Heathrow is giving passengers a taste for international travel as the airport hosts its first ever Destination Feastival event.
From the 17 October - 6 November, passengers will be able to eat their way around the globe as more than 57 restaurants, bars and cafes across the terminals serve up distinctive foods and specialities from countries such as India, Russia and Japan.
Adding to the festival atmosphere, internationally-inspired musical performances will take place in the restaurants, cafes and bars taking part.
These include a Bollywood violinist in Gordon Ramsay Plane Food (Terminal 5), an Italian accordionist in Strada (Terminal 3) and a full Soul Orchestra in British-themed restaurant Dining Street in Terminal 4. Starbucks will also be offering Aroma Lab events in Terminals 3, 4 and 5 - a global coffee taste testing where passengers can learn what makes each coffee unique and how they can find the coffee that best suits their palette.
Heathrow, which serves more than 180 destinations, hopes the event will showcase the truly global nature of the food and drink offering available at the airport and inspire people to sample some of the world’s great cuisines.
Ben Crowley, Head of Food and Beverage at Heathrow, said: "Heathrow is the UK’s gateway to the world. On average up to 180,000 passengers arrive and depart each day and it is important that our restaurants, cafes and bars cater for a whole world of tastes.
"The inaugural Destination Feastival event will celebrate the global nature of the food available at Heathrow and encourage many passengers to try something they haven’t before whilst alsoproviding them with some interesting entertainment before their flight.”
In Terminal 5, Gordon Ramsay Plane Food will be combining flavours from India and Cuba and offering a special chicken curry, in addition to its regular menu. This will be accompanied by a Cuban strawberry and chilli mojito which has been specially created to mark the Destination Feastival event.
Meanwhile Italian café Espresso will be serving authentic bites including slow roast tomato and herb creamy cheese bruschetta topped with Prosciutto, rocket leaves and black olive and classic tomato bruschetta with red onion, basil, black olives and herbs.
In Terminal 1, Giraffe is amalgamating global tastes by launching a special World Tasting Platter; and in Terminal 3 Rhubarb will be tempting tastebuds with an Indian Tasting Plate, combining tandoori chicken kebab, lamb samosa and spinach pakoras, with a cucumber raita and wholemeal roti on the side.
For adventurous eaters in search of something a bit different, Yo! Sushi (Terminal 3) is offering three Japanese-inspired breakfast bento boxes to eat in or take away. Choose from the Traditional Salmon Bento (classic teriyaki salmon on rice with Japanese pickles, fresh fruit and an Asian muffin), the Smoked Salmon & Egg Bento (white toast with smoked salmon and egg, wasabi crème fraîche, fresh fruit and an Asian muffin) or the Kedgeree Bento. (Kedgeree, fresh fruit and an Asian muffin).
Passengers yearning for one last taste of Britain before making their international journeys should head to Pret A Manger to enjoy their topside of beef and watercress sandwich accompanied by a steaming cup of whole-leaf tea (Terminals 1, 3 and 5). Huxleys in Terminal 5 will also be championing the best of British by serving up a Ploughman’s sharing board for hungry travellers.
Heathrow’s shops are also joining in the celebrations. During the initiative, passengers can enjoy special offers on exciting new flavours on famous brands such as Baileys and Johnny Walker from World Duty Free. WHSmith bookshops will also be selling a great range of cookbooks to encourage passengers to experience global flavours and then re-create them at home.
