The Soho Food Feast organising committee are keen to ensure that children have lots of fun at the feast along with their ground ups.  The following activities will be available with thanks to The Soho Family Centre, Fay Maschler & Proboscis and Greater London Properties:

Saturday:

1pm - 5pm  Apron Painting - NEW 

2-4pm We are All Food Critics - see below

1-5pm Face Painting - for all ages (see below)

Sunday:

1-5pm Fruit & Veg Sculptures

2-4pm We are All Food Critics

1-5pm Face Painting

Is your kitchen book shelf groaning and overflowing with books you no longer look to for inspiration for your next meal?  If yes then the Soho Food Feast Cookbook SWAP SHOP is for you!  Bring along your old cookbook (complete and in good condition) and for the bargain price of £2 you can swap it for another one, one  that DOES inspire you and get your creative cooking juices flowing.  Cookbook SWAP SHOP will take place on both Saturday and Sunday, just look for the signs on arrival or ask one of our helpful volunteers who will be sporting a Soho Food Feast Apron.

This years Soho Food Feast Cake Competition will be held on Sunday 9th June and with a judging panel that will include Paul A Young (chocolatier) and Good Housekeeping it’s time to dust off your cake tins and get baking.  This is a competition for the young, the old and all those in the middle.   Your cake will be judged on taste, appearance and texture, be imaginative, be Soho.  All cakes should be delivered to the Cake Competition Table by 3pm. 

For the second year running children at the Soho Food Feast will have the opportunity to become ‘Food’ Critics’ for a day.  We are all food critics is a collaboration between restaurant critic from the Evening Standard Fay Maschler and artist-led creative studio Proboscis.  Fay took time out of her very busy schedule to write a fantastic introduction and prompts for the children including useful hints like not gobbling your food too quickly without noticing the taste or texture.  Those of us who are too old to be junior restaurant critics will have console ourselves through reading the reviews before going off to sample another delicacy from the chefs tent or at one of the many bars.

Below is a sample of last years reviews:

Back by popular demand to this years Soho Food Feast is Stuart Baker, not a chef, but a DJ who last year effortlessly entertained and enticed food feasters to eat, drink, relax and last but not least dance! 

Stuart Baker is the founder of Soul Jazz Records. He is a Soho resident and  the owner of the Sounds of The Universe record shop which has  been located in Soho for more than 20 years. Stuart began as a DJ and it is in this capacity that he will be returning to share with the Soho Food Feast a veritable feast of musical treats from around the world - music for your feet, mind and stomach that will hopefully be as wide-ranging, exotic, eclectic and pleasurable as the culinary delights on offer.  

Joining Stuart this year will be a host of guest DJ’s including Martin Morales the ‘DJ chef’ and founder of Ceviche restaurant who will also be serving up their delicious food at the feast on Sunday.  Not only that but Ceviche will also be serving Pisco sours at their Bar at the Soho Food Feast all weekend!  

Last year I had the pleasure of meeting up with the Kopapa team including Peter Gordon and their then Head Chef the extremely talented Selin Kiazim.  This year Selin will be joining us at the Soho Food Feast on Sunday 9th June dishing fabulous food under her own name, she has even told us all what she will be cooking and I for one feel extremely hungry just looking at this amazing creation. 

Barbecued Alaskan Sockeye salmon sandwich, black olive mayo, chilli & pomegranate salad

Many of us on the Soho Food Feast organising committee can’t wait until 9th June so we are off to Selin’s Pop-up called ‘Trinkets’ on 18th / 19th May at The Rooftop Café in The Exchange.  Selin will be serving lunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday lunch and will be making full use of their outdoor BBQ area to create a 7 course sharing menu.

To book tickets please follow this link to the Eventbrite booking page.

Tomorrow (Tuesday 7th May) at 9am tickets go on sale on Eventbrite -see link below:

https://sohofoodfeast.eventbrite.com/

REMEMBER: Kids Under 12 are FREE.  Tickets are ONLY available from Eventbrite.  

(Please do NOT call the school. They are very busy teaching our children.)  

We are very happy to respond to queries via email, twitter direct message or message the blog.

Look forward to seeing you on 8th / 9th June 2013.

Very best wishes from 

Soho Food Feast Organising Committee

We have received many emails asking how it works at the Soho Food Feast and as a response we have decided to do a ‘how it works’ or FAQ’s post to help out those who have not been to a Soho Food Feast before.

First things first one needs a TICKET on sale at 9am on Tuesday 7th May online ONLY.  Children under 12 years old are FREE 

Tickets will NOT be available from Soho Parish School this year, please do not call the school, they will not be able to help you.

Your ticket gains you entry into the Soho Food Feast that runs from 12noon to 6pm where “guests will have the chance to mingle with the great and the good of London’s food scene in a relaxed, festive and family-friendly environment.” Libery London Girl

We do NOT take card payment so please make sure you visit the cashpoint before you arrive to avoid disappointment.

Food will go on sale from 1pm with bars open from 12noon.

Food: To sample the food one needs to purchase food tokens at £2 per token from the stall inside, one token gets you one sample of food.   

Drinks: Bars will accept either cash payment and food tokens depending on which bar you buy your drink from.  

Food Demonstrations: these will take place throughout the afternoon - head to the back of the gardens in the far right corner and go down the steps. 

Children’s activities:  We will be running a couple of small craft activities for kids, apron painting on Saturday and Fruit and Vegetable sculpture making on Sunday.  

Raffle: As in past years we have an amazing raffle with prizes including nights stay at hotel, theatre tickets, meals for 2 and much much more.  The raffle will be drawn on Sunday 9th June at 5pm. 

Cake competition:  Sunday 9th June. Can you bake Soho’s best cake - give it a try and a panel of Soho’s finest will judge your entries.  

Please remember that this event is organised by a small group of volunteers who are have day jobs, families and big hearts.  We all try our very best to do the best job we possibly can, sometimes we might not be able to get back to you straight away, please be patient with us.   

I cannot tell you how excited we all are that the Soho Food Feast is enjoyed by so many.  We are hugely in debt to Margot Henderson and all the chefs, restaurants, fine food providers, bars, raffle prize givers and everyone who supports us.

Soho Food Feast tickets go on sale at:

9am on Tuesday 7th May 

Watch this space for the link to the ticketing website.  

All tickets will be for sale online this year,  (tickets will NOT be available from Soho Parish School).  

Follow us on twitter @sohofoodfeast for the latest news on demo’s and participating restaurants.   Check out our website www.sohofoodfeast.co.uk that will shortly have in depth info on our amazing participants and what you can expect this year.  Many thanks to everyone that will be taking part in the Soho Food Feast 2013, we cannot thank you enough.  

Soho Food Food Feast 2013 will be a two day extravaganza this year taking place on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June in St Anne’s Gardens on Wardour Street, Soho. 

Tickets will be on sale very soon.  For the latest info follow us on twitter: @sohofoodfeast 

On Saturday 26th May 2012 fundraising for Soho Parish School was taking place not only our Soho Food Feast event but also at the Whole Food Market Piccadilly Circus.  I am really happy to report that they raised a massive £2,012.98 for Soho Parish School during their 5% Day. 

Many many thanks to Amy M. Alexander and all the team at the Whole Food Market Piccadilly Circus!  

What a wonderful day we had this year for our Soho Food Feast.  A HUGE Thank you all so much, to all the restaurants, bars, fine food and drink providers, to all the volunteers and all of you who came and made this year such a fantastic event.  The Soho Food Feast Organising Committee are immensely thankful, pleased and proud to announce that the latest count is that we raised a fantastic total of £35,001.96!!! for Soho Parish School.

Below are a few lovely photo’s of the big day taken by photographer Sonja Fowler:

Steve Furst, currently appearing Matilda the Musical, opened the Soho Food Feast in style sporting one of apron’s signed by all the participating chefs and fine food/drink providers.  

Margot Henderson showing the crowds our Peter Blake and Gavin Turk mugs, bags and also the Soho Food Feast apron. 

Angela Harnett’s very popular pasta making demonstration. 

Food Feaster’s enjoying the day complete with bags of merchandise

The crowd are captivated by Jeremy Lee and Peter Gordon during the Auction

One of the very cute fruit and vegetable creations.

The winning Soho Food Feast cake baked by Clarise and Jasmine as decided by Paul A Young, Michelle Wade (Maison Bertaux), Babette Kulik (Society Club) and Michael Cowell (Blue Posts, Rupert Court).

We would like to say a huge thank you to:

The participants

10  Greek Street •  Belu • Barrafina • Brindisa • Bocca Di Lupo • Byron • Cabana • Cinnamon Soho • Dean St Townhouse • Dehesa • Duck Soup • FroDo & Co • Gails • Gelupo • Hix • Imli • Kopapa • Koya • No.2 Pound Street • Mestizo • Polpo • PitStop Café • Quo Vadis • Rochelle Canteen • St John Hotel • Sweet Tooth Factory • Terroirs • The Groucho Club • The Ivy • The Fresh Olive Company • The Meatwagon • The Union • The Wright Brothers • Trullo • Wahaca • Whole Foods Market • Natoora • The French House • The Spice of Life • Milk and Honey • Trevor Gulliver • The Rare Tea Company • David Sinclair

Committee Members

Anita Coppins

Alyona Sevidova

Ben Latham-Jones

Bernie Katz

Clare Lynch

Fay Maschler

Fergus Henderson

Lesley Lewis

Lucy Madz

Margot Henderson

Martin Cohen

Melanie Arnold

Michael Moir

Rachel Earnshaw

Rob Hill

Sylvia Young

Wendy Lynch

We would like to thank our sponsors….

Shaftesbury plc

Piers Thompson

Tim Macready

Ben Latham-Jones

Greater London Properties

aka Promotions 

Nick Hart and Turner Broadcasting

Belu

Eurofrutta

Jali and Nordic Bakery

And many thanks to the following for their support……

For All In Tents And Purposes, Adam Thompson

Noel Botham

Colleen Saunders

Firmdale Hotels

I. Camisa and Son

Westminster Council , Rachel Hale, Rebecca St Rose

David Creese, Marcin Bergius and Westminster Parks

Michael Hickey and Eurofrutta

Borovick Fabrics Ltd

Gerber PR

Zshanette and Starbucks

The French House Team

Reverand Ron Swan and all at St Anne’s

Marti McKellar

Craig Taylor at The Duke of Wellington

Jane Ferguson

Ailana Kamelmacher and Story PR

National Flexible

Lee Stafford

Nicholas James Group

Arsenal Football Club

Frankie Appiah

Applause Store

Adam Garcia

Steve Furst

Stephen Manion

Ealing Studios

Londinium Films and Ealing Studios

thelondinium.com 

Henri Bardouin

Meteor

Canard Duchene

Bacardi

Pernod Ricard

David at Champagne and Chateau
Gilly at Marks & Spencer

Stuart Sanders - Debenhams

Linda Clugston

China Tang at the Dorchester

Zoe Bloor and GBK Burger Bar

Martin Morales and Ceviche Restaurant

Rochelle Canteen

St John Hotel

Paul A Young

Michael Cowell at Blue Posts Rupert Court

Babette Kulik at Society Club

Michelle Wade at Maison Bertaux

Alex Smith  

Kate Twigg

Alice Clay at ENO

Suzanna Poole at  Third Space

Liga Anvari

Indi Davis and Aesop

Lara’s Spanish Kitchen

Little Angel’s Theatre

June McClusky and The Groucho Club

Invivo

Randall and Aubin

Mele and Pere

Hush Mayfair

Thane Prince

Apex Security Management

Ami Dieckman, Licensing Manager at Entertainment One UK 

Jane Simpson

Diageo

Giles Lane

James Brown

Sir Peter Blake

Gavin Turk

Danny at Dennys 

Penny at Shaftsbury plc

Sav and Lorraine Raimato

Johnny Sapong

Nyetimer

Alex Moore and Rosa’s

Hillary, Alex and Annie 

Sue Fiore

Conny 

Basia

Amy

Aletta and Alastair

Zoe and Dav

Becky Gazeley and Z Hotels

Iona Wolff

Holly Glavin

Samson Danziger

Sonja Fowler

Millie, Effie, Alyssa, Lili Bo, Mia, Abigail, Yuki, Percy, Milly, Kitty, Fred, George, Suki, Raffy and Iris for painting the table banners

Aside note in response to e-mails we have received:

For those who didn’t get theirs on the day the Soho Food Feast cookbook is available for sale at both The French House, Dean Street and The Society Club, Silver Place.

We are nearly there, the Soho Food Feast is tomorrow.  The weather forecast is spectacularly good and fortunately for us we have lots of BELU water to keep you all hydrated in the hot sunshine.  

A few tips on arrival:

(Note: Before you arrive make sure you’ve been to the cashpoint as we don’t have card facilities - sorry.  The nearest cashpoint to the Soho Food Feast is on Shaftesbury Avenue between Wardour and Dean Street)  

1) Get your food tokens £2 each from the hub in front of the church or inside the Desert Ghetto in the church hall down the steps at the back of the garden not forgetting to deliver your cake competition entry to the Dessert Hall while you are there.

2) If you are in a group send one person with the drinks orders to the bars, cocktails with Milk and Honey, real ale with The Spice of Life or wine and other drinks from The French House. 

3) The rest of your group can then get a selection of delicious food from more than 30 chefs remembering to get some for the person you sent to buy the drinks.

4) Visit the merchandise table to get your raffle tickets £1 each for your chance to win some amazing prizes.  While you are there treat yourself to a Peter Blake and/or Gavin Turk mug £10, bag PB £12 or SFF £3, cookbook £5 and apron £15. 

5) Back to the bar for some drinks and then off to the demo area to see a fantastic chef at work, or perhaps your chance to taste Malt Whiskey or Rare Tea.

6) On now to the Dessert Hall for tasty treats and perhaps a coffee.   While you are there you can take the opportunity to stock up on a few extra tokens.

7) Time for a Gelupo ice cream perhaps, another drink or some more food….

Only 2 days to go and today we have been compiling our luxury hampers that you will be able to win in the Soho Food Feast Raffle, £1 a ticket.  To give you a taster Hamper 1 contains:

Dinner and drinks for four at China Tang, Dorchester Hotel £500

One week stay at a cottage in the Peak District

Two Tickets to Billy Budd Opera at ENO

Couture Haircut by Lee Stafford 

Aesop Products

One Bottle of Blue Label Johnnie Walker £140

We currently have six hampers filled with many more great prizes very generously donated by local businesses and individuals.  There will also be another 4 smaller prizes and two children’s hampers too. 

The Raffle will be drawn at 5pm.  Looking forward to a great day and welcoming you all to the Soho Food Feast!

We had our last committee meeting (before the event) yesterday evening and the room was brimming with excitement about the big day, Saturday 26th May 12noon - 7pm.  

The committee was treated to a sneak preview of the merchandise that will be on sale at the Soho Food Feast including two beautiful mugs: one by Peter Blake called ”Peter Blake’s Commemorative Mug” and the other by Gavin Turk is called ” Gavin Turk’s Egg Cup”. There will only be 75 of each, all numbered, so get in in early for these, £10 each.  

Peter Blake has also produced a print especially for the Soho Food Feast that he has had printed onto 250 gorgeous bags, £12 each.  We are all so grateful for the support of such fantastic artists.  

The Soho Food Feast cook book with recipes from all our participating restaurants will be on sale, a snip at £5.  We also have aprons £15, SFF bags £3 and some cute SFF glittery pot brooches for those who appreciate a little sparkle in their lives.

Top tip for the day is: visit the cashpoint before you arrive as we are a cash only event.

Last year we were treated to all this and more:

Can hardly wait for Saturday to try this years offerings from even more fantastic restaurants and speciality food and drink providers.  As last year each portion is only £2, remember to get your £2 tokens on entry and then are free to get tasting.  

Also did I mention Angela Harnett will be joining us and giving a demonstration?  Collect your program on entry with a list of all our demo’s.  Remember to deliver your cake to the Desert Ghetto and you could be crowned winner of the Soho Food Feast Cake Competition by Paul A Young, Michelle Wade from Maison Bertaux, Michael (Blue Posts) and Babette from The Society Club! 

‘We are all food critics’ is the idea of Giles Lane from Proboscis, who is also a parent at Soho Parish School, to ask the children to become restaurant critics this year at our Soho Food Feast.  We are very lucky to have Fay Maschler restaurant critic for London Evening Standard on our committee who took out to write a fantastic introduction and prompts for the children including useful hints like not gobbling your food too quickly without noticing the taste or texture.   Many of these junior restaurant critics are also members of the Soho Youth Magazine team and look forward to seeing their work in print.  Take a look below at this great little booklet that Giles and Fay have created.

As we draw closer to the big day the committee are busier than ever to make sure you all have a fantastic day out on Saturday 26th May.  In an earlier post I promised more information on our Whiskey tasting, well here it is:

WIth thanks to Ailana Kamelmacher at Story PR we are pleased to announce that David Sinclair will be presenting a Malt Whisky Tasting at the Soho Food Feast.  David Sinclair is the Whisky Ambassador for Diageo which means he gets to travel round the world teaching everyone why whisky is so fantastic. For the Soho Food Feast he’s decided to show how well whisky can be paired with food. So he’s bringing along three different whiskies, to match with smoked salmon, chocolate and cheese (not all in one mouthful!). Talisker is the only whisky made on the Isle of Skye and we hope that even people who haven’t tried whisky before will be brave enough to roll up to the malt whisky tasting stall, meet David and find out a little bit more about why he loves it so much. The Distillers edition is very special, not that many bottles are produced, so we hope everyone enjoys the chance to have a rare dram with us. For more info click www.malts.com.

We will also be joined by Ashleigh Mommsen from the Fresh Olive Company who will be doing a 30 minute demonstration preparing three simple dishes out of their hero products, smoked chilly jelly, balsamic vinegar no.8 and rose harissa from their Belazu range.  For those looking to bring a ray of Med sunshine to their table every day, the  Belazu range (www.belazu.com) is also available in Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. Whether you’re snacking on their exceptional marinated olives, spooning Rose Harissa on to your sandwich or just drizzling the best Balsamic Vinegar over your salad, the Belazu range is naturally and simply rewarding.

Lastly we also have BELU water joining us for the second year running who ethical water is a 100% carbon neutral product.  Belu are the exclusive bottled water partner of Water Aid and will be donating a minimum of £300,000 over the next 3 years transforming the lives of over 20,000 people.  

So pleased to see that the sun is shining in Soho this afternoon.  This got me thinking about ice cream.  We are all really excited that Gelupo will be back this year with their oh so cute ice cream cart.  Last year every tub was scraped for their last drops of truly delicious gelato.  You might want to get yourself an ice cream to eat while you watch a demonstration by the very talented Jacob Kennedy from Gelupo’s sister restaurant Bocca Di Lupo.  

Lastly don’t forget to have your cakes ready on the day, it’s competition time and we have seen lots of you chatting on twitter about what you will baking.  Our judges are all really looking forward to seeing and tasting your creations.  Good luck to all of you!

To all you Soho Food Feast ticket holding cake bakers it’s time to get practising ready to perfect your cake creations for the Big Day - Saturday 26th May!  We now have a great poster too that gives you all the details including the names all of our fabulous judges.  Get your cake in to the Dessert Ghetto space by 4pm at the very latest. Good Luck and happy baking.