Foodies in Jersey will have plenty to enjoy during February and March this year, with a major food festival taking place in the island. Taste Jersey starts later this month and will run for five weeks at hotels around the island. Here’s a little taster of what you can expect.
When: Monday 24 February to Sunday 29 March
Where: Luxury Jersey Hotels
What: a celebration of the island’s local produce with guest appearances from renowned chefs and special events
Luxury Jersey Hotels is a consortium of the island’s leading hotels who joined together with the common aim of attracting more visitors to the island. One of their key ways of doing that is through the Taste Jersey festival, which is taking place for the second time this year.
St Brelade’s Bay Hotel, La Place Hotel and Country Cottages, Chateau La Chaire and Longueville Manor have joined Luxury Jersey Hotels within the past two years. The group – which also includes The Atlantic Hotel, The Club Hotel & Spa, Hotel de France, Grand Jersey, L’Horizon Beach Hotel & Spa and The Royal Yacht – now represents 10 luxury accommodation and fine dining providers in the island.
Patrick Burke owns The Atlantic Hotel. He is a founder member and chairman of Luxury Jersey Hotels and believes that the five-week festival plays to the island’s strengths. He said: ‘Event and experience-led tourism is huge now and it makes sense to build events around food and dining, which is an area in which the island excels, and a message which Visit Jersey is heavily promoting.’
Jersey’s dining scene has been well-recognised in the AA’s 2020 Restaurant Guide, which features 18 local restaurants, all of which have been awarded at least one Rosette.
Patrick added: ‘After London and Edinburgh, the island has more restaurants with AA Rosettes than anywhere else in the British Isles and a significant proportion of those feted restaurants are from Luxury Jersey Hotels members. That sends out a hugely powerful message about the quality of food and calibre of our hotel restaurants and has to be a huge incentive for people to consider Jersey for a gastronomic holiday.’
For Patrick, one of the key attractions of the island is the high quality of its local produce, which underpins the fine-dining experiences that can be enjoyed within the group’s member restaurants: ‘This standard of cooking and dining would not be possible without the extraordinary produce that we are so lucky to enjoy in the island. Without the farmers, fishermen, growers and other producers, the industry would not be where it is today. Even the best chefs in the world would admit that you can’t produce the results without top quality ingredients. The best results come when there is a true connection between the chefs and the produce.’
Combining all of these elements, he says that Taste Jersey is a ‘shop window’ for the island: ‘The event comes at a brilliant time of year, as produce is coming into season for the spring. It is also a great opportunity for hoteliers to welcome the local community into their restaurants. The response from residents to last year’s inaugural Taste Jersey was brilliant, and all the members are really looking forward to building on that success and evolving their offers to deepen diners’ experiences.
‘One of the most exciting things about Taste Jersey is that there are no rules and no limits so every property has the freedom to show off its strengths and introduce unique experiences.’
The restaurants taking part in Taste Jersey 2020 include:
Bohemia (The Club Hotel & Spa)
Chateau La Chaire
Zephyr (The Royal Yacht)
L’Horizon
Longueville Manor
Mark Jordan at the Beach
Ocean (The Atlantic Hotel)
Saffrons (Hotel de France)
St Brelade’s Bay Hotel
Tassili (Grand Jersey Hotel & Spa)
