Covent Garden launches food auction

On Thursday 30th July, Covent Garden will showcase a live food auction in collaboration with guerrilla cooking collective Too Many Cooks. Chefs from top UK restaurants will prepare an array of the finest dishes from around the world – all with a starting bid of a mere 50p.

The auction is the latest in a line of events at the Covent Garden Real Food Market to entice Londoners to the Piazza. Following the success of ‘Tea Party on the Piazza’ and the recent launch of Covent Garden’s giant cupcake, which fed over 2,000 people, the food auction will provide Londoners with another opportunity to experience food in an exciting and engaging way.

The Too Many Cooks team will prepare a selection of mouth-watering lunch and dinner ‘lots’ in real time - from Dorset crab with avocado and land cress, to an open rib-eye steak sandwich with rocket and red onion - all in front of a live audience on the Piazza. As the lots near completion, the live bidding will commence - with the hammer falling the moment the dish is ready to serve!

Too Many Cooks will be led by Head Chef, Nick Deverille-Smith (Head Chef at Soho House), assisted by Jonny Chocolate (from the double Michelin starred Capital restaurant in Knightsbridge) and Shane “The student Chef” (of the Church Green in Lymm). The auction itself will be hosted by professional Chelsea Lots auctioneer, Nick Carter.

On both lunch and dinner auctions, visitors to Covent Garden will be able to bid for an exclusive special lot– a meal for four people on Chef’s Table right on the Piazza (three course lunch/ four course dinner respectively).

In between lunch and dinner, Too Many Cooks will host a jam-making demonstration alongside an afternoon service of tea and scones.

As well as fast-paced biddings and action packed auctions, visitors to The Covent Garden Real Food Market will be able to enjoy mouth-watering, scrumptious, fresh produce from the UK’s finest food producers including SJ Frederick & Sons, Spore Boys, The Arabica Food & Spice Company and Crumbs & Doilies, which they can enjoy on the Piazza or buy fresh to prepare at home. The Covent Garden Real Food Market runs every Thursday until September 24th.

For more details on the Covent Garden Real Food Market or Too Many Cooks: coventgardenlondonuk.com or toomanycooks.tv

Meals to go under the hammer:

- Tiger Prawns with garlic butter
- Roasted scallops, with peas and shoots
- Wild mushroom risotto
- Open Rib Eye steak sandwich with rocket and red onion
- Dorset crab with avocado and land cress