Pub in the Park is a laid-back celebration, which as been on tour this summer, the Northern leg of the journey in Knutsford included a stellar line up of chefs, pubs and music.
I’ve done some pretty awesome things as a blogger over the years, like the 3 days I did in Portugal’s Douro Valley tasting Port, or the time I was part of the official caravan parade with Bon Maman during the Tour De France in Yorkshire, but now I have a brand new highlight to add to my black book of awesomeness. For a very long time Tom Kerridge as been a chef I hold a great deal of admiration for, his love for making good dishes awesome is exactly what I like to do, it’s his obsessive passion for perfection that intrigues me. So when Lexus got in touch to ask if I’d like to experience amazing food, amazing music and a couple of journeys in their one of their prestigious vehicles I absolutely jumped at the amazing chance. Pub in the Park is a laid-back celebration, which as been on tour this summer, the Northern leg of the journey in Knutsford included a stellar line up of chefs, pubs and music. Each venue plays host to Tom’s two Michelin-starred pubs, The Hand & Flowers and The Coach, plus a selection of other top UK pubs and restaurants to serve their most popular dishes. The event celebrates the very best food the country has to offer, combined with great live music, chef demonstrations, top quality shopping and other festival fun. Clearly the highlight for me is always going to be food but the news that Razorlight and Mel C were on hand to entertain the crowds was equally pleasing. The swift journey across the pennies in the impressive Lexus CT takes us into Cheshire and the home for Pub In The Park at The Lambing Shed Farm. It’s true I’ve been to a few food festivals in the past, but imagine a food festival where the food is put together by pubs such as The Hand and Flowers, The Pony & Trap & The Star at Harome and everything has a feeling of Michelin Star about it. So after trawling the array of food stands our final choices for the evening looked like this:
Hand and Flowers
TBT Frankfurter – Corn Dog with BBQ sauce and sweet mustard mayonnaise, – Memorable!!!
Beef Biltong Chilli – with smoked cheddar, puffed rice, lime and Sriracha,
Sesame Chicken Fried Bao – with spiced seaweed salt and pickled Chinese cabbage.
Paul Ainsworth
The Dogs Pollock – Cornish pollock hot dog, triple mustard mayonnaise and pickled cucumber.
The Hardwick
Salt Beef Croquette – Dirty fries, hot sauce mayo and pickled red cabbage.
At £5 per dish admittedly I’d more than satisfied my cravings of Michelin Star quality awesomeness for a mere £25, I’m not sure i’d get away with a bill that low if I visited the hardstanding version of these establishments. Mel C & Razorlight took to the stage late on into the evening and whilst I may have told friends that Razorlight were the band I was excited about, it was actually Mel C that stole the show for me, maybe it’s that step back into the tunes of my teenage years that made me step from side to side slightly in a rather awkward dancing kind of motion during her performance. Pub in the Park concluded in Knutsford in 2018 but fear not, I’m told they will return in 2019 and there’s even talk of more venue’s, please Tom I plead with you, come to Yorkshire. Anyway must dash, I need to start looking at my finances and working out how I can make it happen that I buy the car of my dreams, The Lexus LC, just to sit in it was to experience amazing! Watch this space!
