Home | Taste Cheshire Food, Drink Festival

Which Company are our best Cooks?

The, We Love Good Times & Harthill Cookery School Corporate Cooking Challenge 2019 is our competition to find Cheshire’s best company when it comes to cooking. Who are the culinary geniuses & who simply can’t cut IT. Harthill owner, Brian Mellor and We Love Good Times CEO, Izzy Grey, will put you and your work colleagues through their paces on Tuesday 26th March to find our 2 Finalists wo will then cook on the main stage at the Taste Cheshire Food and Drink Festival where, under the watchful eye of Simon Rimmer, we will crown the 2019 winner. see more for details

Taste Cheshire Young Chef of the Year

Taste Cheshire believe the future of the hospitality industry lies in promoting and encouraging the talent we have across the county, at our colleges and schools and for that reason they are sponsoring our Young Chef of the Year competition for 2019. Four finalists from the schools of Cambrian and Deeside Colleges, West and South Cheshire Colleges, will compete on the Duchy Chef Demonstration stage on Sunday 21st of April to become the 2019 Champion. Read more.

VIP Ticket - with even more thanks to Cranes

Thanks to Cranes Ciders our VIP Ticket just got even better. You now get a choice of a 125ml glass of their Blueberries & Apples, Cranberries & Limes or Raspberries & Pomegranate ciders, as well as a Glass of Champagne, a £6 vouicher to use at any of our Food vendors on site, your own VIP Bar area with music, VIP parking (subject to ground conditions) your own VIP entrance and of course a £30, yes that's right £30 dining voucher. Book Now.

Duchy Homes brings us the stars

The Taste Cheshire Food and Drink Festival announced today that luxury housebuilder, Duchy Homes, has come on board as a major sponsor of the Chef Demonstration stage at the iconic Easter Festival. Thanks to Duchy Homes this years stellar line-up features Sunday Brunch Star, Simon Rimmer, Great British Menu’s Andi Oliver and Saturday Kitchen presenter, Matt Tebbutt. Neil Waddington (M.D. Duchy Homes, North West), said: "It is wonderful to be able to be involved and to help make a difference to the Taste Cheshire Food and Drink Festival". Read more

Vote Now for the Taste Cheshire Awards

Voting is now open for the Taste Cheshire Food and Drink Awards 2019. Last year the organisers reported that once again you broke the record with an astounding 44,000 votes cast in the Annual Hospitality Awards. This is the 20th year of these awards and previous winners represent the finest establishments anywhere in the UK. Voting closes on the 2nd March so vote now. Click here for more and to vote

Local Chefs to Shine

Local Chefs get the chance to shine on the stage at this years festival as we feature multi award winning Chef Du Patron of the Machine House, the wondrous talent of Owner and Chef, Darren Lea, from the Faulkner, Mark Ellis of Allium, who starred on Great British Menu coming to cook for us and the Chester Fields have allowed their star, Felipe Helder, some time off to come and wow the crowds. Stuart Collins of the newly opened Docket 64 returns to Chester as well. There is also a superb Cocktail Masterclass being staged by Kingdom Thenga and his team from The Suburbs in Hoole. Read more..

BBC Star Oliver to cook

We couldnt be happier than to announce that Andi Oliver is coming to Chester. We were very keen to get Andi as she has been a breath of fresh air on The Great British Menu, with her immense food knowledge and forthright opinions. Andi has one of the most varied biogs with TV performances, live music acts and so much commitment to the food and drink industry. This year she has opened a new restaurant, ‘Andi’s’, and can be heard as a regular panel member alongside Jay Rayner and Angela Hartnett, on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet.

BBC Saturday Kitchen Star

We are proud to announce that Saturday Kitchen star and leading Restaurateur, Matt Tebbutt will be one of the featured performers at next Festival. We aim to bring the best and most current chefs to Chester and with Mat Tebbutt we not only have one of the BBC’s most important food show hosts, we also have an established Restaurant operator who understands the local food scene and is again a wonderful entertainer. We are really looking forward to meeting Matt and seeing him on our main stage. Read more.

Rimmer Returns to Chester

We are proud to announce that we have signed Channel 4, Sunday Brunch and Strictly Come Dancing Star, Simon Rimmer to cook on the opening day of our iconic Easter Festival. Festival Organiser, Briony Wilson was thrilled to be able to welcome back one of our most requested stars, as she explains. Simon has such a loyal following that just keeps building and building. He is not only a great chef but he is a fabulous entertainer who manages to weave so many brilliant stories in to his hour on the stage, whilst delivering outstanding food.

Amazing Chef line-up for 2019

We are proud to announce we have just confirmed our biggest and best line up of chefs – ever. A stellar line-up for 2019 that includes, Channel 4's Sunday brunch and Strictly Come Dancing star, Simon Rimmer, BBC Saturday Kitchen Star and Good Food presenter, Restaurateur, Matt Tebbutt and star af stage, screen, kitchen and current judge on BBC Masterchef, Andi Oliver. These 3 are supported by the very best local chefs across three glorious days of food fun and entertainment on our main stage.

Club Individual £20/£30 Amazing Deal

Taste Cheshire General Manager, Briony Wilson said she was thrilled with the partnership that sees purchasers rewarded with either £20 or £30 to spend from Individual Restaurants. "Individual Restaurants is inviting every online purchaser of VIP tickets to join Club Individual where they will receive a £30 welcome dining gift that can be spent in any of its establishments and a £20 welcome dining gift for every purchaser of online general admission tickets. Such a huge committment, its wonderful. Read more.

Canine Capers Dog Show

This year at the Taste Cheshire Food and Drink Festival we want to award our special four legged friends and we have teamed up with local Chester Dog carers, Canine Capers, to help us herald and highlight those special members of the family that give us so much joy. The event will take about 90 minutes and Canine Capers will award the trophies and rosettes at the end of the show. Its a bit of fun that means your dogs get the chance to mingle, meet and star over the Easter weekend. Click for details

Harthill Adult Cooking Classes

Are your weekday meals lacking the flavour of a meal out? Or are you missing that opportunity to show off some of your knife skills? Well then come and join us at the Adult Cooking Classes brought to you by Cheshire's number 1 celebrity chef and owner of the award winning Harthill Cookery School, Brian Mellor. There is nothing he and his staff dont know about cooking, from baking to braising, grilling to gutting, fillets to filleting, Brian will show you the professional way to make your food look and taste better. Sign up now. Click Here

Kids Cook for Free

For the last 8 years the Academy of Culinary Arts team have provided free cooking classes for the children who have come to the Chester Food Drink & Lifestyle Festival. James Holden, the Northern Director and his team of chefs last year taught over 900 children in three days in a series of sessions through out the day. These classes get very busy so book on the day early to ensure your child gets the opportunity.

Horseradish VIP experience

We are proud to announce that Horseradish Catering will this year be hosting our VIP Experience. The designated area is known on race days as the Winning Post and is a new addtion to the excellent facilities at Chester Racecourse. This area, which is covered; has seating for up to 200 people, will feature live music during the day and is the location where VIP's can get their glass of champagne, rest their feet and enjoy some nice music. The fully serviced bar will be open throughout the festival.

Broil King BBQ Masterclass

One of our most popular attractions as we give you the opportunity to learn the special skills of the BBQ. Our expert chefs show you how to not just cook the meat but how to prepare and finish the dish using the best possible BBQ techniques. No more cremated chops, flamed fillets or stone cold sausages. You will leave an expert and the family will love you.

Cooking up a feast at the Festival.

The Chester Food Drink & Lifestyle Festival, sponsored by Taste Cheshire, took place over Easter at Chester Racecourse for the 18th year in 2018 and the event saw more people cooking and being involved in cooking than ever before. It is anticipated that 2019 will see even more wanting to take part and enjoy fabulous cooking with such wonderful chefs.
One of the event highlights is the many cooking classes and demonstrations, with all the various classes and demonstrations full for every session.

The Best Easter Food Festival

With 30,000 people expected this Easter on the Chester Racecourse, right in the heart of the city, the Chester Food Drink & Lifestyle Festival is the biggest event of its type to take place anywhere in the UK this Easter. Over 150 exhibitors highlight the best the county, region and country has to offer and means that for you, the visitor, it is simply a wonderful culinary experience. Foods of the world, The best of BBC, ITV and C4 chefs on our stage and so much more. click here for more info.

Wannabe a Sausage Judge?

Join us on Sunday 21st April at 11.00am in the Demo Theatre and if you are one of the first 40 people to attend you can come and taste and judge the 6 finalists in this years search to find the NoWFOOD Centre Sausage of the Festival. There will be 3 plain sausages and 3 flavoured sausages to judge with Chairman of judges Steve Vaughan in attendance to tell you how to make a great sausage.

Taste Cheshire Sponsorship

The Chester Food and Drink Festival, coming up to its 19th year in 2019, has confirmed a major new sponsor and with it a new name. Cheshire Food and Drink Website, Taste Cheshire has agreed to sponsor the event and it will be known now as the Taste Cheshire Food and Drink Festival, Chester. Taste Cheshire also has over 30,000 foodies that they talk to every week, so it made perfect sense to have this special platform dedicated to this festival. It is a win for everyone, evidence of that will be shown in the coming weeks.

We Love Good Times Bake Off

We are looking for our best home bakers. Our aim is to find the four best home bakers in and around Cheshire and put them on our stage in the finals on Saturday 20th April at the taste Cheshire Food and Drink Festival. The competition is free to enter and all contestants receive 2 complimentary tickets to the Festival, valued at £20 and of course a £30 voucher to spend in Individual group Restaurants. So what are you waiting for - get baking. click here for more details.

26 days to go

Book Now to save up to 20% online and get your £20/30 dining voucher!

150 artisan food & drink exhibitors

CamperFest is 80% full - book now

Experience the festival

Watch the video to see why our festival makes Easter in Chester special.

20th - 22nd April 2019 Open Saturday & Sunday 10am - 6pm | Monday 10am - 5pm