Belfast Taste & Music Fest 2010
Posted: 14 June '10 by Niall
Belfast Taste & Music Fest 2010
The Belfast Taste & Music Fest returns to the Great Lawn in Botanic Gardens from Wednesday, 4th August to Sunday, 8th August 2010 (noon to 10:00 p.m. daily).
The Taste-Fest is Northern Ireland’s premiere food and entertainment event, and is expected to attract over 30,000 visitors over the 5 days.
Event Details
- Date: 4th – 8th August 2010
- Location: Botanic Gardens, Belfast
- Opening times: Noon to 10pm daily
- Price range: £5 from Noon to 5pm, and £10 thereafter. There are various ticket packages available – for full details visit www.belfasttasteandmusicfest.com/times-tickets/
The Food
Featuring a whole host of local chef restauranteurs, this years’ foodie boulevard includes:
- Simon Dougan – Yellow Door Deli, Portadown
- Alan Higginson – 27 Talbot Street, Belfast
- Tony O’Neill – The Merchant Hotel, Belfast
- Paul Catterson – Mango, Maghera
- Dean Coppard – Uluru, Armagh
- Andy Rea – Mourne Seafood Bar, Belfast
- Patrick Leonard – Fitzwilliam Hotel, Belfast
- Danny Millar – Balloo House, Killinchey
- Niall McKenna – James Street South, Belfast
This year will also see a selection of our major food suppliers: O’Kane Poultry, Kettyle Irish Foods, Get Fresh, Ulster Pork and Bacon Forum and Cookstown.
The Entertainment
There’s a great menu for the entertainment too – everything from Flash Harry, to Mary Coughlan, to Les McKeown’s Bay City Rollers. Something for everyone there!
A word to the wise
Entry to the event doesn’t mean that you get to taste the food! You’ll need to buy Taste Fest food tokens which are priced at 50p each – in blocks of 20 for £10, and “top-ups” of 10 tokens for £5 after that. These tokens can and will disappear at an alarming rate – so bring some spare cash to buy those precious top-ups.
Kelly and I will venture down again this year, although we are going to get there earlier in the day than we did last year.
You can read about what we thought of the Belfast Taste and Music Fest 2009 here.
Other information
You can visit the Belfast Taste and Music Fest website for more information.
Categories: Things to do
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We’re going walkabout with Direct Wine Shipments, are you?
Posted: 31 May '10 by Niall
Direct Wine Shipments
Direct Wine Shipments are holding another one of their “walkabout” wine-tastings on 18 June, 2010.
These events are always fun – a great way to sample a wide range of DWS-recommended wines and to have a chat with their friendly team – all in an informal and relaxed atmosphere.
Megan Daily from Sainte Eugénie, a producer in the Corbières AOC of Languedoc-Roussillon, will also be attending.
The details
The details of the walkabout wine-tasting event are:
- Date: Friday 18th June 2010
- Time: 4.30pm – 7.30pm
- Cost: £15 per person
- Tickets: You can buy the tickets online at www.directwineshipments.com
Hopefully we’ll see you there!
Chilli and Chocolate members:
As a member of Chilli and Chocolate you get a big discount on the ticket-price for this event. Visit the Members’ Section for more details.
Categories: Things to do
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We alight at London Bridge for the Platform party
Posted: 22 April '10 by Dominique Vincent
Platform restaurant, SE1
Kelly and I were delighted to be asked to go to the launch of Platform, a new restaurant in London – especially when we heard of the wholesome philosophy behind the venture.
Started by friends Tony McKinlay and Barnaby Butterfield, the restaurant cuts out the middle-man in a “Gate to Plate” system: Barnaby raises rare breeds of cattle and pigs in the all-natural, traditional way, and Tony (helped by head chef Jake Tutill) dishes this flavoursome produce up to the lucky customers.
You can imagine how disappointed we were when we realised that we couldn’t go (more about that later).. Fortunately, friends and fellow Chilli-and-Chocolatiers Dominique and Charlotte were able to step into the breach, put on their glad-rags, and dodge the paparazzi to investigate for us.
Over to Dominique..
The launch party
Living in London, I always thought it was a shame that Chilli and Chocolate’s Kelly and Niall live so far from me, all the way over there in Belfast. Mind you, after being asked to stand in for them at the launch of ‘Platform’ I can now see a plus side.
It was all glittering disco ball, free champagne, paps (and therefore somewhat inevitably Sophie Anderton) at last week’s opening. But behind the usual London ‘razzle dazzle ‘em’ attitude, there’s a really nice feel to the restaurant situated under the arches of London Bridge station’s platform 1.
Surprisingly, behind the glamour, the ethos of the place is recycle, recycle, recycle with all the furnishings from reclaimed sites. The mantra even extends to the kitchen where they plan to create dishes from what has, until recently, been ‘unfashionable’ cuts of meat such as cheek.
Behind the enterprise is a dream shared by a restauranteur and a farmer. Farmer Barney explained how he only rears the best quality of meat and will supply the whole carcass to Platform; the chef is so talented he can create wonderful flavours from these ‘cast off’ parts of the animal. Gone are the days of boring fillets of steak, says Barnie, it’s wasteful and lazy cooking.
Later in the evening they brought round meaty nibbles to taste. Kelly and Niall let you down here by picking me to report back – I’m a dreaded veggie. I can’t tell you what the meat tastes like, but if it’s half as tasty as farmer Barnie is passionate about the project, then Platform might be worth a visit next time you’re over.
And if you’re lucky, you might just catch the lovely Sophie.
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5
Thanks
Thanks to Tony and Barnaby at Platform, and Kathryn from HandMade for the invite.
Thanks too to Dominique and Charlotte.
Photos 2-4 taken by Charlotte Fielding.
Find Platform
Platform
56-58 Tooley Street,
London
SE1 2SZ
T: 020 7403 6388
E: info@platformse1.co.uk
W: www.platformse1.co.uk
You can also find Platform on Google Maps.
Categories: Things to do
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Matthew Fort Northern Bank Lecture
Posted: 22 March '10 by Niall
Matthew Fort
Award-winning food writer and critic, Matthew Fort, will be speaking at the Ulster Museum on Monday 29th March, 7.30pm as part of the Northern Bank Ulster Museum Lecture Series. His talk is entitled “Food isn’t a matter of life and death – it’s more important than that.”
Matthew Fort has written about food for the Guardian since 1989. He has been Glenfiddich Food Writer of the Year, Restaurant Writer of the Year and Cookery Writer of the Year – although he might be more familiar to most people for his role as judge on television programmes such as “The Great British Menu” and “The Greatest Dishes in the World”.
Always insightful and entertaining, Matthew Fort’s lecture is bound to be one not-to-be-missed – and it’ll give us a reason to have a look around the new Ulster Museum (as if one were needed!).
The details
The Matthew Fort lecture will be held on Monday 29 March at 7.30pm in the Ulster Museum Lecture Theatre and will be followed with a Q&A session.
Tickets cost £7.50 (£4.50 for students and groups of 6 people or more) and can be booked by calling the Ulster Museum ticket line or in person at the Ulster Museum Welcome desk. Alternatively a cheque or postal order can be sent to the Ulster Museum made out to National Museums Northern Ireland.
T: 028 9044 0051 (Tues–Sun 10am–5pm)
E: info@nmni.com
You can find more information here.
Categories: Things to do
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The Great Belfast Food Week
Posted: 17 March '10 by Niall
Belfast - delicious
The Great Belfast Food Week begins next Wednesday, a four-day food festival to celebrate the best of Northern Ireland food produce.
The festival will be headlined by some of the best-known TV chefs including: James Martin; Gino D’Acampo; Paul Rankin; local chef Nick Price; and The Good Food Programme’s host Sheila Dillon.
There’s lots going on..
Event details:
- Date: 24 – 27 March
- Tickets: Tickets are available through www.gotobelfast.com or phone 028 9024 6609 (unless otherwise stated).
Belfast Kitchen with James Martin, Nick Price, Paul Rankin and Jason More
Celebrating our local produce with Nick Price. Belfast dishes prepared by Paul Rankin and Jason More with James Martin.
- Date: Wednesday 24 March 2010
- Venue: Ulster Museum, 9.30am – 12 noon
- Tickets:£20
Gino Cooks the Great Belfast Menu
See Gino D’Acampo’s twist on the Great Belfast Menu at Connswater Shopping Centre and Victoria Square. Paul Rankin and other local chefs will also be there.
- Date: Thursday 25 March 2010
- Location: Connswater Shopping Centre at 12.30pm – 1.30pm and various city centre venues from 3pm
- Tickets: No ticket required
Gino D’Acampo – signing of his latest cookbook
- Date: Thursday 25 March 2010
- Venue: Waterstones, Fountain Street, Belfast, 5pm – 6pm
Good Food means Good Business Breakfast Seminar
Free business breakfast seminar featuring guest speaker Martin Hamilton from Mash Direct. He will be giving an insight into his award winning company’s strategy for success. To book your place (free to small businesses) please contact Rhonda Lynn on 028 9027 0229 or email lynnr@belfastcity.gov.uk.
- Date: Thursday 25 March 2010
- Venue: Holiday Inn, Ormeau Avenue, 8am – 10am
Gino hosts lunch
Sample a delicious four course lunch cooked by Gino D’Acampo using fresh ingredients sourced directly from St George’s Market at the St George’s Bar and Grill.
- Date: Friday 26 March
- Venue: St George’s Bar and Grill, 11.30am – 1pm
- Tickets: £35 – available at St George’s Bar and Grill (telephone: 028 9024 0014)
Sheila Dillon with Nick Price – a presentation on The Slow Food Movement
- Date: Friday 26 March
- Venue: Baby Grand, Grand Opera House, 2.30pm – 5pm
- Tickets: £10
Belfast Bred: A dramatic tour of the city’s cuisine from past to present
Sample the delights of Belfast food and discover the city’s fascinating culinary history in the company of Barney, a chef from RMS Titanic – and Radio 4’s Sheila Dillon. Leaves from Sawer’s Delicatessen, Fountain Street at 10am and finishes at St George’s Market at 12 noon.
- Date: Saturday 27 March
- Venue: Local Belfast restaurants, 10am – 12 noon
- Tickets: £15 – available from the Belfast Welcome Centre
St George’s Chocolate Festival with Sheila Dillon
Do you love chocolate? Celebrate and indulge at our Chocolate Festival at St George’s Market. Enjoy special events, demonstrations and delicious free samples!
- Date: Saturday 27 March
- Venue: St George’s Market, 10am – 3pm (with Sheila Dillon from 12pm)
- More information: www.belfastcity.gov.uk
Hopefully we’ll see you there!
Categories: Things to do
