Expensive Taste of London

There have been a lot of mixed reviews of the Taste of London event so I thought I'd put my tuppence in.  I went on Thursday evening as a birthday treat from my friend and was very excited to be there despite the waterlogged Regent's Park as the venue. In what other place can you sample the delights of several Michelin starred chefs within four hours without remortgaging your house? Don't get me wrong, it is on the pricey side, particularly some of the more 'well-known' celebrity chefs, but if you go ready to spend a few quid you should come out relatively happy.  As mine was a present, I didn't have to pay for the ticket but I do think that as this merely gains you entry, £22 is a bit steep.   Reduce it to a tenner and people will be a lot happier to splash the cash on the food (and not forgetting the copious amounts of drink) once they're inside-surely the point of the event and more lucrative for the exhibitors. Unfortunately, as people show up in their thousands despite the hefty price tag, it seems a price reduction is very unlikely to be on the cards.

The range of food there was wonderful.  I sampled:

 Ham and Feta Salad from York and Albany

This cost £5 or £6 and despite tasting nice it was really nothing special. I could do this at home in about 3 minutes and my portions would be 3 times the size of this. Really disappointing from Gordon Ramsay-I'm pretty sure he could afford to knock a few quid off the price. 

 Black Pudding Scratchings

I'm not sure what these were actually called but they were complimentary from the Estrella area (along with a free half pint and an anchovy bruschetta).  Very tasty and went well with the beer.

 Cheese on Toast with Truffle

We bought this from the truffle stall and in terms of the portion size was probably the best value for money. I'm not sure how I feel about truffle; I think I like it but it has an odd earthy taste which mere mortals like me don''t have much opportunity to get used to. Perhaps I should invest in a pig that can truffle hunt for me on a whim so that I get a taste for them. I'm sure it would be cheaper than just buying truffles from a supplier and very easy to arrange.

 Chicken Thing from Le Gavroche

I clearly can't remember the names of what I ate; perhaps I should make a note of these things in the future. I'm in two minds about this dish as although it was tasty (especially the mushrooms) it was a miserly portion for the price and my friend really wasn't impressed. I am slightly biased as I love Michel Roux Jnr and as he was there (I got a photo of him too) my allegiance to him was even stronger. I also had this:

 Saucisson from Roux at The Landau

This was really good. Decent sized portion, full of favour and a lovely texture. If I had any doubt in Monsieur Roux's talents, this dish blew them out the water. He was also rushing back and forth checking on the food and posing for a trillion pictures-what a lovely man!

 Fancy Hotdog from Gauthier

I was a bit wary of wasting our Crowns on a hotdog but boy am I glad we did. This was absolutely gorgeous but I can't for the life of me remember what was in it-perhaps I should have spent less Crowns on cocktails!

The Famous £8 Scotch Egg

I can't remember where this was from but there was a lot of scandal over this on Twitter. It was nice enough but I do agree-£4 for half an egg is slightly ridiculous. If it was an ostrich egg they'd be forgiven.

Overall I had a great time at Taste of London-I'll just make sure I save up for next year (I really would like a visit to the Secret Garden!).

My other ingestions this week included:

 Lasagne

I made a right mess of dishing this up!

 Apricot Tarte Tatin

I made this to use up some apricots. It worked pretty well for a first attempt at tatin but I remembered I don't like cooked apricots that much. Whoops!

 Pasturma

 Baked Camembert

 Meze Mangal Meze

 Meze Mangal Beyti Kebab

 Pret Bacon and Egg Roll

The bacon tasted like metal. Wasted calories.

 Yorkshire Provender Soup

There seems to be a big fuss about these soups but this was pretty bland for the price. I doubt I'll buy this flavour again if I buy the brand again at all.

 Muller Light

 Toast

 Jerk Chicken, Rice and Corn

We use Walkerswood jerk which has a powerful chilli kick and deep smoky flavour. Very good dinner.

 M&S Ham and Egg Roll (my new fave)

 Toast

 Strawberries

I may go into mourning when the season ends.

 Homemade Mackerel Pate and Salad

 Barley Mow Sausages and Mash

I placed an order with my Somerset dwelling friend and they were good. We had a mixture of Sundried Tomato ones and Chorizo flavoured sausages-both good but Sundried still win for me. My addiction continues..

 Toast

 Cheese on Toast

The cheese was past it's best before date and tasted like it. Bad lunch.

 Chicken Pattie and Cherry Tomatoes

I had a craving...

 Lamb Rogan Josh

We used another of Anjum Anand's new, though yet to be released, sauces and it was good. Like making your own curry from scratch but without the faff. Made more rotis too-my new favourite thing to make,

Poached Egg on Toast

 Chicken in Pitta with Peri Peri Chips

My chicken was cold but luckily they brought me a fresh one. Guilty Sunday pleasure.

Japanese Soup

As you can see I ate loads of toast this week.  This was mainly due to buying a massive Tiger Loaf on Sunday and needing to use it up. The guy on the checkout in Tesco said that Tiger bread smells like tuna and wondered if it tasted like tuna too, much to my friends' amusement. To be honest though, it does smell a bit like tuna. Thankfully it tastes like bread.