And so, after every vote had been counted and all the judges had rendered their verdict, it came to pass that at noon on November 1, Bradford was crowned Curry Capital 2011. (A result that was rather vaguely predicted by this very blog, and generally disregarded in this totally excellent newspaper article.) For Glasgow, holder of the Curry Capital 2010 title, being beaten back into second place was a slightly bitter pilau to swallow. But after claiming the title four times in the decade-long, stop-start history of the title, there are still many reasons for TATTGOC's home to be proud in 2011. While it feels like weasel words to insist that Glasgow remains the Curry Capital of Scotland (although Edinburgh placed a very creditable fifth), it is definitely worth pointing out that thanks to the combined efforts of Glasgow City Council and the restaurant team of Slumdog, KoolBa, Kama Sutra and The Neelim, our fair city raised the most money for The Curry Tree Charitable Fund for the second year in a row ...

Some excellent Curry Capital concept art by James Hart

But it was Bradford that eventually triumphed, buoyed by a committed campaign and a new Guinness World Record for creating an enormous onion bhaji, put together by the forward-thinking, headline-grabbing Bradford College International Food Academy: their 102.2kg monster bhaji beat the previous world record by 18kg. And after placing third last year, Wolverhampton retained their position thanks to their own dedicated website, an engaging Twitter feed and, as previously noted on this blog, a silver bullet in the form of a Curry Capital anthem. In total, 17 cities took part, and the top ten breaks down something like this:

1st: Bradford (2nd last year)
2nd: Glasgow (1st last year)
3rd: Wolverhampton (3rd last year)

4th: Leicester
5th: Edinburgh
6th: Newcastle
7th: Birmingham
8th: Manchester
9th: Nottingham
Joint 10th: Cardiff/Sheffield

The trophies for the winning city and team members will be presented by Anjali Pathak of National Curry Week sponsors Patak’s, at a date and venue to be announced. Expect some more analysis and discussion of the result on episode two of TATTGOC's spicy podcast Keep Calm And Curry On ...

SOME OTHER RECENT TATTGOC NEWS POSTS
Keep Calm And Curry On ... It's The TATTGOC Podcast!!
TATTGOC Salutes: Glasgow Mega Burrito!
"If You've Got A History Book At Home, Take It Out, Throw It In The Bin ... It's Worthless."
Curry Capital 2011: Sizin' Up The Competition
Yeeaaargh! It's Time For Khuhlai Khan's Kurry Klub Khallenge!
Last Chance To Vote For Your Favourite Glasgow Curryhouse ...
Vow Wow Wow: Raisin' A Glass To TATTGOC's Happy Couples!
Gluttonous Maximus: INDIAN EPIC MEAL TIME
Those English Curry Awards 2011 Winners In Full ...
An Interactive Investigation Into The Inherently Unsatisfying Nature Of Curry-Based Videogames