The announcement of London Restaurant Festival’s exciting partnership with American Express was the big news from last night’s event at The Club at The Ivy where key chefs, critics, PRs and restaurateurs gathered to learn more about LRF 2010.

American Express were partners in 2009, the first year of the festival, and were so enthusiastic about our fledgling efforts they have decided to come on board in a more significant way. It’s great for the London Restaurant Festival and all the restaurants that take part.

Fay and I also made it very clear that our chief intent this year is to double the amount of restaurants that run Festival Menus; we’re gunning for 800. Rosie Boycott, chair of London Food, stepped in for Boris who is understandably on Tory call this week. Both Boris and Rosie shored up their support for LRF as we move into year two which is great news. Visit London are also going to keep supporting the festival in many ways.

There was a palpable sense of excitement from a packed Club at the Ivy last night that the London Restaurant Festival just might be something that really has captured the imagination of both the restaurant industry and the public.

At last, London has the beginnings of a restaurant festival that could become internationally recognised for years to come. About time too.

Restaurant Registration Now Open

There’ll be lots more information and details about the London Restaurant Festival in partnership with American Express over the coming weeks and months but the key thing for now is to get as many restaurants signed up as possible.

From today they can do this simply, quickly and affordably through our online registration form

Thanks very much to everyone for their support to date.

Our host for the evening was the BBC’s Nigel Barden who provided both wit and warmth. Fay Maschler, the distinguished Evening Standard restaurant critic and festival Chair, opened proceedings explaining that the awards were devised to honour the fundamentals of restaurant-going as she saw it. So there was no Best French, Best Italian and so forth but categories that included Bravery, Passion, Ceremony and Fun.

Thanks to our awards presenters Giles Coren, Tom Parker-Bowles, Tracey MacLeod and Nick Jones.
Also thanks to GH Mumm champagne who were the official champagne of the London Restaurant Festival and Ketel One vodka who did cocktails.

You can see all the award winners if you click on the article in today’s London Evening Standard.

Fay was presented with a special award, by GH Mumm, for her outstanding contribution to the industry before I trundled up to give thanks to all of those who have helped the festival be such a tremendous success in year one.
The whole thing lasted no more than 40 minutes which Fay and I were particularly pleased about as there are few things we find more tiresome than lengthy awards ceremonies.

Pizza East Opening and After Party

The awards were held in a rather modish covered, cobbled courtyard that separates Shoreditch House from Pizza East, the latest restaurant from Nick Jones, the founder of Soho House, and his business partner Richard Caring.

Nick, who is an old friend of Fay and myself, very kindly offered to open up Pizza East to 160 of our guests for dinner. Given that the place does not open to the public until Friday this was extremely generous of him – and also rather brave given that the room was full of critics, chefs and restaurateurs.

Pizza East, housed in a 5000 sq ft former tea warehouse, straddles the worlds of the City and the Shoreditch funksters and its canny formula of rough-hewn hipness will appeal to both.

We feasted on the most delicious pizza and Francesco Mazzei, whose restaurant L’Anima won an award and who was brought up in Calabria told me he thought the pizza superb and he knows what he’s talking about.

Plate after plate of calamari, lasagne, sea bass and a divine cauliflower carbonara came to the table washed down with tumblers of wine – it’s all about tumblers of wine these days. Thanks so much Nick and good luck when you open on Friday.

All in all a wonderful way to round off the first London Restaurant Festival. However, this does not mean that this website will be going quiet. Oh no.

I’ll keep everyone updated as we start to make plans for the London Restaurant Festival 2010. All the team have achieved an extraordinary amount in year one with very little time or money and we intend to build on that platform.

We’ve learned an enormous amount. There’ll be changes, improvements and some new events so keep checking in.
Thanks everyone for your support and all feedback is vital to us so speak up.

I must confess now that The Wells is owned by my sister Beth Coventry but nepotism sometimes ought to rule.  Tonight The Wells is hosting a Lucky Dice evening – throw a six and your food will be free – and there is still time to try their festival menu at £25 for two courses and send in votes.

Speaking of nepotism, you can also try a Festival Menu and a Lucky Dice extravaganza tonight  at my son Ben’s gastropub, The Draper’s Arms in Islington. Food runs in the family.

Photo gallery:

Photo gallery:

A team of top London chefs just pipped a team of critics to victory on Saturday night at the inaugural Starter For Ten quiz – part of the London Restaurant Festival.

Questions were set by distinguished critic, and London Restaurant Festival chair Fay Maschler, with legendary quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne in charge of proceedings.

Thomasina Miers from Wahaca, Richard Corrigan, Rowley Leigh from Le Cafe Anglais and Jeremy Lee from the Blueprint Cafe were on the chef team against Giles Coren, Toby Young, Matthew Norman and Tracey MacLeod were the critics. Simon Parkes of the Food Programme of Radio Four was the voiceover man.

There were drinks beforehand – kindly donated by our sponsors Field, Morris & Verdin – and the quiz had picture rounds, music rounds, proper buzzers and the whole works. It was all very professional and the questions were deliciously tricky.

Well done to the chefs and good effort from the critics – better luck next year.

The Gourmet Odyssey is the same notion but on a far larger scale using London Routemaster buses with four itineraries involving Scott’s, Corrigan’s, Wild Honey, Arbutus, Quo Vadis, Hakasan, Maze, Sake No Hana and Hibiscus.

Almost 300 people bought a ticket and arrived at The Metropolitan Hotel on Park Lane for a glass of Mumm champagne who were our sponsors. Guests, in a high state of excitement and anticipation, received smart little tags as if for race day and these denoted their itinerary by colour.

My wife and I were on Park Lane 1 and headed off to Theo Randall at the Intercontinental. Theo had hotfooted it back from appearing on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen where he was busy talking about the Gourmet Odyssey (thanks Theo).
Chef Randall worked the tables and talked through the remarkably fresh Devon crab he served for our starter before signing guest’s menus.

Then it was onto the bus and off to Corrigan’s when the great man was offering a choice of a divine venison ‘Wellington’ or sole. After being introduced by Fay, who joined us for lunch, he chatted to all the guests, signed menus and had his photo taken.

Everyone deemed the food exquisite and with a spring in our steps after generous refreshments we boarded the bus once more and headed to Scott’s where we were welcomed by Tim Hughes, affable executive chef of Caprice Holdings, one of our festival patrons and owners of some of London’s greatest restaurants.

Scott’s was buzzing and they served us a tasting plate that included apple pie and a chocolate parcel that oozed the richest flow of chocolate sauce when burst. And we got a pud wine.

On the bus back to the Met the atmosphere was fantastic and everyone couldn’t have been happier about their day out which after all the work involved was hugely rewarding.

An enormous thank you to all the restaurants who took part, all of those who supported us by purchasing a ticket, The Met hotel and also Katie Mann from the London Restaurant Festival who managed the event and helped it run so smoothly.

We already have some plans for next year and some new itineraries for different parts of the capital.

Our photographer captured the Pall Mall Gourmet Odyssey, click the pictures below for the image gallery:

To the London Eye on Friday evening where Gordon Ramsay took his turn cooking for ten guests who had bid to eat in our extraordinary capsule restaurant.

The great man was on cracking form and came to meet the guests who included singer James Blunt. He then headed off to the little kitchen we have created in the ticket hall and produced a wonderful dinner. The first course was a ravioli of lobster followed by the fillet of Angus beef, cheese and then a Granny Smith apple trifle. Wines were kindly provided by Fields Morris & Verdin and involved magnums of Jacquesson Cuvee 732, Mountford chardonnay 2005 and a Bodega Pintia 2004.

The successful bidder had paid £23,000 for the one-off opportunity with money going to Starlight, the charity that grants wishes to seriously and terminally ill children. Fay and I would like to thank Gordon for taking the time to support Starlight and the London Restaurant Festival.

Do come down if you are around as there are all sorts of activities going on from the world’s greatest pizza tossing acrobats to book signings with Antonio Carluccio and Jason Atherton among others. Legendary underground restaurateur Ms Marmite Lover is hosting our Supplier’s Market today and other restaurants will be doing so over the next few days. Meanwhile across London over 500 restaurants are busy preparing to serve their first Festival Menus and we gather that to date over 5000 reservations have been made.

Richard Corrigan is revving up to be the first chef to serve guests at the incredible pop-up restaurant in a capsule of the London Eye and Pierre Koffmann is prepping everyone for the first service at the extraordinary restaurant on the roof of Selfridges that has been constructed for the London Restaurant Festival.

I’ve just spoken to group of journalists who have flown over from the States to cover the festival and they’re going to the Tate Modern to see the Pop Art exhibition and try the Festival Menus the Tate have prepared inspired by Pop Art.

Festival Launch Party

Last night we had a wonderful launch party at Quaglino’s attended by 350 influential sorts from the restaurant industry and BBC news came to film a live link. It was all deemed a triumph so Fay and I and all the team are thrilled and grateful for all the support.

So, there’s masses going on. Get out there and enjoy yourself. I’m off to have lunch at Pierre Koffmann’s, but only after I watch the amazing pizza tossers kindly arranged by one of our patrons, Pizza Express.
Back soon.

This popular place, a favourite of mine, has recently undergone a major refurbishment and the committee was shown into a new private dining room where I think Posh & Becks would have been perfectly happy.

The meal started with an update from Tim Etchells from Single Market Events quickly followed by the arrival of two suckling pigs with blinking red electric bulbs like round Christmas tree lights for eyes. The squares of lacquered crackling served with plum sauce and small soft house pancakes were fabulous.

Equally good and totally different in its fragrant subtlety was the double-cooked mixed seafood and winter melon consommé, served in a vegetable vessel beautifully decorated with carving to resemble Shang dynasty pottery.

Simon Davis, Katie Mann and Penny Watson revealed more about the progress of the many and various festival events, whilst dishes of baked lobster with noodles, steamed turbot with shredded pork and loganberry, fresh lotus root filled with minced pork, pak choi with crab meat sauce and more were fitted in around their announcements. This was “work” as pure pleasure.

Several of the dishes, including the lobster, feature on the Phoenix Palace Festival Menu which in the evening is charging only £25 per person for six dishes.