Carnaby Street Eat Food Festival 20 July

Carnaby Street was a real hotspot in the 60’s when it was a centre for fashion and music of the Swinging 60s. Today, it is a pedestrianised shopping area with lots of quirky boutiques and a lot of restaurants and bars. Veer away from the main stretch and explore the side streets where you will find some artisanal fashion designers and eccentric English shops.

Carnaby StreetEat Food Festival

On Sunday 20 July, over 15 global cuisines from over 40 of the area’s best restaurants, bars and cafés will be offering their dishes and concepts out onto the streets. You can taste a variety dishes for £5 and enjoy expert cooking demos, led by presenter and foodie Hardeep Singh Kohli.

There will be a carnival atmosphere with live music and entertainment on the streets. Every outlet is doing something special for the day. ZSL London’s pop up is offerng face painting for kids and Lomography is offering free photography workshop on the day.

Carnaby StreetEat is not your usual street food stalls but actual restaurants in the area around Carnaby Street, Kingly Court and Newburgh Street. You won’t find the same old stalls that you see at street food collectives all around London. It’s a great opportunity to try food and drink from all these restaurants in one go if you fancy and for not a long of dosh.

We did a really fun food safari and previewed quite a few of these restaurants and bars around the Carnaby Street area and here are some highlights. Really love that all the restaurants have outdoor tables and have big windows opening into Kingly Court, a really buzzing crowd.

Wright Brothers serves Asian inspired fish and seafood dishes. They serve Jersey oysters at £1 a shot, what a bargain. We tried their salmon sashimi and some delicious creamy burrata too, accompanied by tall glasses of Prosecco.

Choccywoccydoodah is a chocolate lover’s heaven. Their shop has the most elaborate and colourful chocolate  cakes in town and if you want to host a party, check out their secret room. They will be handing our free chocolates on the day. Feast your eyes.

 Shoryu Ramen is a chain of ramen shops in London but they will be serving their famous Hirata buns from a special wooden Japanese street stall on Sunday.

If you like craft beer and great tasting food, check out Whyte & Brown. We tasted a seasonal crab bruschetta paired with a really unique Honey Craft Beer and an exotic mess which is an eton mess with tropical fruits paired with a specially selected craft beer. These guys stock a long list of craft beer from both the UK and around the world and there is even one that is lemongrass flavour.

Fancy a Caribbean beach holiday in Central London, head over to The Rum Kitchen in Kingly Court. There is a very long cocktail list, especially rum cocktails. There is a great vibe, holiday music and the decor transports you to a hot sunny beach in the Caribbean.

ChaChaMoon made a big splash when they launched with some tasty noodle dishes. They have since added to their menus and they have cocktails on their menu at just £6. We had lots several cocktails, a couple of starters and some Singapore noodles.

Stax Diner is Bea (of Bea’s of Bloombsbury fame and famous Duffin maker) is a new American diner serving food from the Deep South like Chicken and Waffles. I was thrilled that htey have A&W floats. There are lots of milk shakes and some hard milkshakes and hard ice cream floats like the Drunken Brown Cow. They have loads of fun whipping up these drinks. Make sure you try the Graceland with banana and peanut butter and the Dalmation with cookies blended in.

The Carnaby Street Eat food festival is taking place on Sunday 20th July 11am – 6pm, just around the corner from Oxford Street and Regent Street. Join in the fun. Get the full line up and more details about what else is happening on their website.

EatCookExplore was a guest of  Carnaby StreetEat