Action Against Hunger is running an auction on eBay for a chance to dine at one of San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Lot One of the auction ran between 21 April to 1 May. The second set of lots opened last week and will run until 14 May. There are dinners to be had at Per Se, Daniel and The French Laundry in the US amongst other countries, so get clicking.
I love attending foodie events, so here’s just a quick note about some of the upcoming ones in May in case they might be of interest to you as well.
1) The Real Food Festival is on this weekend.
2) The London International Wine Fair will be held at the Excel Centre, 12 to 14 May 2009.
3) Le Cordon Bleu Henley Food Festival is on from 16th to 17th May 2009.
4) The Foodies Festival at Royal Palace, Hampton Court is on between 23 to 25 May 2009. It will feature a large producers market with FoodLoversBritain.com approved producers.
5) And my personal favourite (in the sense that I think it might be fun to participate), is the Cheese Rolling at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire on 25 May 2009.
So the following list of events might strike a cord with foodies, especially Australian ones. Maggie Beer, the well known and internationally acclaimed Australian food writer, cook and TV presenter, is coming to the UK next week to promote her new cookbook, Maggie’s Kitchen. Maggie also manufactures a specialty gourmet foods range which is very popular in Australia. A series of events will be held in London to promote the launch of her book and some of her products. If you are interested in attending an event, please refer to the list below. The dinners with Maggie will be prepared using a selection of Maggie’s produce, which are available through Wine & Yabbies.
On Wednesday, I was invited to a an event to mark the first pea shoots from Mullens Farm for the season at Hix Oyster & Chop House. The event was hosted by the man himself, Mark Hix, and the order of the day were a number of savoury courses, all containing pea shoots. Here is what we ate and all were delicious: chilled pea shoot and spring leek soup; pea shoot, ham hock and asparagus salad; and sea trout poached in oil with wilted pea shoots, wild garlic and cucumber. There was also a dessert of floating islands with lemon sauce.
Chilled pea shoot & spring leek soup
Have you heard about the upcoming Real Food Festival? On at Earls Court between 8-10 May, it is a showcase of produce from across Britain and abroad. A number of top chefs including Allegra McEvedy, Fergus Henderson, Raymond Blanc, Thomasina Miers, Giorgio Locatelli and Cyrus Todiwalla will also be in action at the Real Food Theatre.
The Londonpaper had a promotional offer of two tickets for £20 this past week. If you missed it, all you have to do is go to www.realfoodfestival.co.uk and enter promotional code LP09 on the payment screen. The offer is valid until 3 May 2009.
The World's 50 Best Restaurant Awards
If you have ever previously read my bio page ‘Who’s the Girl’, you might have noticed that attending the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards was previously on my wish list. Well, by a pure stroke of luck, I somehow managed to get an invitation to this year’s ceremony which was held last night.
The event at the Freemasons’ Hall in Covent Garden kicked off at 7pm with the arrival of the chefs and a champagne reception. With the who’s who of the culinary glitterati and a plethora of the world’s press coming together, the venue quickly became abuzz with the chatter of anticipation. There were about 400 to 500 people at the event, and when you consider that there are only 50 chefs that could possibly make the list, you can imagine the volume of media coverage this event receives.
Now in it’s eighth year, the results of the 2009 San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards will be announced on Monday 20 April 2009. The list is compiled by a group of prominent food writers, critics, publishers and commentators who come together to form what is know as The Nespresso World’s 50 Best Academy. Each of the people in the Academy represent a global region, and each is responsible for chairing a voting panel for that region.
I look forward to the unavailing of this list every year. It’s sometimes controversial, but above all, I find it incredibly exciting. Last year there were only two new entries to the top 50 Best Restaurants List, but I’m hoping for a bit more movement this year! I am also wondering if El Bulli will retain number one, and The Fat Duck, number two…
The event is being held at
The Freemasons’ Hall,
60 Great Queen Street,
London WC2B 5AZ
Web: http://www.theworlds50best.com/
If you happen to be in London this Easter, you might want to head down to the Southbank for the Slow Food Easter Market. The Slow Food movement is not just about healthy eating, but also about sustainable food production, caring for the earth and maintaining the environment. In other words, healthy, ethical eating.
There will be some 40 stalls from which you can sample and purchase a variety of produce: new season rare-breed spring lamb, fresh goat’s cheeses, and spring pecorinos sourced from artisan producers, including a dried cherry-coated version. And as it’s Easter, treats will avail such as Easter biscuits, hot cross buns and Simnel cake (in gluten free and vegan versions). There will also be demonstrations, workshops, plus an Easter egg hunt on Sunday!
The event will run:
Friday 10 – Monday 13 April 2009
11am – 8pm daily (6pm Monday)
at:
Southbank Centre,
Belvedere Road,
London SE1 8XX
The next slow food market after that will be 1 – 4 May 2009.
Websites:
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/calendar
http://www.slowfoodlondon.com/