Twenty of the city’s top restaurants served up a dedicated three course ‘taste’ menu for visitors. Alongside the restaurants, specialist and gourmet food and drink exhibitors displayed an array of products for sampling and purchasing to take home.

Celebrity chefs Antony Worrall Thompson, Jean-Christophe Novelli, Aldo Zilli and Raymond Blanc performed entertaining cooking demonstrations in the ‘Central’ Kitchen which filled the auditorium. With the then impending Italy v France World Cup final match the Aldo Zilli & Jean-Christophe Novelli demonstration proved very popular!

The weather held out and Birmingham enjoyed this superb event which was fully embraced by the city. Chris Hughes of Brand Events, the event organiser comments: “The people of Birmingham turned out in great numbers to support this fantastic new food and drink event which was a first for the city. We look forward to bringing the event back to Birmingham next year with even more restaurants, top name chefs and entertainment.”

Neil Rami, chief executive, Marketing Birmingham said: “Taste of Birmingham was a fabulous event for the city, and should be proud of its record breaking visitor numbers. The restaurants put on the best of their signature dishes for the city, showing off the great range of culinary talent in Birmingham. We’re already hungry for more!”

Each of the participating restaurants was delighted with the event and its attendance. Those involved were Al Faisals, Bank, Del Villaggio, Hotel du Vin, Jonathans’, Lasan, Liaison, Le Petit Blanc, Malmaison, Opus, Paxton & Whitfield, Peppers, San Carlo, Simpsons, Thai Edge, The Oriental, Wong’s and Zinc Bar & Grill.

Visitors were well entertained by music performances on the Heart FM stage, in particular superb performances came from Beverley Knight, Tony Christie, and Andy Abraham.

Restaurant Awards
On Thursday night the Taste of Birmingham restaurant awards, hosted by Antony Worrall-Thompson and ITV Central’s Joanne Malin took place in front of a VIP audience. A glamorous host of celebrities made the presentations including hairdresser Nicky Clarke; Birmingham City Football Club MD, Karren Brady; comic actress Helen Lederer; Johnny Briggs – who played Mike Baldwin in Coronation Street for 30 years; and Wolverhampton-born Ruth Badger, runner up from The Apprentice.

Winning restaurants were as follows:

• Best Newcomer - Opus
  
• Best Out Of Town – Bell and Cross
  
• Best Family – Bar Estilo
  
• Best Service - Lasan
• Best Business Lunch - Bank
  
• Best Wine List - Hotel Du Vin
  
• Best Restaurant of 2006 - Simpsons

The Restaurant Awards and VIP Gala session, as well as footage from the remaining days of the event were filmed by ITV Central for a programme entitled ‘TASTE’ to be broadcast on 18th July.

For more information visit www.tasteofbirmingham.co.uk