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How the capital’s first Restaurant Festival will be a foodie’s delight
Sri Carmichael, Consumer Affairs Reporter13 Jul 2009
Meals by candlelight on the London Eye, a “gourmet odyssey” on a Routemaster bus and a Sunday roast for 500 people — welcome to London's “foodie” answer to the Edinburgh Festival.
Details of the London Restaurant Festival, the first capital-wide celebration of all things edible, were released today. Experts are predicting it will become the gastronomic equivalent of Britain's annual arts event.
The six-day programme, starting with a Vanity Fair party in Quaglino's on 8 October, will involve more than 1,000 restaurants as well as scores of street festivals and temporary venues. Organisers hope the event will tempt more customers into restaurants amid the hardest trading conditions in 20 years.
There is expected to be a scramble for the 60 tickets to dine on food from top chefs on the London Eye each evening of the festival.
Restaurants will give out hundreds of “festival menus”, and Mayor Boris Johnson is calling on restaurateurs to sign up to provide two-course lunch and dinner options showcasing their chefs' talents at affordable prices. These will be £10, £15 or £20 at lunch and £15, £25 and £40 at dinner.
Click on the image below to see London's 'foodie tour'
He said: “London's restaurant scene is world class, boasting a massive 6,000 eateries. Their importance to the capital cannot be underestimated.”
On the Monday diners will be given a dice with their meal — if they roll a four, they eat for nothing. The Saturday will see a fleet of liveried Routemasters ferry people around Mayfair restaurants. On Sunday,500 diners will be served a roast in Leadenhall Market.
A restaurant will open on the roof of Selfridges, and throughout the festival cinemas such as Soho Hotel, Charlotte Street Hotel and The Electric will screen films about food, including Eat, Drink, Man, Woman and Babette's Feast.
Britain's culinary talent will have a chance to prove their gastronomic knowledge in a University Challenge-style quiz, and a hub will be set up in Covent Garden where people can pick up information and event tickets.
The celebration will culminate on Tuesday, 13 October, with an awards ceremony for the best festival menus at a secret new restaurant in Shoreditch.
Fay Maschler, the Standard's restaurant critic and the festival chairwoman, said: “Why hasn't this been done before? London is an exceptional city and restaurants play a huge part in its warp and weft. That needs to be celebrated.”
Sally Chatterjee, interim chief executive of Visit London, said: “By backing the festival, we hope to create an unrivalled annual event that showcases the importance of restaurants, food and wine throughout the capital.”
Reader views (2)
how can i book a table at 1 of the venues
- Terry, london, 14/07/2009 06:49
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Let's hope it's better than the Taste festival which has been degeenrating year on year.
- Bob, Cheam, 13/07/2009 11:26
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