Festival of Food and Wine 2009

Sunday May 17th - Monday May 25th

Our third Festival was our biggest yet. We kicked off with two well-known faces from television - Paul Rankin doing his Irish-Asian thing, and Simon Rimmer cooking a vegetarian feast - followed by Andrew Pern, from Yorkshire's aptly named Star Inn (where he holds a Michelin star).

Two chefs flew in from France - Orlando Murrin (founding editor of Olive magazine) and ex-local hairdresser, Peter Anderson (now running a gourmet ski chalet) - while chef-about-London-town, Mark Hix (formerly of The Ivy and Le Caprice), showed us how wonderful is British food. Trendy young chocolatier, Paul Young, and Sara Jayne Stanes wowed us with their chocolate tasting while Jason Hinds, of Neal's Yard Dairy, made us passionate about cheese.

We had two sparkling Champagne events from Henriot, two super-indulgent afternoon teas, a seafood extravaganze from Roy Brett (Rick Stein's former right-hand man) and a taste bud sensation from our favourite Thai chef, Parichat Somsri-Kirby. The Festival ended on a high with a blistering, Wild West Bank Holiday Barbecue from the Best of British BBQ team. Phew!

Link to Desmond Dene Hotel Official website