WhyNut Exhibits for the 1st time at The Restaurant Show 2012

So what is it like to take part in The Restaurant Show?
Well once you get over the fact that you'll be standing on your feet from 9am until 5pm, it was actually quite fun.  I realise from this experience that I could never have been a shop girl.

The aim of exhibiting at The Restaurant Show was to showcase WhyNut's Great Taste Award winning Slightly Salted Pistachios and to introduce WhyNut's very special Pistachio Paste and Hazelnut Paste.

Navita and Cigdem in front of the WhyNut stand at the Restaurant Show (Earls Court 2, London) 

WhyNut were positioned in the Artisans Market and I believe that we were the only stall to actively accost people as they walked past asking, "Would you like to try or Pistachios?"  More often than not visitors did stop and so we then got most to try the Pistachio and Hazelnut Pastes.  Helpfully visitors had to wear tags describing what they do or company they belong to.  There were numerous pastry chefs, head chefs from all sorts of restaurants such as Cafe Spice Namaste, students and graduates from Le Cordon Bleu, a few reporters and bloggers.

It was a great feeling to get such positive feedback from all that tried our products.  The best part was when they tried the 100% Pure Hazelnut Paste, their eyes just lit up and told us that, "This has the most intense flavour ever."  They would then drag their friends to come and try some.

We even managed to get Royalty in the form of The Countess of Wessex to try WhyNut's Pistachio Nuts, which she did like but confessed to preferring the ones with the shell on.

Cigdem meets The Countess of Wessex, "Did you say you love all or products and think that the entire world should buy them?"

As Andrew Kojima walked passed (Do you remember him? Finalist in MasterChef 2012, flavoured a lot of dishes with whiskey) we made sure he tried the Pistachios and the Nut Pastes, which he loved by the way.  He was a really nice guy and told us that he is now a professional chef which was always his dream.

Remember these three, Masterchef 2012

Cigdem and Navita meet Andrew Kojima. Thanks for dropping by and letting us know that we have some quality products.

Ricky Pang also stopped by to try WhyNut pistachios and nut pastes.  Ricky is currently trying to set up  a chain of Pan-Asian restaurants.

Ricky Pang meets Cigdem. Go on Ricky, stock our nuts in your new Restaurant! Pleeeease

When I got the chance I would head out of the Artisans Market to see the other stalls.  I sat in on the William Curley talk 'Chocolate: from bean to bar'.  Also managed to try his mint flavoured chocolate ganache, which he made while giving the talk.  He made a particular point of only using fresh ingredients and so the cream for the ganache was flavoured by warming it through with fresh mint.  The taste was clean, fresh and luxurious.

William Curley telling us that proper chocolate should only have a shelf life of 2 weeks.
Tell that to the Fruit and Nut sitting in my bag for the last six months in case of emergencies.

William Curley's Mint flavoured chocolate ganache.  

Just behind the Artisans Market was the Competition Theatre, which hosted 'The National Chef of the Year 2012' and 'The Young National Chef of the Year 2012'.  There were 5 or 6 separate kitchens, with lots of chefs running around looking stress and even more top chefs doing all the judging.  In the end Alyn Williams, chef patron of Alyn Williams at The Westbury, beat off seven other top chefs at the cook off to become the Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year 2012. Hi winning menu consisted of  fillets of mackerel, salted cucumber, mussels, parsley, lemon purée, pak choi and turnip as a starter; saddle of venison, roasted and smoked beets, fig, salsify, rösti, yogurt and cooking juices for the main course; and caramelised white chocolate pannacotta, orange doughnuts and hazelnut ice cream for dessert (don't think he used WhyNut Hazelnut Paste, have to get him a sample). 

Finalists in The National Chef of the Year 2012.  Not quite sure who's who though.

Winner of the Young National Chef of the Year 2012 was Ben Murphy, chef de partie at Koffmann’s at The Berkeley, with his winning menu consisting of sous vide duck breast, beetroot, goat’s cheese and horseradish; pan fried sea bass, bacon, lemon, yolk and pea; and Calvados savarin, yogurt, apple, tarragon, apple crumble ice cream.

Finalists in The Young National Chef of the Year.  And again, not sure of their names.

A few of the Judges which I do recognise.
From left to right we have; William Curley, Tom Kerridge, Vivek Singh,  Mark Sargeant, Daniel Clifford and Angela Hartnett

Before I sign of I have to mention the food available to purchase (i.e. your lunch).  It was great, there was a whole section dedicated to a selection of street food vendors.  I personally visited Bhangra Burger and had the Lamb wrap which was really tasty.  Other tasty treats included, doughnuts, Fish Tacos, ice creams, hot dogs and a few more.

Street Food at The Restaurant Show: a. Bhangra Burger, b. The Bowler, c. Sorbitium Ices, d. Luardo's. e. The Green Goat.

 And finally it was 5pm on the last day and we have just finished packing up...

An exhausted Cigdem