The search is on for one lucky winner to join the ranks of industry legends such as Mark Hix and Alex James by becoming a judge at the Great Taste Awards 2009.

Anna Hansen, Chef Patron of The Modern Pantry has announced the launch of Sunday Lunch in The Dining Rooms on the 1st floor of the restaurant from Sunday 22nd March 2009.

As part of the celebrations, throughout April, Mango Tree will be supporting WaterAid, a charity helping to overcome poverty by enabling the world’s poorest people to gain access to safe water. Diners at Mango Tree will have the opportunity to donate 50p each for unlimited tap water, with all donations going straight to WaterAid. This is part of the charity’s Tap into WaterAid initiative, where restaurants across the UK are encouraging their customers to make a small donation in return for tap water.

Tortilla, the taco and burrito specialists with branches in Bankside and Islington, has a treat in store this Mother’s Day that will put a smile on the face of mums and kids alike. To celebrate Mothering Sunday on March 22, any under-12 who visits either of the restaurants with their mother and brings along a short essay on the subject of ‘Why I Love My Mother” will get a free meal for both of them. Even better, the fantastic offer runs the entire week, from Monday 16 to Sunday 22 March.*

Each month HIX Oyster & Fish House Lwill be welcoming some well-known faces from the world of food, art and literature to host a series of dinners and master classes.

With its fantastic cityscape views of Leeds, the Fourth Floor Café in Harvey Nichols is one of the most consistently popular destinations on the Yorkshire circuit.

‘The condemned man ate a hearty last meal’. In England it was often a fry up, in America pizzas and burgers still seem most popular with an increasingly obese nation. For me my Last Supper would be a great big plate of perfectly ripe cheeses and Jean-Claude Ali-Cherif, Frommelier at Le Bouchon Breton, would be the man I asked to provide it. Here tonight at the restaurant he is cheerfully trundling his laden cart of cheeses up and down to the obvious happiness of all the diners. I think this man loves cheese even more than I do.

Little Bay famously invited customers to pay what they thought their food and service was worth in February and the restaurant was fully booked for the whole month within five days of the promotion being announced, and could have been filled three times over based on enquiries; just under 10,000 customers came through the doors in February. Each customer paid on average £17.25 – nearly 30% higher than the average food spend of £13.50 at the Little Bay Farringdon restaurant.

Mark Fuller of Concept Venues is to open a restaurant alongside his second hotel, Sanctum Soho London, which is scheduled to launch on Warwick Street at the end of March 2009.

With St Patrick’s Day just around the corner (17 March), food lovers of all things Irish can bring home an extra taste of the Emerald Isle thanks to a new Ballymaloe Relish gift pack, which is now available at selected O’Neill’s.