Signature Food Festival To Serve Up Second Course in 2023 with Spring and Summer Events
World-renowned Michelin starred chefs Angela Hartnett and Claude Bosi will be first on the pass for Signature Food Festival 2023 in April. The line-up also features firm festival favourite Atul Kochhar. The Michelin chef makes a welcome return for the first helping of Signature 2023 which takes place at The Chester Hotel in Aberdeen in April.
For the first time the festival, which has raised over £1million for charity since 2017, will host events in both spring and autumn. The festival is run by The JEllie Foundation which raises funds to donate to local children’s charities.
Angela Hartnett OBE will be in the kitchen on Friday and Saturday 21 and 22 April. Chef Hartnett is one of the UK’s most loved chefs, known for her sophisticated, yet simple, Italy inspired cooking. Her Mayfair restaurant Murano opened in 2008 and within 4 months achieved a Michelin star and four red rosettes. Angela’s food is described as representing “simplicity at its absolute best”.
Claude Bosi is next on the Signature 2023 menu on Monday and Tuesday 24 and 25 April 2023. He launched Claude Bosi at Bibendum in March 2017 and it was awarded two Michelin stars less than six months later. Chef Bosi is a legend amongst his peers and known for combining highly skilled classical techniques with the world’s best produce.
Atul Kochhar makes a welcome return to Signature on Friday and Saturday 28 and 29 April 2023. He is the pioneering twice Michelin-starred chef from India, who has changed the way people perceive and experience Indian cuisine in the UK. Chef Kochhar is a friend of the festival and will be making his third appearance by popular demand. His restaurants celebrate the life and culture of India and its bounty of beautiful flavours, aromas and spices.
Tickets for Angela Hartnett and Claude Bosi are £200 per person and for Atul Kochhar, £150, which includes champagne on arrival and paired wines with each course.
Further high-profile chefs will be announced in May for the second course of Signature which will take place in September and November 2023 along with the now legendary Sunday Lunch.
The festival, the only one of its kind in Scotland, is the creation of Gillian and Graham Wood, owners of The Chester Hotel. Signature exists to raise funds for The JEllie Foundation which was set up by the couple to raise funds for local children’s charities.
Graham says, “The generosity of Signature diners has raised over £1million for local good causes so we’re always motivated by their kind donations to keep finding and attracting the highest quality British chefs to Signature.
“We set out to attract the most respected chefs to the Signature Food Festival to give diners in Aberdeen the opportunity to sample their cuisine without the need to travel to their individual restaurants. Angela Hartnett and Claude Bosi have both been on our wish list for several years and we’re delighted that both will be appearing in our Spring events along with the ever popular Atul Kochhar.”
Charities which have benefitted from The JEllie Foundation donations include:
- Ballater-based A Bear Named Buttony which supports children and young people who have a stoma
- Homestart Aberdeen which used their donation to support their crisis fund providing supermarket vouchers and help with energy costs for families in need locally
- The Leanne Fund which helps young cystic fibrosis sufferers to live a full and rewarding life
- The Baird Hospital Parents’ Hotel which will allow the parents of premature babies stay close while they are in hospital
More about the chefs and Signature Food Festival 2023 can be found at www.signaturefoodfestival.co.uk.
