Professional and amateur bakers are being called upon to enter a new competition to find Bristol’s best custard tart.
Tart Off is a competition designed to showcase some of Bristol’s amazing food talent, with both businesses and home cooks vying to create a custard tart that will win over the event’s judging panel. From traditional English to Portuguese, from French to Hong Kong style custard tarts, as long as the main ingredients are pastry and egg, it’s in with a shout of winning.
Confirmed professional entrants so far include Café Workhouse, East Bristol Bakery, Hart’s Bakery, Bakers & Co, Tart Café and Foodstore, Beatroot, Arnolfini and Portuguese Taste. There are still spaces available for both amateur and professional entrants, so if you think your custard tart recipe could be a winner, fill in the entry form here.
Kitchens have kindly donated a prize for the amateur competition, and the Tart Off team are currently on the lookout for additional amateur prizes. For the professionals, there will be the chance to win bragging rights, in addition to a shiny winner’s trophy to show off to all and sundry.
Tart Off will be held at the Bristol Folk House on Park Street on Thursday, July 10th from 7-10pm, with the bar open until 11pm. Members of the public are encouraged to head over and join the fun, with the promise of plenty of banter and quite possibly the chance to sample a spare custard tart or two…
The judging panel will consist of five judges, including Laura Rowe of Crumbs Magazine and Emily Knight of Bristol Bites. Excitingly, there are also two judging places up for grabs for members of the public, with a chance to be picked as a judge in one of two different ways. One of the public judges will be picked on the door on the night of the event, while the other will be the winner of a competition that is currently running on the Tart Off Facebook page.
Says organiser James Bridges of Fox & Monkey, “The idea for this competition began with a bit of banter between two Bristol businesses who both make custard tarts as part of their offering. Since then, the idea has grown, and we’re looking forward to hosting Bristol’s first ‘Tart Off’ at the Bristol Folk House on July 10th. With both professional and amateur categories on the night, we’re looking forward to this celebration of the amazing independent food talent that Bristol has to offer!”
If you’re thinking of taking part, entry is completely free – all you need to do is to register online here.
If you’re a Bristol business who would like to donate a prize to the amateur category, please contact James Bridges on 07446 622962.
For more information about Tart Off, visit the website, like the competition’s Facebook page or follow them on Twitter at @TartOff.