AN Indian restaurant and takeaway has been crowned king of this year’s Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival Taste Trail.

And the victory for Balooshai Central at Viaduct Street was all down to the public.

The restaurant received the highest ratings by the hundreds of people who got involved in the event.

Ten of the town’s restaurants opened their doors to customers and let them sample their food for free.

Visitors were then asked to rate the restaurants and return their trail flier to be entered into a free prize draw for a meal for two at the winning restaurant.

Chilli Lounge, of John William Street, came second and Argento Steakhouse, also of John William Street, was third.

Susan Hill, from Brighouse, received the prize for a free meal for two.

Hamidul Islam, owner of Balooshai, said: “What I think did it for us is that we treated our customers as if they were paying.

“We got extra staff in to give table service and used proper plates and cutlery, just like we would on a normal night.

“All our food was freshly cooked and the chefs were turning out new dishes throughout the afternoon.

“Our Sexy Mushroom Masala and Chamak Dumak – which is a peanut curry – were particularly popular.

“We’re glad that after 20 years of being in the town our reputation is still strong.”

Cathy Burger, Huddersfield Town Centre Partnership’s festival organiser said: “Balooshai were new to the Taste Trail this year – so we are delighted that they have won.

“Competition was fierce again with all of our restaurants putting on real good spreads.

“We hope that this has been a successful marketing tool for our restaurants and that local residents and visitors come back to try them all out.”

A real ale trail was also part of the festival fringe.

Customers had three weeks to visit eight of 12 real ale pubs around the town and buy a drink from each to get a stamp on their festival flier. Eight stamps could then be exchanged for a limited edition festival T-shirt.

The Grove, Rat & Ratchet and The Star Inn were all strong favourites.

Huddersfield Food and Drink festival is organised by Huddersfield Town Centre Partnership and supported by Kirklees Council.

This year the festival welcomed nearly 100,000 visitors over four days – up 35% on last year.