Your favourite places to eat for Sunderland Restaurant Week

Sunderland likes its steaks if Sunderland Restaurant Week is anything to go by.

RIO Brazilian Steakhouse was the most popular restaurant for the latest iteration of the event, which took place across 60 venues earlier this month.

Its eat all you can offer received the most voucher downloads for the event, followed by Ember and No 32 pizza and cocktails.

Other city bars and restaurants making the top 10 for voucher downloads was Love Lily at Herrington Country Park, Signatures Italian, Vito’s Osteria, Asiana, The Botanist, Babaji and Balér.

Lewis Kenney, General Manager at Rio Steakhouse, said: "It's always a pleasure taking part in Restaurant Week.

“Every time, we see so many new faces and welcome new guests, as well as those who have visited us before. This year was our busiest one yet, and it was also the first time we ran the offer for the full week.”

“Restaurant Week is always such a brilliant opportunity for us to welcome both familiar faces and new guests through our doors. This year was particularly special, and the response across both Ember and No.32 was fantastic,” said Tamer Hassan, owner of Ember and co-owner of No 32 with Vittorio Farigu.

“ To finish second and third for total diners is a huge achievement for our teams, who put so much work into making sure every guest had a great experience.

“Restaurant Week creates a real buzz around the local dining scene and has a genuinely positive impact on our businesses.”

For the first time, Healthy Plates – a scheme where restaurants are encouraged to have healthier options without compromising taste – was incorporated into the week and has proven to be a huge success.

“Once again we have had a really successful Restaurant Week with visitors turning out in force to experience Sunderland’s fast growing and vibrant restaurant scene,” said Roberta Redecke, Head of Business Services at Sunderland’s BIDs which organise the week.

“Each time there are a range of different places for people to try which reflects the ever-increasing food offer we have.

“Adding in Healthy Plates has brought another dimension, giving people the option for a healthy choice and it’s fantastic to see how businesses have also embraced the opportunity to be part of this initiative.”