Fay Maschler and her business partner Simon Davis have announced that the inaugural London Restaurant Festival will run from Thursday 8th October to Tuesday 13th October. The six day event will be ‘a citywide celebration of eating out to acknowledge the pleasure and sustenance provided by London’s extraordinarily diverse range of restaurants’. Maschler explained, “Like all good ideas, you think, why hasn't this been done before? London is an exceptional city and restaurants play a huge part in its warp and weft. That needs to be celebrated.”
Partners of the festival include big names like Visit London, Vanity Fair, the Evening Standard and toptable.com. Mayor Boris Johnson has already pledged his support and said that London’s restaurant scene is ‘a testament to the vibrancy of our city and the many communities living and eating here’.
After a glamorous launch party at Quaglino's on Wednesday 7th October, the festival will run a wide range of food-themed events including:
• ‘Gourmet Odysseys’ on London buses travelling from course to course;
• a Vietnamese street food festival;
• a Dragon’s Den open pitch where would-be restaurateurs can try their luck with industry bosses;
• a food film festival (‘Eat Film’);
• a University Challenge event where London chefs will compete against their New York peers;
• and special festival menus in some of London’s top restaurants.
The culmination will be the London Restaurant Festival Awards on Tuesday 13th October.
We know October is a long way off, but make sure you put the dates in your diary now because it sounds like its going to be six days of non-stop foodie fun!
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