Get Ready for EAT!

August 12, 2013 by Rachel Kershaw in Eating Out 0

Yaaaay, food lovers rejoice, the North East’s biggest and most innovative food festival is back 23rd August – 8th Sept with a massive menu of events to fill your calendar and your tum!

This will be the seventh year of NewcastleGateshead’s EAT! Festival and it’s grown in popularity every year so it should come as no surprise that tickets for many events are already sold out! But fear not, you can still sign up for tons of great foodie experiences across the 16 day festival, here are some of the main highlights, as you’ll see there is something to suit everyone’s tastes…

Cake City – Sage Gateshead – St Mary’s Square

Can you imagine a Battenberg Baltic? A Victoria Sponge Sage? A Teacake Tyne Bridge? It’s all possible thanks to Cake City and  I for one am just drooling thinking about it!

On Monday the 26th of August (the bank holiday!) local bakers and cake makers will create a giant edible map of NewcastleGateshead and you can help them, check out www.cakebook.org to get involved.

There’ll also be a feast of family fun including games and picnic stalls at Art in the Park, a free event taking place on Baltic Square.

EAT! Cook School for Kids – Fenwick, Northumberland Street

If you’ve spent the summer holidays being a personal chef to your kids then sign them up EAT! Cook School for Kids and get them to return the favour! There are several of these pop up events taking place from the 26th till the 28th of August but if you head for the ones at Fenwick on the 26th you can take the opportunity to squeeze in a bit of retail therapy while the kids are cooking up a feast with top North East chefs, perfect!

Naked Feasts – Various quirky locations including Fenwick’s Rooftop!

When I first saw ‘Naked Feasts’ on the calendar of events I though, great, no need to worry about what to wear! Turns out the diners won’t really be naked and neither will the chefs for that matter, well I suppose there is health and safety to consider. Instead you can expect a lavish three course meal and welcome cocktail served at a beautifully laid communal table in the great outdoors. Naked Feasts will allow the North East’s promising young chefs to impress you with the very best seasonal local produce, fingers crossed the sun will shine for the occasions too.

EAT! Street & The Boiler Shop Steamer – South Street, Newcastle

The regular Boiler Shop Steamer has quickly become a must attend event for North East food lovers so it’s great news that is set to be the new location for EAT! Street which will see the area behind Newcastle’s Central Station transformed in to a noisy smoke filled alley with yummy street food from every corner of the globe on offer! There’ll be live music and entertainment too including the ever popular Chilli Eating Contest and there’ll also be several pop up restaurants across the extended four day event.

The Speakeasy & Salon – Secret Location!

This year the EAT! Speakeasy is inspired by the 18th Century ‘salon’ movement when all kinds of people gathered under the roof of an inspiring host to be entertained, educated and amused.  You’re invited to come along and grab a seat, order something to eat from Tasty Thai Deli and drink from George & Tim (Popolo) and dip into a 4-day rolling programme of informal and fun master classes, talks, tastings, experiments, demonstrations, workshops and screenings. A ticket is not always required to enter The Speakeasy & Salon, so drop in and expect the unexpected… but you’ll have to work out the secret location first, click HERE for details.

Well, those are just a few of the exciting and inspiring events from the EAT! Festival programme, let me know which ones you’re looking forward to and don’t forget to share your photos on Twitter with @EATng

By Rachel Kershaw