Ok I will admit, there are perks to being on the other side of the blog, I get free stuff. I do try to pass them on to you lucky readers whenever I can. While I cannot pass along the free box of Cinnabons they are sending to me, I can however offer an alternative. I can offer you a free cup of coffee or tea when ever you buy a freshly baked Cinnabon roll. Simply click here to download, print and present this voucher at any one of the three Cinnabon Central London cafes, located in Oxford Street,Trocadero Centre or Queensway Bayswater, and you will get a free fresh brew . Offer valid until end June 2009. I do try folks, and I hope you enjoy this one

I’m going to Cafe Strudel for a charity dinner on the 25th June 2009 and I’m inviting everyone to join me there! Paula – who is doing the Ultimate Wine Wisdom column for my newsletter – is going to trek to Machu Pichu for Classic FM Music Makers (registered charity number 1091657) and she’s hosting a dinner on 25th June 2009 to raise some money for this. The Classic FM Music Makers is a grant giving charity, formed in 2006, that raises money to fund music education and therapy projects working with the most disadvantaged children and adults across the UK. Cafe Strudel serves great Austrian food, and there’s going to be opera music and all kinds of really cool prizes in the raffle (including a week long trip to Italy). It’s £45 for three courses (click to enlarge menu), above all, it’s for a good cause. So if you guys want to pop down for abit of apple strudle and classical music, and hang out with my camera and I, then do join me for this. You can book tickets by calling the restaurant at 020-8487-9800, keep reading for the full details of this event

Community sites are starting to realise the power of the iPhone, and to an extent the Google Android platform. Lately, I’ve been test driving three free apps which can help you find something to eat in the City and their usefulness when on the move, so this might be helpful if you’re an iFoodie too

Pop the virtual bubbles! I’ve slaved away for the past week or so getting my first issue of the Bi-monthly newsletter and I am so glad that I’ve published it today. To my first subscribers who are receiving it over lunchtime, I do hope it proves to be a great read for you – do leave some comments on this post and tell me what you think of it, am anxious to know how it is faring, and as a critic – I ofcourse, welcome constructive criticism as a means to improve. Anyway, I’d love for you subscribe to this, just follow this link. Otherwise, you can view the issue #1 here

This site has always been about You. I’ve set this up to help you find great places to eat in the Capital and I hope you’ve been enjoying reading my stuff so far. I’m extending that ‘mission’ and I have decided to release a bi-monthly E-mail Newsletter. The Newsletter will arrive on the 1st and 3rd thursdays of every month and it will summarise the best restaurants I have visited in the given month; It’s going to be straight to the point and its completely free. (so please sign up!) Designed to be scanned and read in minutes, it is your fastest, quickest guide to keep up to date with the latest craze to hit the London Foodie Scene. To subscribe simply fill in the details below, and click confirm on the confirmation email (check your junk email folder just in case). Once you do that, you’ve signed up! Subscribe to the bi-monthly LondonEater Newsletter: Email: Name: The first issue will go out next thursday 14 May 2009, hope you’ll enjoy the Newsletter folks and thanks so much for signing up!

I am sure you have all heard, El Bulli unsurprisingly retains the top spot, and The Fat Duck is still the 2nd best in the world. Meanwhile Gordon Ramsay was dumped out of the world’s top 50, I wonder if it had anything to do with his pre-packaged meals? Per se at sixth only…. and are you kidding me, Hakkasan is still in the mix? Not if eBay has anything to say about that

Drumroll please …. and the lucky readers who will get a copy of the Rough Guide to Food are*…. No. 17 – Little Miss Random No. 4  – Ameea No. 32 – The Purple Foodie No. 25 – Sarah Spoon No. 8 – Gudrun *with random number generator Congratulations folks! I’ll get in touch with you shortly to get a mailing address. Still want to participate in another competition? Rough Guide are also running a proper one over at their website which will give you the chance to win a year’s supply of food boxes! Go check it out. Thanks to Rough Guide for the free books, and thanks to all you fine readers who participated in this, have a great weekend folks!

The amazing people over at Rough guides recently launched a new ’rough guide to food’ and they’ve been kind enough to offer LondonEater readers (yay, you) five free copies of the book. The Rough guide to Food aims to help average Joey Bloggs navigate their way through the wonderful world of food. There’s a wealth of useful information in there, and they have quite succintly pulled together extensive chapters on food into one pocketable read. Examples: It gives you information about which fishes being edible (or not), tells you about farming methods, a whole section on supermarkets, explains what a ‘deli’ actually is and there’s even mention of social media sites such as tipped being a good way to find local food shops/services. The final chapter gives you some starters advice on growing your own stuff (with a little chart on fruit/veg seasons) , all in all a pretty comprehensive little know-it-all book about what you and I love most (apart from the cat). To win one, simply complete the following sentence by leaving a comment: An Apple a day, keeps the …&#

Ok I know you’ll like this one. As far as I know, the latest foodie craze to hit the Smoke are secret restaurants which nobody seemingly knows about, except everybody does. If you’ve not been to one yet (just google secret underground london restaurants) then this might just be the ultimate one to check out.  The scene will be set at the private supper club called The Loft. It is also the private training kitchen of El Bulli trained former head chef of Bacchus,  Nuno Mendes. The event is being organised by Paris based food consultant Rachel Khoo. She will be serving up a five course dinner (with wine) which combines far eastern flavours with the designs of HK based designers PikPikZoo and ya’ll will be grooving to the musical landscape of Joseph Seresin. It’s being touted as a mash-up: melange of different sytles of food and media incorporated into a delicious dinner. This is about as slick as underground restaurants can get. Interested? The event is £65 pp, space is superiorly limited to 12 guests (about half are already gone) and it will be held at The Loft on Wednesday 15th April at 7.30pm. Send your reservations to rkhooks@gmail.com. As usual, I’ve included the PR blurb with the rest of this email so keep reading for all the details

This trickled into my inbox yesterday and might be of interest to some of you. BBC Two are going to be filming a new food show called Economy Gastronomy. It’s aiming to be among the first food series to tackle the subject of the recession and  will advise British households on how to slash food bills while continuing to eat delicious, high-quality meals. The Gist: A selected family/household will use recipes created by top TV chef-lebs Allegra McEvedy and Paul Merrett designed for affordable, healthy and tasty eating. Chris from Outline – the show producers – wants to know if any LondonEater readers are interested in appearing on the show. Your chance to show the nation your kitchen skillz. You can express your interest by emailing food@outlineproductions.co.uk or call 020 7424 7663. Keep reading for the full press release