Waitrose Winter Food & Drink Festival
If you missed Waitrose Winter Food Festival, be sure to add it to your to-do list next year. I’ve always been a little hesitant with these types of events, feeling I have to pay money for entry and then buy products but with Waitrose you get so much for your money.
The Waitrose Food and Drink Festival is now in its third year and The Festival has 50% more food and hot drink suppliers than 2023 – including headline food sponsors, Mutti and Unearthed, and first time suppliers including Wildfarmed, Gail’s, Crosta & Mollica, Thunder Toffee Vodka, Toblerone, All Things Butter, Union Coffee, Brewdog, Thunder Toffee Vodka, Lanson Champagne and The Drinks Bakery. Back by popular demand, were the ‘Cookery School Live’ ticketed masterclasses and free ‘Meet the Expert’ sessions. New for this year’s the ‘From our Kitchen’ food-lovers hub, taking visitors on a journey of food discovery from Waitrose’s newly launched Waitrose No.1 and Christmas ranges. There was also a live special edition of the Waitrose DISH podcast with broadcaster Nick Grimshaw and Michelin star chef Angela Hartnett.
There’s so much to pack in from inspirational live demos, hundreds of delicious food and drinks tastings, masterclasses and chef showcases that I’d recommend arriving right for when doors open take full advantage of the stalls. With VIP tickets I was able to fast-track my entry and head straight to the VIP lounge. Here I had my included glass of bubbly and plotted my plan to explore the festival, located at Tobacco Docks. I opted to collect my goody bag at the start and whilst it was handy to have a bag to put other items in, as there were lots of bottles of spirits it did become heavy. If I was to return I may collect the bag later but take other bags with me whilst exploring.
The Festival has different types of experiences -ones you pay for in advance, ones you sign-up to at the festival and ones where you just show up (depending on capacity). Opposite the VIP lounge was the cheese cellar so I headed over as a cheese and Leffe tasting was about to occur. For 20 minutes I learnt about five cheese while sampling them including Cathedral City, Davidstow and Wensleydale. My favourite was the Wensleydale and cranberry with sloe gin and orange marmalade. It was sweet, fruity bite and moorish. Next, I went around the entire cheese cellar sampling so many different cheeses from hard cheese to soft cheese and even vegan cheese. I enjoyed the cannoli with Galbani Dolcelattee filling.
Tearing muself away from cheese, I went across the hall to the wine vaults. There are so many vendors showcasing sparking, red, white, rose and dessert wines that the choice becomes a little overwhelming. Talking to others who have before I decided to stick with their plan of having a few glasses of sparkling first before moving onto wine and then spirits. It’s fair to say this plan did not last very long as I then headed upstairs to the pimentae mistletoe and margarita bar where I had a spicy marg and listed to some music, before heading to the Wildfarmed Toasties bar. They’d just finished the dinner ones and were now onto the dessert ones of chocolate and banana. Moving onto the Treats Bar, I had some Cutter and Squidge cookies, Divine chocolate and tried five flavours of Pots. I’d recommend the salted caramel and chocolate ganache followed by the lemon and lime posset. To wash all this down I had a glass of champagne at Piper Heidsieck and a festive and warming Christmas tea from Brew Tea Co at the Winter Warmers stand.
By this time I had about an hour before closing and still seen any of the five beer and cider halls, the spirits lounge or the Waitrose Experience. At the Waitrose Experience I spun a wheel and got to have a pairing of food with a drink. I had the Scottish salmon with beetroot and peppercorn cracker with Castillo Perelada Brut before spinning again and having a Blonde chocolate florentine with Blonde cream liqueur. Here you’ll also find the Waitrose No 1 products. The bacon carbonara cups were rich and creamy. Before leaving the room I couldn’t resist voting for who I think has stolen the Christmas pudding. If you haven’t seen the Waitrose Christmas ad, I urge you to do so as it’s clever and fun.
The beer and cider halls and spirits lounge were amazing. So much choice. My strategy was to try some brands I haven’t before rather than brands I knew I liked. There were some food options like hearty veggie soup or classics like Olly pretzels and Sensations crisps with their new release of mature cheddar and chilli chutney.
I was so full and I’ve still got loads of goodies to eat. But If you’re still hungry, you could head to the Food Court where brands such as PieMinster and Dovecote Park, invite visitors to dive into a culinary utopia.
Tickets for this year were from £27 on Sunday with Early Bird and up to £75 for VIP on Saturday. Standard tickets included goody bag while VIP included fast-track entry, a glass of bubbly, goody bag with exclusive VIP gifts and access to the VIP lounge.
I’m already planning to return next year.
Written by Caitlin Neal
