Eat Street at Festival Place, Basingstoke 2015 review

For the third year in a row, Festival Place shopping centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire, has hosted Eat Street - a foodie event which showcases some of the best restaurants in the centre and this year the event was headlined by Jean-Christophe Novelli who demonstrated some quick and easy recipes from his upcoming book.

I live very close to Basinsgtoke so I usually visit it for shopping and a meal out, however it was great to see the city's biggest shopping centre hosting a fun and delicious event like Eat Street. As you guys know, I go to quite a few food festivals in the country so anything closer to home is just as exciting! Restaurants like Wagamama, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and La Tasca participated in giving away free food around the square, where celebrity shed Jean-Christophe Novelli performed cookery demonstrations from his new book, Simply Novelli. Liam and I took my mum to the event as she has seen JC Novelli on shows like Saturday Morning Kitchen and she really wanted to get some hints and tips! And I've got to say, I would love to hear what a pro chef had to say about food and healthy living.
The demonstrations were very interesting and JC Novelli broke up the food talk with some stories from his past which kept everyone engaged, and he introduced us to some interesting food concoctions like chicken and vanilla. We got to try one of his seafood recipes at his final talk which involved seafood and cardamom and it was absolutely delicious. The chef promoted healthy living by showing you that you really don't have to use oil, salt and sugar for everyday cooking.
After the demonstrations, we got Jean-Christophe Novelli to sign my mums edition of his new book and we found him to be a really lovely man - he was very chatty and friendly, and took the time to answer everyones questions.

In the 'square' by H&M and Costa, participating restaurants which included Wagamama, Giraffe, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, La Tasca and Pizza Express were set up to give out free fresh food which we thoroughly enjoyed seeing as we needed fuel for a spot of shopping after the food demonstrations. Vom Fass, a custom made food liquids company which specialise in liquors, oils and vinegars, were also giving out taster of their best oils and providing generous taster bottles for anyone who wanted to try the liquids at home. We got some chilli oil which we will mix from Vom Fuss' mango balsamic vinegar, and also we picked up some honey balsamic vinegar to use with dipping breads and salad dressings.

After Eat Street was over, we visited some of our favourite stores in Festival Place like Primark, H&M, Zara and Topshop to see what latest trends were hitting the shops this month and I've got to say my wish list has grown pretty large! After shopping, Liam worked up an appetite and after finding out that neither Liam nor my ma have ever been to La Tasca we just had to visit. And afternoon filled with Sangria and Tapas - who could resist!
If you're a Basingstoke local or if you live nearby, keep an eye on what's going on in Festival Place as the shopping mall keeps growing in events and days out prefect for the whole family!