Tom Kerridge, Fred Sirieix and Chris Galvin headline Essex Festival of Food and Drink

Lovers of epicurean delights will find an extra taste of romance at this years Essex Festival of Food and Drink.

The two-day event at historic Cressing Temple Barns features an appearance by First Dates star Fred Sirieix, who also co-hosted with Michel Roux Junior for the BBC2 series about service and hospitality, Michel Roux’s Service.

Everyone’s favourite Gallic love guru from the Channel 4 series will be cooking up some love!

As well as being maitre’d in the First Dates restaurant and hotel, he is the general manager at Michelin-starred Galvin Windows at the Hilton, Park Lane in London.

Alongside Fred, will be his boss Chris Galvin, chef patron of Galvin Restaurants. Chris’s career has spanned almost 40 years and he has worked in some of the finest restaurants and hotels on both sides of the Atlantic.

In November 2016, along with his brother Jeff, Chris opened the Galvin Green Man which is set in the Essex countryside in the village of Howe Street.

Fred and Chris will take to the stage on Sunday, July 15, at 11am and 1pm.

Headlining the seven-year-old festival on Saturday, July 14, is celebrity chef Tom Kerridge. Festival visitors took Tom to their hearts when he first took to the stage back in 2016.

Currently presenting Lose Weight For Good on BBC2, he opened his gastropub, The Hand and Flowers in 2005 and clocked up his first Michelin star within a year and won a second in 2012 - the first pub to do so.

As a chef, he has appeared on the Great British Menu, Masterchef and Saturday Kitchen and currently also presents Food and Drink and Bake Off Crème de la Crème for the BBC.

Tom’s demonstrations will be at 11am, 1pm and 3pm and last time his demonstrations sold out in double-quick time.

The festival also has an abundance of artisan producers, street food specialists, outdoor food courts, live music and demonstrations from talented local chefs.

To book your tickets visit www.essexfoodfestival.co.uk