Sunderland Restaurant Week dishes can be delivered to your door during coronavirus crisis

Months of preparation have gone into the voucher scheme, returning from Saturday, March 21 to Sunday, March 29, which aimed to drive footfall to Wearside restaurants and cafes.

Following the Government’s advice for people to avoid restaurants as part of stricter guidelines around tackling the coronavirus pandemic, however, many people are self-isolating and won’t be visiting the venues for the coming weeks.

As a result, 12 of the participating restaurants, bars and coffee shops will be offering a pick-up or delivery service during restaurant week so that people practising social distancing needn’t miss out.

The delivery options – from 2 Church Lane, Asiana, BURGeR, Crumb On In, ENFES, Hotel Chocolat, Port of Call, Royale Thai, Sunderland Bowl and Victors in the city centre, House of Zen at Seaburn and The Forge in Washington – are in addition to the regular Sunderland Restaurant Week which is still going ahead as planned.

Offers include two course meals for £10 and three courses for £15, with deals at a variety of cafes for as little as £5.

Sharon Appleby, head of business operations at Sunderland BID, said: “Restaurant Week is always a huge boost for the city centre and weunderstand why the restaurants want it to go ahead.

“But we are also mindful of the fact that many people are following advice and being cautious about dining out at the moment so we believe this is a great alternative which will help at the moment and also allow everyone to enjoy a treat.

“The situation may change later in the week depending on the Government’s advice but at the moment Restaurant Week will go ahead as planned.”

Anyone wanting to take advantage of the delivery service needs to contact the restaurant to check on any additional charges, although there will be no extra cost for anyone who is collecting a meal from a restaurant directly.

The list of offers are available to view here.