It’s nearly time for Whitehead’s annual Summer Festival, and this year it’s even bigger and better than ever. Running from Thursday 27th July until Saturday 13th August, this year’s fest consists of mostly free events across Whitehead, with everything from a yarn festival to the Food and Folk Fest on Saturday 5th August. You can view the full programme here:

 
Undoubtedly one of the highlights of this year’s fest will be the Bistro Nights pop up restaurant in Whitehead’s Coastal Coffee, where they will be serving an eight course tasting menu of the best of Northern Irish dishes. Inspired by NI dishes and produce, this tasting menu looks immense! A spot costs just £29 per person, and bookings are from 7pm on 5th August. 
 
Bistro Nights NI Tasting Menu
 
 
Beginning in 2016, Bistro Nights is a family business run by husband and wife team Joni (a chef who has been in the business for over 30 years) and Erica (who deals with the bookings and marketing) Lutzman. Started in response to the lack of food variety, originality and creativity in the surrounding areas of East Antrim. Erica Lutzman commented:
It seemed that you had to travel to Belfast for good food we decided to come up with themed nights and had covered menus such as tapas, french, NI, Mexican and even a Victorian menu for the Victorian fair. Each Menu is different.

Bistro Nights hosts these pop-up restaurants in Coastal Coffee, having held a few in Larne as well, and they use their own hand picked waitresses who Erica says they pay very well as the couple believe that service is a massive part of the dining experience. We would be inclined to agree!

All evenings are Bring Your Own, and are unique in that you can book your table directly through Facebook, by text, or by calling in to Coastal Coffee. For more information, or to book a table for the Food & Folk Fest Bistro Nights NI tasting menu then click here. 
 Whitehead Summer Festival

Laura Caldwell

Author: Laura Caldwell

Hi, I'm Laura. I'm 30 years old and have a degree in Journalism with Photo-Imaging at the University of Ulster. I have an undying love for Belfast and all that it has to offer, an undying love for sleeping, Tegan and Sara, trashy tv shows, foreign snack-foods and being irresponsible with money. I also quite like origami, reading, jazz, hip-hop, dubstep, anything acoustic and Food Network TV. I've written for The Big List, Culture NI, Chatterbox and The Echo, as well as writing for BBC Across the Line.