Food festivals are two a penny these days with regulation food stalls, cookery demos, you know the score, but the Devonshire Arms Food Festival promises to be a bit different.
Every day for a week, between 18-24 November top regional and national chefs will be preparing lunch and dinner. At lunchtime it will be in the form of a lighthearted competitive
Devonshire Arms Hotel, Bolton Abbey
cook-off – two chefs head to head (£39) over the best lunch. In the evening it ramps up a bit with a sophisticated six course dinner (£59) prepared by a guest chef.
It’s an impressive line-up from Yorkshire and beyond: Rakesh Ravindran from London’s Cinnamon Club; Matthew Tomkinson of the Michelin-starred Montagu Arms in the New Forest; Mark Poynton from Alimentum, another Michelin-starred restaurant in Cambridge. Then there are three Yorkshire chefs Oliver Adams from the Devonshire Fell; James Mackenzie from the Pipe & Glass and Simon Crannage from Swinton Park.
Adam Smith, head chef at the Burlington, Bolton Abbey
The host, naturally, is the Dev’s new young chef Adam Smith who will be competing on Thursday, showcasing on the Saturday night dinner and preparing a fancy-pants afternoon tea (he is ex-Ritz after all) on Sunday.
We’ll be there on Thursday voting in the lunchtime friendly between Adam Smith and another new chef, Lawrence Yates of the Box Tree.
We’ll report back on the winner and, of course, the food.
Devonshire Food Festival, 14-18 November. Devonshire Arms Hotel, Bolton Abbey. To book your place: 01756 710441 www.devonshirechefs.co.uk/food-festival.cfm