Foodies snapped up 6,000 dish tokens in under 30 minutes for the upcoming BiteBack charity event in Newcastle.
A group of 15 chefs from some of the UK’s leading restaurants – with 16 Michelin stars and three Michelin Green stars between them – will cook at Wylam Brewery on Sunday June 9 to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
On the day, each chef will serve up a unique dish, providing guests with an insight into their individual inspirations and influences.
The event is free for people to attend and while the majority of dish tokens have been pre-sold, there will be a limited number of tokens available to purchase on the day.
With only 500 portions of each dish available though, diners will need to be quick to be in with a chance of securing the remaining tokens for their chosen chef’s dishes.
As well as a stellar chef line up and the usual drinks offering from Wylam Brewery, there’s still plenty to get your teeth into with music from a range of DJs, and local celebrities hosting a special silent auction with some amazing foodie experiences up for grabs.
Siân Byerley, co-owner of Pine, said: ‘’We want to thank everyone who has been involved and it’s totally amazing what’s been achieved so far. We couldn’t even dream of doing this event without everyone’s generosity. We’d like to thank the 15 incredible chefs who’ve all volunteered their time for this amazing cause; the folks at Wylam Brewery for providing the venue; the suppliers like Wellocks who are being massively generous providing produce for the chef’s dishes; and to all our other massively generous supporters who have helped us with all the kit needed to make sure the event can happen.
“What started as a tentative conversation in 2023 has rapidly grown into something pretty wonderful and totally indescribable. From the outset every single member of the Pine team wanted to do something positive to help raise funds for early diagnosis research. Our big idea was pretty simple really, entirely focussed on what we do best – bring everyone together through food – and by doing that hopefully making a difference along the way. We all know someone who has been impacted by this illness so get yourself along and buy lots of tokens on the day!’’
All proceeds from BiteBack will be donated to Cancer Research UK to help support more than 4,000 researchers, clinicians and nurses to transform how they help prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, bringing hope to millions of people, now and in the future.
Guests can keep up to date with event information by visiting www.bitebackfestival.co.uk and following @biteback_fest on Instagram
The full chef line-up for BiteBack is:
Restaurant Pine, East Wallhouses’ chef-owner Cal Byerley and head chef Ian Waller
Upstairs by Tom Shepherd, Lichfield’s chef-owner Tom Shepherd
The Old Stamp House, Ambleside’s chef-owner Ryan Blackburn
SY23, Aberystwyth’s head chef Nathan Davies
House of Tides & Solstice, Newcastle’s chef-owner Kenny Atkinson
Myse, Hovingham’s chef-owner Josh Overington
Inver, Loch Fyne’s chef-owner Pamela Brunton
Heft, Newton in Cartmel’s chef-owner Kevin Tickle
Hjem, Wall’s chef-owner Alex Nietsvuori
Sabor, Mayfair’s chef-owner Nieves Barragan
Fat Duck, Bray’s development chef Kevin Brown
Forest Side, Grasmere’s head chef Paul Leonard
Grace & Savour, Hampton in Arden’s chef-director David Taylor
The Black Swan Oldstead, Roots York, and the Abbey Inn at Byland’s chef-owner Tommy Banks