Archive for September, 2009

Gordon Gets a Bull's Eye

Monday, September 28th, 2009

As Fay and I are keen that the London Restaurant Festival has a charity element I approached a friend of mine called Rose Astor who is involved in Starlight.

For those who are unaware Starlight is a wonderful charity that grants wishes to seriously or terminally ill children. Rose was involved in a charity event at the Saatchi Gallery at the weekend, with her company Maggie and Rose, and I suggested that Fay and I donate one of the pop-up restaurants in the London Eye as an auction lot. Sarah Dawson at Starlight who helped arrange the event was more than happy to accept. So last Saturday I trundled along to the Saatchi Gallery at the former Duke of York’s Barracks in Chelsea, for the dinner – rather a good one as it happens from the team at Eight Over Eight – and the auction.

There were a dozen lots and ours was near the end. Tension mounted. You never know if these things are going to be a damp squib with no-one bidding. Happily a friend had called me on the way and made a bid at the reserve of £5,500. Yes, I know this sounds a lot, and it is, but these are remarkable one off events and we want to raise a decent amount for Starlight, and for Action Against Hunger, our other charity. So bidding got underway.

It kicked off at £4,000 and was soon to £7,000. Frankly I’d have been happy with that a pootled home. But no. On it rallied: £9,000, £10,000, £14,000, £17,000, £20,000. At this point the room descended into a cacophony of whoops and shrills. I was beside myself with excitement as this was all new to me and I was worried it might not sell. Prince William, on the table to my right, was cheering away. It finally stopped at £23,000 and the room erupted. The biggest price of any lot for the night and a huge success.

Fay bumped into Gordon today at lunch and he is thrilled. What a good man. He’s come in for some stick of late but much of it is undeserved. Sebastian Shakespeare, stalwart editor of Londoner’s Diary, kindly reported the news in his column this evening. No less exciting is that we’ve now managed to secure The Ivy for an extra night so one London Eye capsule will become the most exclusive pop-up of the capital’s most exclusive restaurant for one night only on October 14th.

All bids welcome.

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London Restaurant Festival Grows Its Fringe

Friday, September 25th, 2009

One of the ambitions that Fay and I had for the London Restaurant Festival was that restaurateurs, and others, would generate their own fringe events and that these could fall under the umbrella of the festival.

The idea being that no matter how big or small these events may be, the sum of these happenings across London would, in years to come help the London Restaurant Festival become a celebration of restaurants, food and wine that spanned the capital.

Happily this already seems to be happening even in year one. Chirpy jockey Frankie Dettori has decided to celebrate the London Restaurant Festival by putting on a Night at the Races at Frankie’s Sports Bar and Grill at Chelsea FC.

Frankie is a shareholder in Frankie’s along with Marco Pierre White. The evening will be co-hosted by jocular racing pundit John McCririck.

The evening takes place on Thursday Oct 8th at 7pm. You can have a three-course dinner and then take a punt on televised races throughout the inevitably raucous evening. All proceeds go towards Help a London Child.

Meanwhile, for those who would like a more rarefied experience, Tate Britan and tate Modern have organised a series of Art Lunches to run throughout the London Restaurant Festival.

Tate Britain, where the Turner and the Masters exhibition is on, have decided to serve a two-course lunch inspired by Turner with dishes the artist himself would have enjoyed eating. These include steamed mutton pudding with minted caper and lentil jus, using Welsh mutton steamed for five hours.

Over at Tate Modern where Pop Life: Art in a Material World is running, the Tate Modern Restaurant has Marilyn Monroe Crème Brulee, a seasonal crème brulee inspired by the pudding once famously served to Andy Warhol at London’s Café Royal.

It is these fringe events that will help give the London Restaurant Festival its longevity and help it appeal to as many people as possible. Well done to Frankie and the Tate and thanks very much.

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Awards, Events and Market Kitchen

Friday, September 25th, 2009

The judging lunch for the London Restaurant Festival Awards was held on Tuesday 22 September in the private room of The Greenhouse in Hay’s mews  where Antonin Bonnet’s thoughtful cooking and the wines chosen by Master Sommelier Ronan Sayburn made what was anyway an enjoyable argy-bargy and riot of horse-trading into a total treat.

Tracey McCleod, Marina O’Loughlin, Giles Coren and myself were the restaurant critics taking part. We were given the well-informed customer’s point of view by Tamara Ingram, Chair of Visit London, and Simon Davis, Director of the Festival.

Award Categories

We like to think that the categories for the awards are something of a breakthrough in this kind of event. In place of Best French, Best Italian, Best British etc. we have looked to qualities that we cherish in restaurants, qualities like Bravery, Discovery, Passion, Warmth, Ceremony and Fun. Unsurprisingly this has given us shortlists and winners that deviate rewardingly from the same-old-same-old places receiving recognition.

You will have to wait until Tuesday 13 October to hear the results when Nigel Barden will reveal all at a gathering of the industry at The Tea House in Shoreditch. At the same event the winners of The Best London Restaurant Festival Menus will be announced.

If you are a chef or restaurateur and you haven’t yet signed up to do a Festival Menu, get cracking.

Pierre Koffmann on Market Kitchen

On Wednesday morning, rather too early for my liking, I went to the set of Market Kitchen to talk about the Festival to presenter Tom Parker Bowles (always a pleasure) and watch the legendary chef Pierre Koffmann do TV for the first time in his life. He took to it like a duck to water, his grizzled charm easily surviving the attentions of the make-up girl, and his dish of grouse a l’Anglaise served with fried breadcrumbs and bread sauce which he cooked with his erstwhile protege Eric Chavot, a masterpiece. Tom PB and I despatched it in a trice. All this and more can be viewed on Monday 5 October.

If you can’t get a table for Pierre Koffmann’s pop-up restaurant on the roof of Selfridges from October 8 for three weeks – they went as quickly as I ate that grouse – remember there are other equally diverting events taking place such as Starter for Ten, the quiz to decide supremacy of chefs or critics, conducted by Bamber Gascoigne at Vinopolis on 10 October, Simon Schama’s lecture on the language of food at King’s Place at noon on Sunday 11 October, The Big Roast at Leadenhall Market also on Sunday, Eat Film throughout the festival, Gourmet Odysseys, the Bistrotheque pop-up in the Masonic Temple below Andaz Hotel in the City  and more. All the details and ways to book are on the London Restaurant festival site.

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Tickets being Gobbled Up for London Restaurant Festival Events

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

With just over two weeks to go before the start of the first London Restaurant Festival tickets for all the events are being snapped up with encouraging vigor.

Reservations for one of our landmark events – Pierre Koffmann’s pop-up Restaurant on the Roof of Selfridges – have been so brisk that we have decided to extend his ‘run’ for not only one extra week but a fortnight so it will last for three weeks in total (ends 31 October).

The London Evening Standard ran a full page on the news this evening.

Starter for Ten

I’ve just been chatting to Bamber Gascoigne, the legendary former host of University Challenge, who will be our quizmaster for Starter For Ten. He’s having lunch with Fay on Friday and they are planning the questions. By the way, do please submit any questions you might have and if they’re deemed worthy we’ll incorporate them into the quiz. (comment on this blog post or email our Festival Contacts with “Starter for Ten Question” in the subject line)

In case you have not heard, Starter For Ten will be a quiz that pits Critics against Chefs with all the questions based on the subjects of food, restaurants, eating out and general foodie knowledge.

We’re thrilled to have Bamber on board as he very rarely gets involved in being a quiz host any longer. But he loved the idea so has come out of retirement for the London Restaurant Festival.

Starter For Ten will take place on Saturday 10 October at Vinopolis and the distinguished chef team is Angela Hartnett, Richard Corrigan, Rowley Leigh and Jeremy Lee while the critics – no less acclaimed – are Giles Coren, Toby Young, Tracey McLeod and Matthew Norman.

Get a ticket while you still can and join us for a drink and what promises to be a very entertaining evening. We’ve arranged the event so you can still go and have dinner afterwards so you can make a night of it.

Fay Maschler on Market Kitchen

Fay is off to film an episode of Market Kitchen today with Matthew Fort and Pierre Koffmann and I’m sure all talk will be of the festival. Don’t miss the screening that will be on 5 October.

London Eye Restaurant Capsules

For those of you who want to get the chance of the ultimate private pop-up make sure you get your bids in for the restaurants in the London Eye. All the details are on the site. I hard earlier that Zuma is getting some pretty hefty punting but all of them are generating interest.

We’ve got some extremely exciting news about the restaurants in the Eye that I’ll be able to reveal over the next few days so keep checking in.

Book a Table for Festival Menus

One last thing, do please start thinking about making your reservations for Festival Menus in whichever of our several hundred participating restaurants takes your fancy. I gather that over 1,500 bookings have already been made which is great news. The Festival Menus really are your opportunity to try new restaurants at an affordable price or see what inspired ideas your old favourites can offer.

Thanks to everyone for all your support and I’ll be back with a daily blog from now until the end of the festival.

Do let us have your comments below as these will be invaluable as we move forward both this year and in the years to come.

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London Restaurant Festival Press Launch

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Simon Davis, Fay Maschler and 25 top London chefs celebrate the press launch of London Restaurant Festival

We had a very busy morning indeed today as Fay and I hosted our big press launch for the London Restaurant Festival 2009. We started with a press breakfast at One  Aldwych – for which many thanks to the team there.

Everyone who agreed to turn up did so which is always encouraging and there were journalists from Bloomberg, BBC, The Telegraph, The Times, the London Evening Standard, London Lite and several others. All were eager to find out more about the festival and get stories in their various publications. Awareness is crucial so this is pleasing.

Chefs in Covent Garden

From here Fay and I led the journalists up to Covent Garden, where the London Restaurant Festival Hub will be located (see below). We had arranged for a photo call with 25 of London’s top chefs. It’s always slightly nerve wracking when you organise these sort of occasions but it was wonderful to see that all 25 chefs turned out, resplendent in their whites, to be photographed with Fay and I in front of our huge festival dinner plate.

I would like to thank Chloe Couchman from our partners at Visit London who helped orchestrate the shoot and press day and also all the chefs who turned out. The success of the first London Restaurant Festival is reliant on several factors, not least the enthusiasm and support of the very chefs who have helped establish London as one of the world’s great restaurant cities.

All-Star Cast

Among the 25 who turned out today were Mark Hix, Angela Hartnett, Thomasina Miers, Henry Harris, Pierre Koffmann, Richard Corrigan, Claude Bosi, Anthony Demetre, Tim Hughes and many others and Fay and I are extremely grateful. All of them will be running festival menus.

On the subject of which we have now got almost 500 restaurants signed up.

After the shoot we repaired to Sophie’s Steakouse on Wellington St where an assembled crowd of some 100 press and chefs gathered to hear more details about the festival. Thanks very much to Sophie’s Steakhouse for hosting us.

I gave an address before Fay set out her clear aims for the festival and her motivations for helping to create it.

Visit London Support for the Festival

Sally Chatterjee, the interim CEO of Visit London, then spoke about the support given by Mayor of London Boris Johnson and also the wholehearted backing that Visit London are giving to the festival both in year one and going forward.

It was all generally deemed to be a great success by both press and chefs alike and Fay and I both hope that the resulting press coverage we receive will help boost the awareness of the festival.

At the time of writing I gather the story has already made some of the papers and hit the airwaves.

The Hub at Covent Garden

I am writing this blog from the rather magnificent chrome 1950s airstream caravan that we have plonked in Covent Garden and is serving as our information centre and press office. Do come down and have a look if you are in the area and you can find out more about the festival. It’s being hauled off tomorrow though and will be back on October 1st and will stay in place for two weeks over the festival period.

My thanks to Covent Garden London - one of our key partners – for helping us to organise all of this.

Pierre Koffmann at Selfridges

One last thing, I made an exciting announcement at the press conference this morning and that is the news that Pierre Koffmann’s restaurant on the roof of Selfridges has already had so many reservations that we are going to extend it for one week.

Tickets are also now on sale for The Big Roast, Gourmet Odyssey and the Simon Schama Lecture so please do book your tickets as they are selling fast.

Tickets for the other events will start going on sale very soon so keep checking in.

Festival Menus

Also, do have a look at the restaurants running  festival menus and start thinking about making your reservation soon, as several chefs I spoke to this morning said they were already getting reservations.

Thanks once again for all of those who are getting behind the London Restaurant Festival and doing their utmost to guarantee that the first year is a triumph. I’ll be back with more news soon and if you have any questions, comments or ideas for events then please do post them and I shall endeavour to get back to you.

Don’t forget, the London Restaurant Festival is your festival too. Thanks very much.

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