Pop-up restaurants are all the rage in London — but now there’s one with an equestrian twist.
To celebrate Royal Ascot, a taste of the races is coming to London with the UK’s first horse-drawn pop-up.
Michelin-starred chefs Michael Caines and Phil Howard — who will be hosting restaurants at this summer’s Royal meeting — have joined forces and will each be cooking a course for the two lucky diners, who will win the experience through a competition.
Otto and Bullet will be pulling the Victorian landau carriage “restaurant” around Observation Point, Queen’s Walk in London next week (16 April).
“As an experienced chef, I am used to cooking food under pressure and have worked in some challenging culinary environments. However, I have to say this is probably the most unusual restaurant I will have ever helped to prepare food for,” said Michael.
Phil added: “Hosting a restaurant at Ascot is both an enormous privilege, but also represents an exciting challenge in terms of delivering a high quality dining experience that fits around the racing. Similarly, creating dishes of an exceptional standard that can be served in a genuinely horse-drawn restaurant has been fun and far from straightforward.
“I hope that whoever wins will appreciate the craft and care that has gone into designing the experience.”
Once aboard the carriage, the diners will embark on a tour of London’s Southbank overlooking the River Thames, St Paul’s Cathedral and the City of London.
Each course on the menu will be served at a fixed point on the route, so that the motion of the carriage doesn’t detract from the quality of the dining experience.
“Royal Ascot is one of the highlights of the British summer calendar, because it combines the spectacle of the world’s best horses, with stunning pageantry, amazing fashion and fine food,” said Juliet Slot of Ascot racecourse.
“We wanted to treat people to an early taster of the Royal Ascot experience and so we are working with Michael and Phil to create what we believe to be the world’s first Michelin starred horse-drawn dining experience. Whoever wins this competition is in for a truly memorable day.”
Members of the public can enter the competition through the Ascot Racecourse website: www.ascot.co.uk/horses-carriage or via the Ascot racecourse Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AscotRacecourse. Entries close on Monday 13 April 2015.
