Friday 21st May sees the return of the Cobra Brick Lane Curry Festival, a two week celebration to honour the vibrancy of Asian culture and cuisine. Running until 4th June, the festival enjoys its tenth consecutive year in London's curry hub, Brick Lane.

This year the festivities are scheduled to be bigger and better than ever before. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the festival, the multitude of restaurants that line Brick Lane will join to present a sensational array of delicious menus, exclusive offers, live entertainment, and to witness the Capital's curry lovers vote for the Best Curry on Brick Lane.

Activities and offers scheduled across the fortnight include:
• The Best of Brick Lane Awards (Thursday 19th May) – Annual awards to recognise the achievements and service to curry lovers of the restaurants along Brick Lane. Winners have been selected by self-acclaimed curry connoisseurs, who mystery shopped the restaurants along Brick Lane to pull together this year's finalists.
• Baisakhi Mela in Banglatown (Sunday, 23rd May) – The largest celebration of the Bangla New Year outside of Asia. The community celebration will see Brick Lane pedestrianised and taken over by live music, performance and dancing in the streets.
• Cobra Beer's ‘Mela' at the Vibe Bar (Bank Holiday Monday, 31st May) – An all day festival that blends live music from acclaimed international artists including Bobby Friction and Nerm, dynamic Bollywood dancing and authentic Indian cuisine. The Vibe Bar will also play host to the climax of The Best of Brick Lane Awards, where the public will be invited to sample and crown the People's Choice Brick Lane Curry 2010.
• Special menus and discounts (throughout the festival) – Participating restaurants will be offering special festival menus and a 20% discount for the duration of the celebrations.

Sponsored by Cobra, the Brick Lane festivities have earned a reputation for being one of the country's largest and most spectacular street parties and regularly attract more than 60,000 curry fans. With a fifth (18%)* of Brits rating curry as their favourite meal, and the nation spending £400 million** on curry every week, it's unsurprising that the festival is so popular.

Lord Karan Bilimoria, Founder and Chairman of Cobra Beer, said: “Brick Lane is a wonderful and vibrant melting pot of culture and cuisine and we are delighted to support all the restaurants participating in this year's event. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the restaurants on Brick Lane that have continued to support Cobra Beer from day one, for which we are truly grateful.”

Bajloor Rashid, President of the Banglasdeshi Caterers Association (BCA), said: “British-Bangladeshi restaurants have played a major part in putting Brick Lane on the map for the UK's curry connoisseurs, and the festival is a wonderful opportunity for all to enjoy and celebrate the local community.”

Posted Thursday May 20^th 2010
By The Onlines