ONE of Dunfermline's best-known restaurants has paid tribute to the driving force who helped make it such a success.

Hamida Khushi sadly passed away just weeks after being honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the Scottish Curry Awards for her decades of hard work. She was 84.

Mrs Khushi arrived in Scotland in the late 1940s; her husband Khushi Mohammed set up Edinburgh's first Indian restaurant in 1947. They would continue to work together until his untimely death in 1977.

At the time, she was raising a family of seven and could only speak broken English, but was determined to keep the restaurant open.

She ran the business single-handedly for the next five years until the oldest of her children began to help.

Mrs Khushi finally stepped back from the day-to-day running of the restaurant in 2003, and retired in 2004.

This week, Khushi's Dunfermline – which opened in 2008 – paid tribute to their curry queen.

A statement read: “So much happens so quickly, the amazing honouring of Mrs Khushi with the lifetime achievement award from the Scottish Curry Awards and then her tragic and unexpected passing.

“We would like to thank all our friends and guests for their kind words of support and condolence at this time.

“To have won Best Indian Restaurant in Fife at the Fife Retail Business Awards 2016 only a few days later is a poignant reminder of the lifetime of hard work by Mrs Khushi (and Mr Khushi) that has resulted in a delicious legacy that will live on for a long time to come, and we at Khushi's Dunfermline are incredibly proud to be a part of it.”