notting-hill-bayswater
Notting Hill Carnival in west London, trading since 1966 over the August bank holiday weekend, fills 50 blocks with Caribbean street food, sound systems.
Tip: Sunday is family day, Monday is the main parade. Jerk chicken counters line every block; expect £10-15 per plate.
shoreditch-spitalfields
London Coffee Festival at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in east London, trading since 2011, runs four days of specialty coffee tasting.
Tip: The Sunday tickets are cheapest and the smallest crowds. The Lab Stage runs demonstration and tasting workshops throughout the festival.
shoreditch
Meatopia at Tobacco Dock in east London, trading since 2013 as an annual three-day live-fire meat festival, hosts 50 chefs cooking over open fires.
Tip: Three sessions per day (lunch, afternoon, evening). Friday evening session is the built chef session; Sunday lunch is family-friendly.
various
London Cocktail Week, the city-wide cocktail festival since 2010, runs nine days of bar-discount cards, masterclasses, festival-pop-up bars and bartender.
Tip: Buy the £15 cocktail card; 250 bars run £6 signature cocktails throughout the week. Tickets to masterclasses sell separately.
olympia
BBC Good Food Show at Olympia in west London, trading since 1990, runs four days of celebrity chef demonstrations and food retail stalls. The November London.
Tip: Buy general admission tickets plus a Super Theatre ticket separately for the headline chef demonstrations.
various
London Restaurant Festival has run city-wide festival menus, restaurant-hopping tours and chef masterclasses across London every October for 17 years.
Tip: Festival menus are booked through OpenTable and go live before the ticketed events. The restaurant-hopping tours sell out first.