THEY’VE got taste!
Four BID member eateries have been declared the taste of Stratford after getting the most votes from visitors to the recent Stratford Town Centre Food Festival.
La Marina Tapas Bar and Restaurant, Carluccio’s, Wildwood Kitchen and The Stratford Q Hotel won each of four Taste Trails during the Stratforward-organised festival in September.
Nearly 800 visitors snapped up tickets for food and ale trails during the three-day festival, taking advantage of the chance to sample tasty treats for a snip from more than 30 restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs across the town.
Two food trails ran on each of two days and festival-goers voted for their favourite venue from each trail.
Antal Viszmeg, manager of Wildwood Kitchen, said: “The taste trail helped bring in lots of new customers, people who had never been to the restaurant before.”
Steve Bradshaw, owner of La Marina Tapas Bar and Restaurant, said: “It went really well, we had an awful lot of people come in and the feedback was excellent. Since then we have already had bookings from it.”
Barrie Thomas, General Manager of The Stratford Hotel, said: “It was really good, we had a lot of people through our doors and their feedback was great.”
Carluccio’s manager Jen Julian said: “Taking part in the food trail was a great experience to share our love of food with so many people. To win made us all incredibly proud of the food we serve.”
And four lucky food-lovers who took the time to vote won a draw to win a meal for two at one of the taste trail winning venues.
The Taste Trails were just one highlights of the festival, organised by Stratforward with Geraud Markets, which attracted more than 80,000 people to the town and showcased Stratford as one of the region’s premier food and leisure destinations.
Other participating eateries were: The Arden Hotel, Boston Tea Party, Church Street Town House, The Golden Broomstick at the Creaky Cauldron, El Greco, Halls Croft Café, Huffkins Bakery, Marco’s New York Italian Restaurant, Vigour Café, Nuts in Ya Mouth, Paxton & Whitfield, Roly’s Fudge, The Pantry, The Other Place Susie’s Bar, Union Bar, and the White Swan Hotel.
* BID businesses are being encouraged to Dress To Impress this Christmas by getting their seasonal windows ready for the annual Stratforward Festive Window Competition.
The theme of this year’s free competition is ‘Festive Sparkle’ and all businesses in the town centre with street facing
windows are automatically entered.
There are two categories, independent and national, and judging of each display will be based on overall impact, traditional style and effort involved.
Judging will take place in early December and the winners will be revealed on December 14.
