FOOD & DRINK NEWS

FOOD & DRINK

TASTY TIDBITS FROM THE CITY’S RESTAURANTS, CHEFS AND PRODUCERS

CALLING ALL FOODIES

Foodies Festival is returning to The Downs on 20 –22 May, with a starstudded line-up of celebrity chefs and chart-topping musicians.

Often dubbed “Gastro-Glasto”, the festival is the biggest touring gourmet food festival in the UK, featuring MasterChef champions, Bake Off favourites and Great British Menu stars.

Award-winning chefs and celebrities taking part include: BBC presenter and author, Kate Humble, Great British Menu 2021 finalist, Hywel Griffith and MasterChef 2020 champion, Thomas Frake.

Chart-topping disco diva Sophie Ellis-Bextor will also be joined by Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe from legendary boy band Blue.

A legion of chefs from award-winning restaurants will give the festival a distinctive local flavour, including, Josh Eggleton – Michelin-starred head chef from The Pony & Trap in Chew Magna; Elliot Lidstone – of Bristol's Michelin Bib Gourmand awarded Box-E; Dan Bowden –previously from 3 AA Rosette awarded Berwick Lodge; and Mark McCabe, from Michelin Green Star awarded restaurant, The Ethicurian.

With a whole host of new features added to this year’s festival and over 200 exhibitors showcasing their produce, this is not one to miss.

• Tickets are on sale now at: foodiesfestival.com

BREAKING RECORDS

Ed Sargent and Ben Salguero, who run the restaurant and bar at Rock Salt in Cotham Hill, are no strangers to making a negroni. In fact, it’s one of the most popular cocktails on the menu. But this year they are poised to take their love of the classic tipple to a whole new level.

The duo have set themselves a challenge to create the world’s largest negroni. If they are successful it will earn them a place in the Guinness Book of Records and raise funds for StreetSmart, a charity that supports homeless people in Bristol and other major UK cities.

The current record for the largest negroni is held by Sheldon Wiley and Joey Maggiore, who produced a 504-litre negroni at The Sicilian Butcher in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, on 24 October 2018. Ed and Ben aim to beat the record with a 600-litre negroni produced here in Bristol on 22 May 2022, the day of the Cotham Hill Street Party.

A key ingredient of a classic negroni is gin so the team at Rock Salt has called upon Dave Blatch at Bristol Dry Gin to support their record breaking attempt. Bristol Dry Gin will produce 200 litres of gin specially for the giant negroni and bottle the finished drink, ready to sell.

Ed says: “This is an excuse to have a bit of muchneeded fun at the street party and raise money for a charity that we are all absolutely committed to helping. We’re grateful to Bristol Dry Gin and Campari for supporting us with this.”

• rocksaltbristol.co.uk