Fast becoming the alternative to the Notting Hill Carnival, the Brick Lane Festival is a street carnival, food festival and outdoor music shindig all in one. It's going to be big, noisy and tasty...
Contributing to the music element of this mela is the ever-hip Vibe Bar providing chilled live blues in its courtyard and spiky punk inside the bar. DJs and bands will perform on the Allen Gardens Stage throughout the day as well as theatre performances.
It's Brick Lane so there will inevitably be curry - lots of it. the Brick Lane Festival 2005 will include the Banglatown International Curry Festival so a trip out east is highly recommended for all spice fans. Over 40 restaurants will be serving their treats on the streets, forming a very real Curry Mile for the day. Londonist recommends stretchy trousers.
If your tastes tend more towards the Oceanic than Eastern, then head south for the weekend. At Hays Galleria by London Bridge, you will find all the oysters and seafood you can dream of at the Hays Galleria Oyster and Seafood Fair as well as seafood preparation demonstrations from the experts, live jazz and Caribbean music.
But if you're more interested in cooking than eating and aspire to be a bona fide cleaver-wielding, foul-mouthed, stripy apron wearing chef, then your chance has arrived. Optomen Television, the folk behind compelling (and occasionally car-crash-lite) cookery shows such as Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, French Leave, Two Fat Ladies and The Naked Chef, are looking for the next Gordon Ramsay. Because clearly one isn't enough for this planet. In a new show for Channel 4, a dozen young aspiring chefs will be pitched against one another for the chance to break into the hallowed kitchens of world-class restaurants to start their careers as chefs, with guidance and scrutiny from well-known celebrity chefs. If this sounds like the break you've been waiting for, then go here for more information and an application form. And hurry! Put down the white chocolate souffle mix in your cunning new automatic bain marie and get clicking!
Remember: Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
The Brick Lane Festival runs from 12noon to 6.30pm on Sunday 11th September, on Brick Lane (Allen Gardens). The Hays Galleria Seafood Festival runs from Friday 9th September to Sunday 11th September. Entrance is free to both events. Application deadline for Optomen Television's new show is to be confirmed but if you are applying, do it sooner rather than later.
