About Time: You Visited Meatopia 2023By Iona Goulder

Meatopia London is the legendary festival for food and fire-cooking lovers. Celebrating an impressive 10 years in London, 2023’s festival adds an extra day to proceedings. The line-up features over 100 chefs from across the UK, alongside a selection of exciting global additions.

Meatopia has curated the world’s most prominent fire cooking talent to grace the grills for this bumper year. International chefs include Tuffy Stone all the way from the US, Thalía Barrios García and Tania Livier García Báez jet over from Mexico, Holy Smoke drive their smoker across Europe from Sweden and Zé Paulo Rocha from Lisbon.

Closer to home, Meatopia is set to welcome Nathan Chapman who heads up London institution, The Quality Chop House. The legendary restaurant opened its doors 100 years ago and is known for its classic British food with a focus on provenance and rare breeds.

Tom Booton is Executive Chef at another iconic destination, The Grill at The Dorchester. He boasts an impressive C.V. with experience in some of the country’s Michelin-starred kitchens such as The Westbury and Dabbous. The Grill at Dorchester specialises in classic opulence, some of which Tom will bring to Meatopia.

Currently at London’s the Duke’s Head, Keon Cilly’s Caribbean heritage influences each dish at Rack City Ribs. Fused with Americana BBQ, Keon smokes ribs to tender perfection and elevates with spiced rubs and sauces. Anna Sogaard spent time in Nordic fine dining before settling at the renowned Erst restaurant in Manchester. She’s joined forces with the team from Crispin to open Bistro Freddie in East London later this summer. Be one of the first to sample her take on a British bistro at Meatopia.

Fire + Rice is led by Lap-fai Lee, renowned cookery teacher, food consultant and recipe developer with over a decade of experience in BBQ. From championship-winning Texas brisket to Michelin-starred collaborations, he encompasses the whole spectrum of live fire cookery. This is his third year at Meatopia bringing the flavours of China’s Canton to Tobacco Dock.

Soon to open bakery, Quince is headed up by Anna Higham and Paris Barghchi. Anna is an award-winning pastry chef coming from Lyles, Flor and most recently, The River Cafe. Paris has worked extensively across the industry from fine dining to humble pubs. Together, the two showcase a dessert dish at Meatopia influenced by what’s to come at Quince.