The first weekend of July is upon us which, for the people of Cardiff, means one thing: the Cardiff Food and Drink festival is back. Taking its usual spot at the Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff Bay, from Friday, July 1, the Bay's basin will teeming with foodie favourites for the next three days, offering an abundance of goodies from 82 stalls - from scrumptious snacks and gorgeous gins to arts and crafts and music.
While you're gearing your wallets and bellies up for a food fuelled weekend, you may be wondering what time will it all begin and what time will it end. Well, you're in the right place because here's everything we know about what's in store for the food festival's first day.
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What time does it start?
The Cardiff Food and Drink Festival will open at midday on Friday, July 1 and run until 10pm.
On the weekend it will begin at 11am and close at 10pm on Saturday and 7pm on Sunday.
However, The Producers Fair (consiting of delicious treats from bakeries, artisanal ice creams, cheese, meats and sweets) and The Farmer's Market (thinks stalls offering flavoursome preserves, wines, beers and more) will close at 9pm on Friday and Saturday. The Street Food Piazza will remain open until 10pm.
Do I need tickets?
The event is free to attend and you do not need tickets to gain entry into the festival.
Where is it?
The Cardiff Food and Drink Festival will take place at the Roald Dahl Plass, just a two minute walk from (with stunning views of) the Wales Millenium Centre.
What's on offer?
There are 82 traders at the festival across the whole weekend.
This means if you go along today, get too excited and fill yourself yourself up on one or two stalls' goods before having a taste of everything else, there will be another chance tomorrow and Sunday to eat your way through the Bay.
Going for lunch or dinner this weekend? The Street Food Piazza has some stunning vendors for you to explore.
They are:
Purple Poppadom
Bab Haus
Churtopia
The Hellenic Eatery
KERALAN KARAVAN
Nixon Farms Penmincae - Welsh Black Beef, Lamb and Pork
Pimentos Bar and Grill
Pregos Street Food
The Welsh Creperie Co.
Morgans Family Butchers
Taste of Persia
The Mighty Soft Shell Crab
Paella And Chorizo
Tokyo Nights
The Pod Events
At The Producer's Fair, you can expect:
Beth’s Bakes
Hensol Castle Distillery
Cafe Cannoli
Chock Shop
Churtopia
Continental Cottage
The Original Welsh Oggie Co
Fablas Ice Cream
Flapjackery
HotRoastedNuts
Llanfaes Dairy Ice Cream
Mountainview Ice Cream
Old Bakery Gin
Ridiculously Rich by Alana
Riverford Organic Farmers
Riverford Organic Farmers
The Great British Cheese Company
And at the Farmer's Market, peruse this selection of stunning stalls:
Celtic Spirit Co
Bang-On Brewery
Bee Welsh Honey
Blueberry Hill Preserves
Tudor Brewery
Cardiff Distillery
Cottage Sweets
Cwm Deri Vineyard
Dimkin's Patisserie
Doughnutterie
Emily’s Kitchen Bakes
Field Bar Gin Ltd
Flowerhorn Brewery
Freda's Peanut Butter
Fudge Factory
Fwdge
GingerBeard's Preserves
Gwatkin Cider
Gwynt y Ddraig Cider
Heathers Harvest
Howey Nichols
Lilo's Pasta
MKS Food Distribution
The Artisan
Pembrokeshire Chilli Farm
Pici
R&G Thai Curry Paste
Ralph’s Cider
Retro Shots
Rose Cottage Drinks
SamosaCo
The Spirit of Wales
Tarsier Southeast Asian Spirit
The Garlic Farm
The Pudding Wagon
The Sawley Kitchen
The Twisted Curry Company Ltd
The Welsh Picnic Pantry
Limpopo Biltong Markets
Wiltshire Chilli Farm
Will there be entertainment today?
Each day there will be live music, with talented bands taking to the bandstand on the hour until an hour before closing.
The bands taking the stage on Friday will be:
Jack Macs Funk Pack
J4 Jazz Band
Darren Eeden and the Slim Pickins
Kasai Masai
Duppy Busters
Where can I park?
There are several pay and display car parks dotted around Cardiff Bay. These include Mermaid Quay, Q-Park Cardiff Bay on Pierhead Street and Havannah Street Car Park. If you fancy a stroll before or after the festival, you can park your car at The Barrage Car Park and walk across from Penarth.
If you're wanting to use public transport, Cardiff Bus will be running a full scheduled service throughout the weekend and trains between Queen Street station and the Bay are scheduled to run every 12 minutes.
For a taxi ride with a bit more pizzaz, you can hop on a water taxi from Bute Park.
Cycle racks will also available at the north end of the Oval Basin.
For more information on the food festival this weekend, see Visit Cardiff's website
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