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.

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.

More than 400 of the capital’s restaurants have already registered their interest through the festival website – www.londonrestaurantfestival.com. Now our team has issued official registration documents and guidelines.

To make the process as simple and time-saving as possible, restaurateurs can download all the information and forms from this website and from the links below.

One of the key ‘events’ that all London restaurants are invited to take part in is the Festival Menu programme. Fay Maschler, the distinguished Evening Standard restaurant critic and London Restaurant Festival chair, believes that a Festival Menu should “encapsulate, explain and deliver the essence of each participating establishment.” Menus at different fixed price points will give potential customers confidence; places that they may have been diffident about trying become understandable and accessible.

Festival Menus provide the opportunity for restaurants of any ethnicity to convey precisely what their cuisine contributes and the part it plays in the astonishing range of restaurants that London possesses. The menus will be an opportunity to concentrate even more than usual on creativity, seasonality, surprise and good value.

Once we start to register restaurants, we will keep you regularly updated on who is on board.

Links to London Restaurant Festival restaurant registration forms:

Restaurant Registration Form [PDF 308KB]

Restaurant Registration Prices [PDF 134KB]

Restaurant Registration Guidelines [PDF 129KB]

Rowley’s
This is not somewhere where I would usually choose to have lunch but the owner recently handed over to his son Will Guess, who now runs it with his sister. The reason I would not normally go is based on little more than the fact that it would not really occur to me.

The most striking thing about Rowley’s, for those who have not visited, are the interiors. The property was once the butcher’s shop of the distinguished Walls family whose meat business obviously grew considerably. The remarkably vibrant green and orange tile work remains. It has been a restaurant since 1977 and is best known for its entrecote with herb butter that comes to the table on a sort of fajita-style sizzling platter. I ordered this. The steak was pretty good but the butter was a little cloying. The sizzling platter seems anachronistic.

Will Guess is a charming and enterprising young chap who is keen to attract a new generation of people to Rowley’s. Of course, when they opened in 1977 there were considerably fewer restaurants in London and steak frites was considered a luxury. This is no longer the case and at nearly £20 Rowley’s does seem steep. I’d make the butter an option and think about losing the sizzler – not least because it means that the last piece of meat is overcooked.

That said, the service is excellent, the “all you can eat” fries are pretty faultless and the atmosphere – in the heart of St James’s – is rarefied without being fusty. And then there’s the magical tiles. It’s well worth a visit.
Address: 113 Jermyn Street, London, SW1. Tel: 020 7930 2707

Maggie Jones
To lunch with the lovely Charlotte Ross who runs the features department at the London Evening Standard. The paper is one of our media sponsors for the London Restaurant Festival and will also be publishing our festival guide and supplement. Charlotte is a keen supporter of the London Restaurant Festival and I was keeping her up to date with some of the events, chefs and restaurants that we are starting to confirm.

The Evening Standard will also be keeping you informed about the London Restaurant Festival through their food pages that are now published on a Thursday. Obviously we have a close link to the newspaper as Fay Maschler is its celebrated restaurant critic, chair of the London Restaurant festival and also my business partner in our consultancy company, A Private View Ltd. I was also features editor and travel editor on the paper for several years. We appreciate the support of the London Evening Standard and of Geordie Greig, its new editor who is fully behind the London Restaurant Festival.

Maggie Jones is an oddment. A cluttered, jumble of an interior but not without charm. It resembles the inside of a Romany caravan combined with a Normandy bric-a-brac shop. Lunch was a mackerel that was fresh and unfussy. The salad was a bit lazy. Still, it’s never really been about the food here and I wasn’t too hungry as I was double lunching (see below).
Address: 6 Old Court Place, London, W8.

Imagination Gallery
A midday meeting with Fay at the inspired Imagination Gallery offices morphed into a lunch as we joined up with Mark Philpott and Phil Roker of Vacherin. This is an exciting catering company that recently opened the new café at the renovated Whitechapel Gallery and also does the restaurant at the Imagination Gallery. It’s really an uber staff canteen. Mark knows his stuff and is a former chef. They are ones to watch.
Address: 25 Store Street, South Crescent, London, WC1. Tel: 0207323 3300

George
I meet with Des McDonald to talk about the London Restaurant Festival. Des runs Caprice Holdings for Richard Caring and both of them are on the steering committee for the London Restaurant Festival. There are several ideas we are working on. Alvin Caudwell – the business development manager for Caprice Holdings and the ‘go to’ girl to get things done also joined us. I can’t reveal what we’re hatching at the moment but will be able to soon. Snacked on the most delicious cod goujons.
Address: 87-88 Mount Street, London, W1. Tel: 020 7491 4433

The Wolseley
Breakfast with Jeremy King, co-owner of The Wolseley along with Chris Corbin. Jeremy was keen to find out more about the London Restaurant Festival and, as the owner of arguably the most stellar restaurant in London, it is important for the festival that he is on board. Happily, he was extremely enthusiastic about our plans and we are now working on the best way to include The Wolseley and also St Alban, their other restaurant on Regent Street.

Jeremy is a man of discerning sensibilities – and a fellow cyclist – so to have his support, and the involvement of his restaurants is yet another vote of confidence for what Fay and I, and the London Restaurant Festival team, are endeavouring to achieve for London. I had a plate of The Wolseley’s delicious kedgeree, a dish that is far too difficult to find on menus these days.
Address: 160 Piccadilly, London, W1. Tel: 020 7499 6996.

Wild Honey
Chef Anthony Demetre also has the feted Arbutus in Soho and is a supporter of the London Restaurant Festival. We’re looking forward to seeing what event he, and his business partner Will Smith, come up with for his restaurants, as they are extremely knowledgeable and inventive.

Myself, Fay and Penny Smith – the London Restaurant Festival manager – were having lunch with Dan Thomas, the news editor of Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine. This is considered by many to be the bible for the hospitality industry and so it’s important that they understand the London Restaurant Festival and are kept in the loop. I’m pleased to say that they are happy to help in any way they can.

Lunch at Wild Honey was typically fresh, well sourced and seasonal. The new season morels with chicken wings in Madeira sauce were notably good as was the chicken and duck terrine and the tartare of Arctic char. Mains included a dish of cod, cockles, chorizo and chickpea and a traditional bouillabaisse.
Address: 12 George Street, London, W1. Tel: 020 7758 9160.

By the by…
On another note, I spent a few hours the other evening joining Soho House director of operations Martin Kuczmarski on one of his ‘Night Watch’ tours. Nick Jones, the founder of Soho House, is on the steering committee of the London Restaurant Festival and is helping with various projects. He wondered if I wanted to get a behind the scenes tour with Martin – his extremely capable commander-in-chief who used to work with Gordon Campbell-Gray. It was a fascinating glimpse into the measures one really needs to go to in order to maintain the decent standards that the Soho House group of clubs has built up over the past 15 years or so.

The premise of the ‘Night Watch’ is fairly straightforward. About half and hour or so is spent in each of the six London venues talking to staff, visiting the kitchens, scouring the scenes for any hiccups or inconsistencies. We began at Shoreditch House, which was throbbing with people on the roof as the sun was out. Martin let me in on their new plans for the roof that I promised not to reveal, suffice to say that they are as renegade and fun as you would expect. Then it was off to the Café Boheme, Soho House and bkb to look at the kitchens and listen to any problems staff may have. It’s all done in a very friendly and productive fashion. It was impressive.

We skipped Cecconi’s and headed to High Road House in Chiswick where we had dinner and a chat with the talented Jesse Dunford Wood, the new chef. After we had eaten, Martin and I ran through some of the dishes with Jesse and made our comments. It’s this sort of immersive and responsive attitude to restaurants that makes all the difference. We then repaired to the Electric on Portobello Road to see how things were brewing up towards midnight. The place was fizzing. We had a vodka tonic – just to ensure it was being mixed correctly.

Many of the Soho House Group restaurants will be involved in the London Restaurant Festival. Perhaps we can create a version of the Night Watch event for those who want to see behind the scenes? We shall see.

The Wonder Bar

To lunch with Ewan Venters, the inventive and genial food director for Selfridges. Fay also joined us. I never fail to be wowed by the enterprising approach to food at Selfridges. There are well over a dozen restaurants at the store and we met at one of the most ingenious. The sleek Wonder Bar sits alongside the wine department on the ground floor and has a wine ‘juke box’. This is a nifty machine that keeps wine in prime condition once opened thus allowing people to have fine wine by the glass. You can put money onto a card and then self serve if you wish. The food comes on boards and is aimed at those wishing to share. There’s fine Domecq Jamon Iberico Bellota and superb Frank Hederman Beech smoked salmon with capers and beetroot chutney. Ewan sits on the steering committee of the London Restaurant Festival and we are in talks for a very exciting project at Selfridges during the festival.

Selfridges & Co, 400 Oxford St, London, W1A 1AB.

Sanctum Soho

Sanctum Soho has just opened and I visited early on to get a feel for the restaurant. I must admit an interest here as A Private View Ltd, the consultancy company I have with Fay Maschler, helped find the chef and compile the menu. He’s a gifted young man called Gavin Austin who is passionate and lacks self-indulgence. He’s a talent to watch out for and cooks with a lot of integrity using simple, well-sourced ingredients. I had scallops with bacon and peas and it was neatly presented and full of distinct flavours. It was also nice and hot. The rib-eye steak was exceptional and the fries hot, crispy and tasting of potato. It will be a few weeks before the place is up to full speed but with the food already this accomplished it’s certainly one to watch.

20 Warwick St, London, W1B 5NF. Tel: 020 72926100

Zafferano

Fay and I had lunch with the owners of this popular Belgravia Italian. It’s part of London Fine Dining Group that also has Aubergine, L’Oranger, Allora and Memories of China in its stable, among others. Zafferano is an elegant place serving precise and authentic dishes. The food is always beautiful to look at and they are swift to get seasonal specials onto the menu. I started with some linguine and morels. They were earthy and nutty. The escalope Milanese was thankfully not hammered into the mean-spirited thin offering as is so often the case and is like eating a greasy bit of cardboard sprinkled with pebbledash. Instead it was succulent and the bread crumbs golden jewels. London Fine Dining Group are keen to be involved in the London Restaurant Festival.

15 Lowndes St, London, SW1X 9EY. Tel: 020 7235 5800

J Sheekey
During lunch at J Sheekey with Chris Hughes, the effervescent character behind the Taste food events, we discussed having a bit of a shindig during Taste to tell people more about LRF. Taste is a partner of the London Restaurant Festival and will also have an event during the inaugural LRF in October. I never tire of J. Sheekey. It’s refined without being stuffy and the recently designed oyster bar is one of the most delightful places to sit and eat in London’s West End at the moment. It’s redolent of the oyster bar in Grand Central Station in New York but more intimate and better food. We sat in the main restaurant which is no less agreeable and I had some sound oysters and an excellent bream, simply pan-fried.
Address: 28-32 St Martin’s Court, London, WC2N 4AL. Tel: 020 7240 2565
Book online

Sukho Thai

Dinner with friends at this Thai restaurant that remains, to my mind, one of the best in London. The service is sweetly deferential and the food is presented with delicate modesty. The tom kha soup and the soft shell crab are particularly good as is the fresh tuna in spicy lemongrass and mint and the corn fed chicken with cloud ear mushrooms.

Address: 855 Fulham Road, London, SW6 5HJ. Tel: 020 7371 7600

The Pantechnicon Rooms

You can get one of the best set lunches in town at this elegant neighbourhood bolt-hole on the rapidly emerging hot spot of Motcomb St. It’s owned and run by a savvy young team whose first project was The Thomas Cubitt Pub on Elizabeth Street, just down the road towards Victoria. Theirs is a canny operation. They take ordinary pubs on the Grosvenor Estate and transform them into extremely well designed, and finished, pubs and dining rooms. The Estate loves them for it and so do the locals if the packed house when I visited was anything to go by. I had an excellent burger with a beaker of piping hot fries and a beer for £12. I’m going to head back soon as I gather they’re about to start serving muntjac deer – very pioneering and delicious too. I gather they’ve just bought The Orange Brewery on Pimlico Road for their third venture. Good luck to them.

Address: 10 Motcomb Street, London, SW1X 8LA. Tel: 020 7730 6074

Ba Shan

In keeping with the current vogue for small plates of food this new place in Soho specializes in the more unusual dishes from Northeast China. It’s Sichuan tapas in a way and known as ‘Xiao chi” (small eats). The restaurant itself is intimate and dressed as if to resemble a cross between a marketplace and an authentic, simple Sichuan restaurant with small wooden benches. The effect nibbles at edge of naffness but manages to avoid a full-blown feast of foibles. I was a guest of Richard Vines, the restaurant critic for Bloomberg and a supporter of The London Restaurant Festival. The smiling staff, many having just arrived in the UK, was engaging and helpful despite some language difficulties. I loved the lotus leaf buns, five-spiced beef and jia mo with cumin-spiced beef. For a full review you should read Fay Maschler’s in The Evening Standard. Read Richard Vines’ review here.

Address: 24 Romilly Street, London, W1D 5AH. Tel: 020 7287 3266

The View

Not in London but this unprepossessing little place above Whitsand Bay is well worth mentioning and a real find. It’s far superior – and far less expensive – that Rick Stein’s places in Padstow on the north coast.  I had sardines that had been simply grilled and not fiddled around with followed by an exceptional piece of turbot. All local suppliers and the head chef/owner Matt Corner is notably talented. He runs it with his wife Rachel. Also, the name of the restaurant is no shallow claim as the view across the sea to Rame Head is breathtaking.

Address: Treninnow Cliff Road, Whitsand Bay, Cornwall. Tel: 01752 822345

http://www.theview-restaurant.co.uk