Venezuelan Christmas Bazaar, Westminster Hall, 7 Dec

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without all the usual Venezuelan festive foods so the Venezuelan community in London has organized a Christmas Bazaar at Westminster Cathedral Hall on Saturday, 7 December. There will be stalls selling all the seasonal treats you need for a feliz navidad Venezuelan style, as well as rum cocktails, traditional music, and a raffle.

Festive favourites on sale include:

Hallacas - A stew of chicken, beef, olives and capers that is stuffed into a maize dough pocket, wrapped in a banana leaf, tied with string and boiled.

Pan de Jamon - A soft bread with ham and raisins inside.

Ensalada de Gallina - A chicken and potato salad.

Pernil - Roast pork.

Ponche Crema - A creamy Christmas tipple made with condensed milk and rum.

Quesillo - Creme caramel, sometimes known as flan.

There will also be face painting and a bouncy castle for the kids to enjoy while you pick up all your Christmas-dinner essentials.

How to get there: Westminster Cathedral Hall is part of the famous Westminster Cathedral (SW1P 1QH). The entrance to the hall is in Ambrosden Avenue, which is reached from Victoria Street or Francis Street.

Venezuelan Gastronomic Fair - London, 9 March

Venezuelan food lovers should make some room for a big blowout and head down to the Irish Centre in Hammersmith on Saturday, 9 March, because the organizers of the annual Christmas Bazaar have decided to hold another massive food fair.

From noon to 6pm a variety of stalls will be selling a range of Venezuelan traditional food, from snacks like arepas and empanadas to full-on feasts of pabellon criollo, pernil (pork), asado negro (beef cooked with cane sugar until black), served with rice, fried plantains and caraotas negras (black beans).

There will be food, music and raffles for all the family, a bouncy castle and face painting for the kids, and Venezuelan-style cocktails like guarapita (passionfruit and rum) for the adults.

Stallholder Luisa Chavez, a Venezuelan who lives in London and is rightly famous for her quesillo (creme caramel) and torta de tres leches (ridiculously delicious cake), will also be bringing homemade Venezuelan queso duro blanco (hard, white cheese) to the event.

Other stallholders include Mi Cocina es Tuya and the folks from Arepa & Co, who Venezuelan food-addicts will already know from their very successful weekend stall at Camden Lock Market.

The Irish Centre is in Blacks Road, Hammersmith (W6 9TD), close to two Tube stations - the Hammersmith and City Line station and the Picadilly and Central Line station.

Venezuelan Xmas food at UK bazaar - 11 December

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without all the usual Venezuelan festive foods so the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in London has organized a Christmas Bazaar at Bolivar Hall on Sunday 11 December with stalls selling all the seasonal treats you need for a feliz navidad Venezuelan style, as well as rum, music, and a raffle.

Festive favourites on sale include hallacas (a stew of chicken, beef and capers wrapped in maize dough and a banana leaf and then boiled), pan de jamon (a soft bread with ham and raisins inside), ensalada de gallina (a chicken and potato salad), pernil (roast ham), and some homemade versions of the traditional tipple ponche crema.

The folks from Arepa & Co will also be there, serving the full range of arepa fillings and the pan de jamon they sell on their weekend Camden Market stall.

Given the popularity of the event and the difficulty of obtaining Venezuelan seasonal dishes elsewhere, the following stallholders are taking orders ahead of the bazaar, so nobody goes away disappointed:

Mi Cocina es Tuya
After many years in the business of cooking Venezuelan food Alexis and Mary Calvo know how to adapt the ingredients they find in the UK to make their dishes taste authentic. They also run the only Venezuelan cafe in London, Cafe Latino, at 61 Westow Street in Crystal Palace (SE19 3RW). Alexis says they will have traditional hallacas, ensalada de gallina, pernil, pan de jamon, quesillo (creme caramel), dulce de tres leches (a sticky, sweet cake) and papelon con limon (a refreshing blend of lemon juice and cane sugar). They'll also be selling a seafood cocktail that is widely believed to have "rejuvenating" properties. Popular at Venezuelan seaside spots, it is variously known as "Vuelve a La Vida" (Back to Life), "Siete Potencias" (Seven Powers) or "Rompe Colchon" (Mattress Buster). Try some and let me know if it works.
Phone: 0208-771-4078
Mobile: 0750-862-6486
Email: micocinaestuya@hotmail.com
webpage:Mi Cocina es Tuya


Tu UK Navidena
Roberto Jardin and Luisa Chavez might look like cowboys in the photo, but there was nothing dodgy about their pan de jamon last year which, was one of the best I've had in the UK. 
Currently struggling to fill over 200 pre-orders for hallacas, Roberto says this year will be the biggest yet for the bazaar and they promise to have an even wider selection of savoury dishes and desserts.
Phone: 0178-424-1565
Mobile: 0798-523-9852, 0795-610-1227 
Email: robertojardin@hotmail.com






Lulu's Flavours
Libia Marulanda has been cooking for the ambassadors of Venezuela for 15 years and makes an excellent ensalada de gallina. 
Apart from the hallacas and hallaquitas on her stall, she does a roaring trade in homemade tequenos, the Venezuelan party snack of choice. 
She'll also have meat and chicken empanadas and dulce de leche.
Mobile: 0794-487-1422
Email: libiamarulanda@yahoo.co.uk






Venue: Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DL
Date: Sunday, 11 December, 2011
Time: 12.00-21.00
Nearest Tube: Warren Street
Click here for a map showing the location