Summer calls for alfresco eating, soundtracked by music with a beer to hand. Where better to get this experience than at a festival? Showcasing the very best pop-ups, food trucks and established restaurants, these are the best food festivals in London for eating your way through the whole damn city. Have a scroll through our picks and get stuffed.
Pair a rum punch with something spicy at the UK’s biggest festival dedicated to Caribbean food. More than 20 restaurants and street-food vendors will be serving up dishes representing islands from across the region. Dance it all off to some live reggae music.
Croydon Road Recreation Ground. Jul 2. £17.
Get into the spirit of summer, quite literally. With up to 20 tequilas on offer too, it’s a liquor-lover’s dream, and the organisers have booked loads of great DJs to ensure nothing about this event is remotely dry.
St Mary’s Church. Jul 8-9. £18.
Around 200,000 chicken wings will be served by 40 street-food traders, restaurants and barbecue teams at this epic celebration of our favourite gnawable protein fix. Your ticket also get you a Wing Fest trucker hat, though you don’t have to wear it.
London Stadium. Jul 16-17. £30.
Pile up your plate with protein at this festival dedicated to ‘food, drink, fire and music’. More than 60 live-fire chefs will cook high-quality meat, fish and veg over sustainably sourced wood and charcoal.
Tobacco Dock. Sep 2-4. From £25.
Live your glamorous gastronome fantasy at this new event held in the stunning grounds of The Royal Hospital Chelsea. Highlights include Mob Kitchen’s first ever pop-up veggie restaurant, Vinoteca wine tastings and demos from ‘MasterChef’ finalist Philli Armitage-Mattin. Truly delicious, dahling.
The Royal Chelsea Hospital. Jul 30-31. £25.
This excellent event is celebrating its tenth birthday, so organisers have assembled more than a hundred of their favourite craft brewers from London and across the globe at Tobacco Dock. The ticket price includes a tasting tankard and any beer you care to try, but snacks from food vendors and other drinks cost extra. Hop to it!
Tobacco Dock. Aug 12-13. £57.50.
Tuck into tasty grub while enjoying live music at Pub in the Park. Presented by Tom Kerridge, this touring food and music festival aims to bring a cheery public house atmosphere to the great outdoors. Our top pick is September’s Chiswick leg, with sets from Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Craig David.
Chiswick House & Gardens. Sep 2-4. From £40.
Take your pick from more than a hundred food and drink stalls offering mocktails, savoury flavours and desserts. Feeling really hungry? Enter the ‘halal eat-off’ competition.
London Stadium. Sep 3-4. From £10.
Summer in London is, of course, as fleeting as it is potent. Before you can say ‘Is it too early for a second 99 Flake?’ it’s over. So you’ll want to take full advantage of every sweet moment of tipsy, sun-kissed bliss, or risk missing out. Thankfully, we’ve teamed up with mobility super app FREE NOW to create the definitive guide to the sunny season. Food, sport and something called ‘The Black Chapel’, it’s all here. Get stuck in.
