Soul diva Beverley Knight will help some of the UK’s best-known culinary stars to cook up a storm in the Granite City with the launch of the Signature fine dining festival this weekend. The singer will be in Aberdeen on Sunday, November 4, to raise the curtain on the 12-day cuisine celebration, which takes place at The Chester Hotel.
She will be performing some of her best-known hits, including Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda and Come As You Are, as part of an afternoon tea produced by world-class patissier-chocolatier William Curley, famed for his chocolate delicacies and exquisite cakes.
Six other award-winning chefs - Mark Greenaway, Glynn Purnell, Atul Kochhar, Martin Wishart, Roy Brett and Jeff Bland – will host events at Signature, with just 88 diners being lucky enough to taste their exclusive menus.
The majority of tickets for the festival, which runs until November 16, were sold out within a matter of days. While the afternoon tea takes place in the hotel’s ballroom, the intimate dinners are staged in the two AA Rosette IX Restaurant.
Signature is the idea of The Chester Hotel owner Graham Wood, who has been delighted at the interest in the event from foodie fans in Aberdeen and beyond. He said: “We launched Signature in 2017 on a smaller scale and I suppose you could say that it whetted the appetite for something much bigger.
“Aberdeen has been making a name for itself as a foodie destination, and with the hotel leading the city’s fine dining offering, we felt we could offer the perfect venue for some of the country’s most talented chefs to showcase their skills and creativity.
“They have put a huge amount of thought and consideration into their menus, recreating some of the most popular dishes from their own restaurants and working closely with our own award-winning kitchen team to select only the very best locally sourced ingredients.
“To have Beverley Knight here with us to join William Curley in launching Signature with the most incredible afternoon tea really is the icing on the cake.”
Signature will raise money for the Friends of the Neonatal Unit – at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital – with proceeds from ticket sales and an auction being donated to the charity. The auction includes several unique lots, such as a Saltire guitar signed by dozens of Scottish stars from the world of music, film and sport and a piano which has been designed in tribute to Aberdeen’s most famous footballing son, Denis Law.
A very limited number of tickets still remain for some the evening events, and waiting lists are in operation for the dining experiences that are fully booked. Further information and tickets are available at www.signaturefoodfestival.co.uk
