Winning Restaurant Weeks chef Enworth Davis, of Muse, said he was stimulated by the Bermuda-inspired element of the event this year.

The culinary event organised by the Bermuda Tourism Authority culminated in the people’s choice award ceremony held in the Bermuda Gas Showroom yesterday morning.

In second place was Chad Mitchell of Red Steakhouse and in third was La Trattoria’s Angelo D’Amato. The top three were each winners in their own price categories — La Trattoria ($29), Muse ($39) and Red Steakhouse ($49).

Mr Davis, who is executive chef and part-owner of Muse, said: “This year was particularly a treat from the standpoint of what we were asked to do. The Bermuda inspiration aspect to it was particularly what stimulated me.

“Usually we create menus that meet the price according to which category we were in but this year, because of the inspiration, we didn’t just challenge ourselves to work within the budget but also to display items that would show Bermuda off, show us off as chefs and to emphasise how much you can accomplish with a little.”

The Bermuda Tourism Authority’s chief product and experience development officer Pat Phillip-Fairn said the 2015 event was “the best Restaurant Weeks in its four-year history”.

“It was also the largest with 44 participating restaurants,” she added. “It was decidedly more authentic.

“We challenged the participants to have Bermuda-inspired menus and Bermuda-inspired dishes and 31 of them rose to that challenge.”

The award ceremony marked the official end of Restaurant Weeks 2015, which offered diners special discounts on set menus.

Ms Phillip-Fairn said the event was just one of many culinary focused events being organised by the Bermuda Tourism Authority in the year ahead.

“Culinary tourism is an untapped opportunity for Bermuda and our local food culture is a rich story waiting to be shared.

“Every restaurateur we have spoken to thus far has said that this year was an improvement on years past. Some restaurants extended the promotion to take advantage of the momentum they were feeling as word spread.”

One restaurateur said its sales were up 97 per cent compared to last year’s Restaurant Weeks during a traditionally low performance period, while free online booking service Table.bm received three times its normal bookings.