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 Room,  Quilon 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.

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.

On the a la carte the same partridge dish is priced at £23 so the bargain is blatantly obvious particularly as the first course I chose of mackerel with Serrano ham, capers and a parsley emulsion was immaculately prepared with the mackerel skin as snappy as crackling and the flesh staunch enough to partner the ham perfectly.

Nigel Barden who will present the London Restaurant Festival Awards on Tuesday 13 October rated highly the alternative main course of crisp pork belly with caramelised onions and apple sauce and had the nerve to ask for a first course from the Festival Dinner Menu (£25/£35 for two/three courses) of pig’s trotters and ceps on QV sourdough.  We shared a dessert of praline chocolate bar with caramelised banana with spoons clashing as we approached the middle from either end.

The Festival aims to beckon diners into restaurants with the promise of a more than fair deal and hopefully become the start of a lasting friendship. I have a feeling that Quo Vadis may do very well in the voting for Best Festival Menu on www.londonrestaurantfestival.com or www.toptable.com

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.