Restaurant community comes together to raise £18,000 for Action Against Hunger

£18,000 was raised on October 30th where chef Mickael Weiss opened the doors of his kitchen at Coq d'Argent to a brigade of top UK restaurant critics for the fifth "Too Many Critics..." fundraising dinner in support of international humanitarian relief charity, Action Against Hunger. Mikael had the unenviable task of supervising the culinary labours of the critics as they put down their pens and cooked a sumptuous four-course meal for top chefs and restaurateurs including Russell Morgan (Chairman of the Crown Group), Daniel Clifford of Midsummer House, Iqbal Wahhab and his Roast team, Mark Fuller and Gary Hollihead of Embassy and several Conran chefs and managers including Mark Broadbent of Bluebird.

Save for a few raised eyebrows at certain chopping and dicing techniques, the meal was well received by the guests, who followed the trials and tribulations of the critics throughout the evening via large TV screens in the dining room. The evening featured a mystery wine competition sponsored by Enotria, in which Tim Atkins MW challenged the guests’ palates to identify a 2002 Valle Reale Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. In the spirit of the evening, the winning would-be sommelier, donated her prize, a Club Med  trip for two to Portugal, to the auction to help raise even more.

The meal was followed by a raffle and auction, which included gift donations from Jimmy Choo, Paxton & Whitfield, Conway Stewart, Burberry, Penfolds, Eliot Rhodes, Myla and Villeroy & Boch.

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors all money raised from the evening is going directly to Action Against Hunger to help its worldwide relief activities including those in Pakistan, Niger, Mali, Sudan, Ethiopia, Malawi, as well as the tsunami-affected regions of southeast Asia, where the charity is supporting thousands of malnourished children and their families.

As a regular supporter of ‘Too Many Critics…’ and host to this year’s event, Coq d’Argent’s head chef Mickael Weiss comments, “Working in the industry, one realises the importance and value of food, which is why we at Coq d’Argent are delighted to be supporting this outstanding charity which will help thousands around the world.”

Every pound makes a difference as over 90% of money raised by Action Against Hunger UK goes to support its relief programmes (Action Against Hunger UK 2004 audited accounts). 

Event: ‘Too Many Critics…’

Date: Sunday 30 October 2005

Location: Coq d’Argent, No 1 Poultry, London EC2R 8EJ

Host: Mickael Weiss (Head Chef)

Chefs for the night:

Fay Maschler (Evening Standard)

Jeremy Wayne (Tatler/ The Guardian)

Charles Campion (Evening Standard Metro Life/ Restaurant)

Giles Coren (The Times)

Lucas Hollweg (The Sunday Times)

Judges: UK’s top chefs and restaurateurs

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