World Foodie Guide

I’ve heard that the Taste Festivals are a good opportunity to try cuisine from some of the top restaurants in both the UK and Ireland. But I’ve been somewhat reluctant to attend Taste of London in previous years, thinking that the entrance fee and cost of ‘crowns’ (the currency at the festivals) was rather steep. I love high-end restaurant food, but food prepared alfresco for the masses? Surely this would have a detrimental effect on the quality of the food? A friend convinced me though that it was unmissable. So off I went to Regent’s Park yesterday evening, when rain threatened to make the event wet and miserable.

Fortunately, it only rained for a short time. And I was proved so wrong about the quality of the food. Apart from my dessert of spiced almond panna cotta with summer fruits from The Cinnamon Club, which was a huge mistake, everything I tried was scrumptious.

Being a Taste virgin, my friend and I had failed to plan our menu strategy in advance. Faced with the choice of 40 restaurants and 3 dishes from each (120 in total), we had to think fast. In the end, I selected first the restaurants, then the dishes, rather than the other way round. The other factor to consider was the cost of the dishes (6, 8 or 10 crowns, at 50p per crown). I had 40 crowns which were included with my entrance ticket, and bought an 10 extra crowns at the venue.

So what did my 50 crowns (£25) buy me? In order of deliciousness:

• L’Atelier du Joël Robuchon – (where the scrum of customers was so intense that I nearly suffered a panic attack trying to order my food) – crispy langoustine fritter with basil pistou and baby beef and foie gras burger with lightly caramelised bell peppers

• Tom’s Kitchen - as soft as butter seven hour braised lamb shoulder with balsamic onions and mash

• Le Café Anglais – coming joint second was the heavenly spit roast belly pork with lentils

• Le Gavroche – lobster bisque flavoured with brandy. This was slightly too salty for my liking. The small piece of lobster at the bottom of the cup was soaked in brandy, and actually gave me a hangover the next morning!

My friend had the following (not in any particular order):

• L’Atelier du Joël Robuchon – chocolate sensation – creamy Araguani chocolate, bitter chocolate sorbet and Oreo cookie crumbs

• Sumosan - very cutely presented and tender lamb furikake – one piece of baby lamb rack, deep-fried in furikake crust, served with mustard sauce

• One-O-One – delicious (I tried it!) slow poached Norwegian white halibut with crispy pork belly, truffle paimpol coco beans cassoulet and wild rocket pesto

• Tom’s Kitchen – strawberry and vanilla shortbread sundae

• Canteen - raspberry ripple ice cream with shortbread

It was also the first time that a Taste of China had been organised. I think it was a mistake to separate the Chinese restaurants from the main area though. I went to this section first, but didn’t return to it, as the other restaurants actually looked more inviting.

The verdict?

Next year, I’ll attend some of the masterclasses and cookery demonstrations, as well as explore properly all the stalls from various independent food producers. Although I couldn’t resist having a gawp at gorgeous Jun Tanaka from Pearl, as he demonstrated some dish (whatever it was!). Most definitely the highlight of the evening…

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Tags: dining out, festival, food, London, Michelin star, restaurant review, restaurants, Taste London 2008, traveleating