It's been a whole year since Danny Boyle showed us that the Olympics might actually be great after all, with the opening ceremony getting things off to a fantastic start.
Now, to mark this anniversary and to herald the Olympic Park getting ready to open up to the public for the first time since the Olympics, there's a special East London festival taking place at the end of the month. The Open East Festival will be combining music, theatre, art and of course food - the latter in the shape of the Real Food Festival.
Chefs on hand will include Dock Kitchen's Stevie Parle, Salt Yard's Ben Tish, Kevin Gratton from Hix, Mark Jarvis from Blueprint cafe and Cyrus Todiwala. They'll all be holding demonstration over in the Real Food Chef Theatre while some of London's best street food purveyors provide sustinence. They'll include Big Apple Hot Dogs, Pizza Pilgrims, Horn OK Please, Mamma’s Jerk Station, Community Kitchen, Hix Fish Dogs, Bhangra Burger with Dock Kitchen, Café Spice Namaste and Salt Yard Group.
On top of that, there will be a ‘Buccaneers Banquet on the Bridge’ seating 200 at a time on the bridge over the River Lea. The food and decor on the bridge will be fish themed, with wooden tables lined with newspaper to give the traditional British fish & chip shop feel and fishing equipment and paraphenalia will also be spread around the bridge.
And if you fancy something to drink, the The Ten Mile Beer Festival will be focusing on breweries within a 10 mile radius of the park, including Sambrook’s Brewery from Battersea, Meantime Brewing Company from Greenwich and The Five Point Brewing Company and Crate Brewery, both from Hackney.
There's loads more on at the festival with music acts, plenty to entertain kids, and a couple of set pieces that include an inflatable Stonehenge and Bompas & Parr who will be creating a "finale" for each day of the festival.
The Open East Festival is on 27 and 28 July 2013 at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Tickets are £9.50 for adults, £6.00 for children aged 5 - 16, and under 5’s go free. You can book tickets here.
