Taste of London 2010

Hmm, did I say that the food & wine sellers at Taste of London were not so generous these days? Looks like I'll have to eat my words (if I can fit another thing in!) after I thoroughly abused their abundant generosity this year! I pretty much had to waddle home.....


Well, this year I was much better for taking pictures before greedily stuffing my face - enjoy!:

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Good Natured - The lovely lady with red wellies totally spoiled us........and all for free, no crowns needed! Guess they live up to their name!
Pictured:
Cherry tomato with pesto
Cherry tomato with basil
Strawberries with clotted cream
Scones with raspberry jam, clotted cream and strawberries

One of my favourite stands - I would definitely buy ingredients from here, everything was very fresh & amazing!

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Gauchos - grilling & prep...

Gauchos - Bife de chorizo - Argentine Black Angus sirloin, humitas and chimichurri. The steak was as succulent as I always expect from Gauchos, and the humitas which I'd never tried before was lovely - some type of creamed sweetcorn wrapped in corn husk.

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The hungry mob!

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Whole Foods were offering lovely nibbles

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Gin Mare - the guy demonstrating was giving shots with an odd addition - the first tub on the left had olive paste, which he put into the solution in the second tub - after a few seconds it formed a skin and then he put it in the water in the third tub to let it set........

Gin Mare - the odd shot. The gin had quite a kick!! The olive paste had an odd texture - the ball burst in your mouth but you could feel the firm skin it had formed in the solution. Pity I'm not a gin person!

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Trinity - chef preparing asparagus and tiny quail eggs on the grill. To the side you can see pheasants eggs, quail eggs and some of the other dishes on offer.....compared to the suckling pig dish they offered, the pigs trotters weren't nearly so high in demand even though they were the 'icon dish', so the guy pictured was pretty much shouting about pigs trotters all day! I was one of few who ordered:

Trinity - Pigs trotters on toasted pain polaine, fried quail eggs, sauce gribiche and crackling. My first time trying pigs trotters. They sound odd but to be honest as an Irish person I should have had them before! One of my favourite dishes of the day. The crackling made very satisfying crunching sounds!

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Sake no Hana - Quail with sansho pepper. The quail was cooked differently to how I'd ever had it before, and it was very good - the skin was crispy, the meat tender and even the bed of spring onions was devoured hungrily.

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Beas Bloomsbury - cupcakes & meringues! I didn't try anything at the time, but it was a very tempting stand. Apparently they do afternoon tea there - must try it sometime.

Beas Bloomsbury

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Macsween - Haggis! Very yummy, especially with that dollop of chutney on top

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Fino - Cochifrito suckling pig. The meat pretty much fell off the bone, it was so tender.

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Asia de Cuba - Jumbo sea scallop with sweet & sour plantains and habanero corn crema. I always seem to get scallops at Taste of London. This did not disappoint! Juicy.

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Chapel Downs - actually from a wine stand [I visited the vineyard last year! ], but they looked too good to resist!

Oysters with lemon and a red wine, vinegar and shallot drizzle. The drizzle was amazing!

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I must say that food-wise, I didn't have one thing here that I didn't thoroughly enjoy. The drinks were another matter altogether - but since they were all samples, I really can't complain.

Till next year!

Happy eating,

Kitsune


*****Update:
I've received an email about a Taste of London promo where some of the restaurants exhibiting have Taste of London offers, starting from £15: http://www.toptable.com/en-gb/feature/?id=2309

Also, those pigs trotters I had at the Trinity stand were apparently voted 'Best in Taste' for the show! The conchifrito suckling pig I had from Fino came second.