Festival revolution         (Events - Dining)

The London Restaurant Festival (LRF) continues this week following a red carpet debut at Vanity Fair's opening party and hosted by Quaglino’s restaurant.

The LRF's organisers have mobilised the creativity of name chefs and restaurateurs in better than expected numbers. Over 550 venues converged to show what culinary London can do during the week-long event. RedKarpet takes a snapshot view.   (12 Oct'09)

Who's behind it?

The LRF has been created by accomplished journalists and broadcasters Fay Maschler and Simon Davis (pictured) of the consultancy A Private View. The event is supported by Visit London the official visitor organisation for London and Mayor Boris Johnson. Tim Etchells of Single Market Events, which recently organised London Fashion Week, is also a founding partner. The festival's sponsors/partners include Vanity Fair, Mumm Champagne, Covent Garden London, Eureka Executive Search and the London Evening Standard.

The menu

Legendary French chef Pierre Koffmann is staging his ‘Pierre Koffmann Restaurant on the Roof at Selfridges’ where diners will be enjoying culinary magic atop the London  store until 31 October.

The pop-up restaurants on the Merlin Entertainment London Eye have sold out more than a week ago.  revolving restaurant to London sees one capsule  transformed each evening into a dining room for ten.

(Below) Richard Corrigan (Corrigan's of Mayfair) aboard London Eye capsule

Seven chefs for seven days:

14th October - The Ivy’s Alan Bird and Gary Lee arrive for a final night of dining.

13th October Tong Chee Hwee from Hakkasan

12th October Zuma Restaurant's chef Ross Shonhan on board on the .

11th October Vineet Bhatia of Rasoi Vineet Bhatia.

10th October "Starter for Ten Quiz" at Vinopolis was hosted by Bamber Gascoigne where top chefs battled out there food knowledge with a team of renowned critics.

10th October also welcomed Francesco Mazzei from L’Anima.

8th October Richard Corrigan from Corrigan’s of Mayfair

9th October Gordon Ramsay (left) created his magic for Starlight Children's Foundation auction diners.

Pop-up restaurant originators Pablo Flack and David Waddington of Bistrotheque created the Supersonic Masonic Supper Club and collaborated with Andaz Hotel to create a sell-out 50-seat, three-night-only eatery in the hotel’s Grade I listed Masonic Temple.

Some 3,300 bookings have been made via the website (and founding partner) TopTable.com by diners keen on trying the festival menus across the capital.

What they said:
“London’s extraordinary breadth and depth of restaurants and our home grown and imported talent deserves to be recognised and celebrated in as entertaining and supportive way as possible. Other great cities have restaurant festivals. Now we do too.”  Fay Maschler

 “The last 18 months have been challenging for the London restaurant sector. Our aim with the festival was to put them back in the spotlight, to remind people of the quality, value and diversity of the capital’s dining scene, and to encourage people to re-discover eating out in London. We’ve been delighted with just how much interest tourists and locals have shown in the festival.”  Sally Chatterjee, interim CEO,    Visit London.

RK  _________________________________________