Exploring Sunderland's foodie scene - Sunderland Restaurant Week 2016

Trying new restaurants and new types of food is my favourite hobby. If I could eat, eat and eat and not get fat, I definitely would. I love cooking at home, but you can only do so much until you fancy someone else cooking up something fabulous for you.

I was recently invited to a 'Safari Supper' which involved a food-laden tour around some of Sunderland's brilliant eateries. In preparation for Sunderland Restaurant Week, Sunderland BID invited local bloggers down for an evening of delicious food.

For the 'Safari Supper,' we had the chance to eat at five different restaurants/bars sampling what they had to offer during Restaurant Week. I've never been to Sunderland so having the chance to visit and see what amazing food places they had was brilliant. We started off in Cafe Purple which was a stunning bar filled with luxurious seating and extravagant lighting. In here I met up with all the other local bloggers, finding pals Tasha and Sarah amongst the bunch, and we enjoyed lots of different cocktails with an enormous cheese board! The variety of cocktails that were brought out was staggering, they pulled out all the stops for us. I, of course, loved the Cosmopolitan but I was definitely also a fan of their gin-based cocktail too.

From Cafe Purple, we headed next door to Port of Call. This bar was right up my street as it was decorated all nautical with lots of ship memorabilia adorning the walls. Here we were plied with more cocktails and other nibbles including mini cheeseburgers which were the cutest and tasted really good. We didn't spend long here before we were carted off to the Funky Indian for our first course.

Situated underneath a Prosecco Bar, the Funky Indian serves up Indian street food in tapas-style. Our guide at the restaurant spoke about how at the Funky Indian they wanted to do things a little different and take inspiration right from India with a twist of cultures that have over the years found their way into the food. We were given some delicious food consisting of masala fries, spiced chicken poppers, Bombay pav, deep-fried cauliflower and seekh kebab. It was all utterly gorgeous and I'm dying to go back!

When we'd pulled ourselves away from our Indian food, we walked along to Angelos Ristorante where we were served some great pasta, pizza and meat dishes fresh from England's top Italian chef, Nello who works as their head chef. There was a mushroom pasta dish that we tried which was absolutely beautiful, I'd definitely have it if I visited again.

After all our savoury food, it was time for the sweet! We walked again to Sweet Tooth Delivery, which we actually also have in Middlesbrough. There was cake galore in their display case in all different colours and flavours. We all chose a piece of cake to try, I decided on Chocolate Mud Pie. As it was getting late, I opted for mine to go and had it at home. It was lovely, just what I needed with a cup of tea after the drive back from Sunderland.

Having the chance to try so many fabulous places in Sunderland has definitely wet my appetite for going back in the future. If I can spare the time, I'll be popping up in Restaurant Week when I can get more for my money!