Win a £500 dinner for two at a Top London Restaurant

This Post was written by Niamh from Eat Like a Girl

Hi all,

I've just started working with Trusted Places and we've a fantastic competition that might interest you. You can win a £500 dinner for two at a Top London Restaurant. More details here: http://trustedplaces.com/docs/win500

It’s very easy to enter, you just need to write a review (you can write as many as you like, the more you write the greater your chances) and share your trusted places with the community .

It’s a great site, I was a member long before I became an employee, and, it’s definitely a community that’s fun to be involved with. So, if you're interested, sign up and review, and, who knows - you might be indulging in one of London’s Top 10 restaurants, all on us :-)

Niamh

Covent Garden Night Markets - Tasting Evening Invitation for the UKFBA

Following its huge success in 2007, Covent Garden will once again be revisiting its heritage as the original larder of London with London’s only food night market, and now including a kitchen theatre fronted by celebrity chefs.

To Londoners’ delight, the historic Piazza will be transformed into a foodie paradise this summer and will feature even more unique, mouth watering stalls from some of the UK’s finest traders. There will also be stalls selling fish caught fresh from the river Thames including Grade A oysters, a wild game stall offering everything from grey squirrel to pigeon and Melt chocolate for bespoke, exclusive delicacies.

Learn how to cook with some of the UK’s top chefs from the Hairy Bikers to Willie Wonka and Fergus Henderson as they cook up a storm on the Piazza with exciting new dishes prepared with fresh produce taken directly from the market stalls. Chefs set to host their own exciting Kitchen Theatre from 6.30pm are as follows:

· 15th August: Hairy Bikers – Geordie duo renowned for working their way around the world on their motorbikes.

· 22nd August: Willie Harcourt-Cooze - the modern day Willie Wonka, famed for his 100% pure Venezuelan Black chocolate

· 29th August: Fergus Henderson – head chef of St John restaurant and famous for his book and philosophy of ‘Nose to Tail Eating’

The night markets run every Thursday and Friday until 29th August (3:00pm-10:00pm on Thursdays and 12:00pm - 9:00pm on Fridays). Kitchen theatres will take place from 6.30pm

UK food bloggers are invited to an intimate tasting evening this Friday 15th August at 6pm, followed by the chance to see Hairy Bikers (www.hairybikers.com) cook up a storm at 6.30pm.

As part of the tasting evening, Covent Garden Night Markets would like to offer you some redeemable vouchers, so that you can sample the produce and dishes at the market for free. If you would like to attend you need to email Nik_Thakkar@jcpr.com and include a link to your blog.

This Post was written by NAME from A Slice of Cherry Pie

Beer2go with food

This Post was written by Paul Garrard from RealAleBlog



Beer is the perfect accompaniment to food !
No other drink is quite as versatile or offers such a variety of flavours. Different beers are able to complement a whole range of different tastes and food styles. It is particularly good at coping with spicy food.

For a handy crib-sheet with some of our suggestions for beer with food matching:
Click here

Market Kitchen Quiz: More Info.

Hi everyone,

I have some more information for you on the Market Kitchen Quiz. Firstly, the quiz is in the evening, not during the day, so if weren't able to put your name down because of work or other committments during the day, maybe you'll be able to now.

Arrivals are from 6.30pm at Borough Market for drinks, and the quiz starts at 7.30pm. Entry will be by invitation only. The quiz will be food related with lots of entertaining interactive rounds.

I'm really looking forward to the evening, our very first UK Food Bloggers event! I'll be drawing the names this weekend so if you're interested email me before Sunday.

This Post was written by Julia from A Slice of Cherry Pie

PUDZ Amateur Pudding Chef Competition

This Post was written by Alex from Eating Leeds.

PUDZ (the pudding people) are holding an Amateur Chef pudding competition. The Glasgow, Birmingham and Bristol heats are still to come, and the finals will be held in London in November.

Full details of the competition are here.

I have it on good authority that, at this stage, the Glasgow heat looks to be a little less hotly contested than the other regions, so if you can make it to Glasgow Met on 28 August, it will be worth investigating further!

Best of British!

Do you want to be on Market Kitchen?

Thanks to everyone who's emailed me volunteering to be on the UKFBA team for the Market Kitchen Quiz.

There's still time to put your name down for the team, so if you're available on 19th August and can get to London's Borough Market just drop me a line at ukfoodbloggersassociation AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk.

This Post was written by Julia from A Slice of Cherry Pie

Bacchus - End Of An Era

Next weekend sees the closure of Bacchus - the East End's best modern fine dining restaurant. A new fine dining venture is planned for the future, but the Hoxton site is being transformed into a gastropub. For more details, see this blog post from Silverbrow and this one from me.

Many London food bloggers know Bacchus and have enjoyed eating there. Some will be meeting up for a drink there on Wednesday night (6th August) to say goodbye to Nuno Mendes and his crew. I can't be there myself as I'm working in Barcelona, but my dad will attend on my behalf. Everyone is welcome to come along and join in.

This Post was written by Trig from Aidan Brooks: Trainee Chef

Cornwall - A few quick suggestions

I've just got back from Cornwall, but I'm off for a week of cycling in the Channel Islands tomorrow! I'll be back with new pics and stories after 11 August! In the meantime, if anyone of you happens to go to Cornwall this summer, these places are a must:

1) The Wave, St Ives - fabulous, fabulous food! MUST VISIT. I cannot stress this enough.

2) The Gurnard's Head Hotel, near Zennor - great food, great atmosphere, great service by good-looking waiters

3) The Jewel chippie, Newlyn - mmmm lemon sole freshly perfectly cooked, tasty chips, massive portions, good value. daily specials available, and sometimes include scallops!

4) The Kitchen teahouse, Polperro - lovely place, friendly & fun owners, the best cream tea I've ever had (those scones... sigh!)

5) Philps pasties, Hayle - delish!

And do try the Moomaid of Zennor ice-cream!!!

Will tell you more when I get back!

Adios!