FOOD fans have voted for the four top restaurants they hope will help Bradford keep its Curry Capital of Britain title for the fourth year running.

The public votes have been counted and this year's team to cook up a storm for the district will be Kipling's in Greengates, Shimla Spice and Zaara's in Shipley and Aakash in Cleckheaton.

The chosen four will be keeping the heat turned up to represent the city in the national competition in October - Kipling's and Shimla Spice were also in last year's contest.

Curry Capital organiser Peter Grove said more Bradford restaurants than ever before had wanted to join the team but despite Bradford's winning record there was lots of enthusiasm to beat from other cities in the UK.

He said: "Bradford Council is already actively promoting the city, but they need not think they will have it all their own way with Leicester, Birmingham, Cardiff, parts of London and even relative newcomer Brighton showing great enthusiasm. It's all down to the judges and those valuable public votes."

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Bradford Council’s executive member for culture, said: "We have a good selection of restaurants from across the district. I hope that this year we will win again.

"We can only do it if Bradford residents support us and vote for their favourite restaurant."

Harry Khinda who is chef, owner and proprietor of Zaara's in Bradford Road, Shipley, said he was thrilled to be on the team thanks to customers' support.

"We've had loads of messages on Twitter and Facebook, we've had so many people behind us.

"It's great to have won the title the first, second and third time, so winning the title for the fourth time won't happen often but we are going to do our best to make sure it does."

The restaurant is also waiting to hear next month if it is going to be awarded a Michelin star.

"The nearest Indian restaurant with one Michelin star to Bradford is Birmingham so if we get it, it will be the icing on the cake to keeping the title in Bradford the next month," said Mr Khinda.

Mohammed Rafiq, of Kipling's, said; "It's fantastic we are part of the team. We're going to do all we can to keep the trophy where it belongs - right here in Bradford where it's deserved."

One of Shimla Spice's managers, Istikhar Hussain, added: "We've been on the Bradford team for the fifth year now, which is a huge achievement. We're a strong side and we can win it again."

Azhar Mahmood, manager of the Aakash, said: "We're over the moon to be working side-by-side with other Bradford restaurants as part of the record bid.

"Our team has spent a lot of time and effort talking to customers about the bid and getting them to vote, and we're looking forward to helping try and win the Curry Capital title for the fourth year in a row."