smart and the staff very friendly. I was told that after evening prayers this place has been rammed with customers trying to get hold of the Keema chips and Chicken Persian.

Owner Abbas Ali (younger brother of Lala Afzal of the K2 in Bolton) has got a great little place here.

The kind of place your dad used to take you to buy fish and chips on a Sunday...but with so much more variety.

It was also especially good to see so many customers from different cultures and backgrounds at the place. Good food, it seems, has no barriers.

The Asian-style pizza was a winner from the moment he placed it in front of me.

There were lashings of cheese, onions, mince meat and green chillies. A real winter warmer!

And those of us who know Mr Rauf would agree...he's hardly ever wrong about anything.