Archive for May, 2010

Restaurant Registration Update

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Restaurant Participation for the 2010 London Restaurant Festival has been wholly encouraging this week, with a significant flurry of sign-up activity in the last two days alone.

With just over four months to go, it is also very exciting to see some of the additional in-house event suggestions from several of the restaurants now committed to being involved this year.  Feasting Festival Menus, private-dining room dinner parties, cookery demonstrations and butchery classes are all set to feature in the 2010 Restaurant Events schedule, offering Festival-goers across London the chance to experience some really special and unique ideas in their local restaurants this year.

Further update to follow next week in advance of our consumer press launch at the London Eye on the 8th June, where we will reveal our full line-up of Festival Events for 2010 and tickets go onsale to the public.

2010 London Restaurant Festival Registered Restaurants currently include:  Sam’s Brasserie, Tate Modern, The Clerkenwell Kitchen, Whitechapel Gallery Dining RoomQuilon Restaurant, Mews of Mayfair, Moti Mahal, Mestizo, The Rib Room, The Cinnamon Club, Mango Tree, Bonds, HIX, The Landau, Village East, The Draper’s Arms, Electric Brasserie and Hawksmoor.

Industry Awards and Participating Restaurants

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Busy time last night hopping between parties for Conde Nast Traveller’s Innovation and Design Awards, for which both LRF and our Pierre Koffmann pop-up Restaurant on the Roof at Selfridges were nominated, and then onto the Tatler restaurant awards at The Langham. Bumped into all sorts including Jeremy King, Heston Blumenthal, Rowley Leigh, Phil Howard, Raymond Blanc, Mark Fuller and Tom Aikens. All were asking after the London Restaurant Festival and making their commitments to get involved and support it, which is always encouraging to hear.

I then joined Fay, and her husband Reg, and Wahaca‘s Tommi Miers and her husband Mark at Il Barreto on Blandford St. Such a great place and choc full on a Monday night. We look forward to seeing what they produce for their Festival Menu in October.

On the subject of which, the sign-up is now fully up and running on the website. Please do sign up as soon as you can to make the most of your involvement. It’s quite clear from last year’s LRF that the restaurants who signed up early and got engaged in the festival from the outset saw the greatest benefits from their involvement. It’s just £100 to sign up your restaurant. A very small price to pay for being involved in London’s only genuine restaurant festival designed to embrace all that is great and London’s restaurant industry.

All the very best,
Simon.