Ely’s Food and Drink Festival

Get your taste buds ready for Ely’s Food and Drink Festival

More than 50 artisan food and drink traders will be descending upon Palace Green on Sunday 1^st and Monday 2^nd May for Ely’s Food and Drink Festival.

Celebrity chefs Jean Christophe Novelli, Jack Stein and The great British Bake Off’s Ian Cumming will be rubbing shoulders with local restaurant chef’s Zahid Ahmed from Syhlet Restaurant and Lucy Jarman from The Old Fire Engine.

We also welcome into our fabulous Cookery Theatre, where all our demonstrators will be showing off their talents, Emma Thornburn from Norfolk who was the winner of Kirstie Allsopps’ Gingerbread Champion 2015.

Along with demonstrations from Chippenham’s La Hogue and Farmers’ Market favourite, David Bunning, spectators are bound to come away with some useful tips to enhance family meal times. For a full line up of the chefs, visit www.visitely.org.uk.

Two special cocktails have been created for the Festival using two of our sponsors’ products. G’s Fresh has just launched their own Celery Vodka which riverside based Cocktail bar, Ta Bouche, has mixed into a “Fentini” which has a fresh, healthy twist. The second cocktail uses Ely Gin Company’s Dark Chocolate Gin to create the “Summer Indulgence,” just perfect for sipping whilst absorbing the Festival atmosphere. Both cocktails are only available from Ta Bouche’s Cocktail Bar on the Sunday and Monday, so make sure you don’t miss out. In addition, Ta Bouche’s best mixologist, Sean Baylis, will be on hand to tell you how to re-create our festival cocktails as well as showing us a bit of flaring – Tom Cruise style!

Don’t miss out on the great selection of street food stalls on Ely Markets, which are there every weekend. Ely is definitely the place to discover new and unusual food and drink.

Tracey Harding, Tourism and Town Centres Manager, said: “We greatly appreciate the sponsorship from G’s Fresh, The Ely Gin Company, Grovemere Holdings and Labour Tech and we are very excited that Ta Bouche has worked with us to create two special cocktails for our Festival using two of our sponsor’s products. Along with the traders at our Festival and the Eel Food Safari, Ely is definitely the place to discover new and unusual food and drink this weekend.”

If you are more of a beer person, then fear not, as there will be a Beer and Cider Tent which will be surrounded by our tantalising street food scene. The street food scene has greatly expanded in recent years as the challenge to create an ever more fascinating explosion of taste grows. Be assured that you will find a wide range of unusual and amazingly presented street food – you will not go hungry! And there is more original street food on offer a few steps away on Ely Market place. Ely markets has a great selection of street and artisan food stalls every week.

Ely’s Food and Drink Festival is part of Ely’s established Eel Festival Weekend which runs from 29^th April to 2nd May.

There’s so much for all the family to enjoy over the Bank Holiday weekend in Ely as Ely Markets will also be holding their fabulous Mayday Markets weekend on Ely Market Place Saturday 30 April and Sunday & Bank Holiday Monday 1 & 2 May.

Saturday’s weekly Craft Market will have a great range of arts, crafts, vintage goods, retro artefacts and collectables as well as a delicious offering of street food including Al Chile burritos, Thai noodles, artisan roast coffee, dim sum dumplings and more traditional fare, which is available every weekend all year around.

On Mayday Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday, there will be a great mix of flower and crafts stalls, children’s fair rides and family entertainment with another fantastic selection of tasty street food to go.

Families can enjoy all the fun of the fair on Mayday Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday as there will be children’s fair rides and family entertainment, plus a great mix of stalls and tasty street food on offer.

With many of the shops opening especially for the weekend, Ely will be the place to be this May Bank Holiday Weekend.

For detailed information at www.visitely.org, call into the Tourist Information Centre or follow @visitely and @ElyMarkets.