TASTE OF LONDON 2014, REGENTS PARK

I have never been to a Taste of London event in the past, but this year I was lucky enough to win a pair of complimetary tickets to Opening Night, and VIP entry passes for Saturday.
Coincidentally, Opening Night also fell on my day off, which was great.



On the first day that we visited, we pretty much just walked around the stalls, without any sort of preference in terms of food that we wanted to eat.

Stopped by the Le Gavroche stand for a quick photo with Michel Roux Jr. ...



Pork cheek and belly braised in Balvenie whisky sauce with soft polenta, from Le Gavroche.



The guys at Purbeck got rather excited as I ordered their first Jurassic Jaunt of the day.

 

We checked out the Inamo stand, and tried out the mini sake tasting session.

 

 

Whilst resting our legs and watching one of the cooking demonstrations, Wai Kit was selected to take up the challenge with the chef. The chef's knife skills against the Wai Kit's 'chopping skills' using a food processor...
Wai Kit is now the proud owner of a Sage Control Grip All In One by Heston Blumenthal.
My luck seems to be rubbing off on people who hang out with me - it must have something to do with my special hugs (!)
I'll be expecting a dinner invitation soon...*ahem*

 

Pistachio macaroon served with dark chocolate mousse, griottine cherries and crystallised white chocolate, from Duck & Waffle.

The 5 Star Haute Dog with charred padron peppers and fennel and pomegranate slaw from Action Against Hunger.



Continuing my sweet treat hunt, we both shared a dessert from Ametsa Arzak - Tostada Roasted Pineapple Ice cream with Toasted Milk.

I think I would fare well as a food cover girl!

 

Moving on to our second visit...



Thanks to our VIP passes, we managed to skip ahead of the long queue of people and ran straight to sign up for the Electrolux Chefs' Secrets session - nabbing the last two spaces on the list!

Having seen plenty of posts and praises on Twitter, we obviously had to stop by the L'Anima stand to try the Fettuccine with peas, broad beans and summer black truffle.
So deliciously creamy and fragrant.

 

Chef Pascal Aussignac and Chef Francesco Mazzei trying out each others' dishes...

My favourite dessert from the event - Peanut butter parfait, salted caramel and raspberry from Andre Garrett at Cliveden House.
I am currently going through a peanut butter craving phase...open to recommendations for any good peanut butter desserts anytime.

 

With Love from Rio: Valhrhona macae 'pure brazil' dark chocolate ganache, coffee mousse, tonka bean ice cream served with caramelized macadamia and lemon sorrel.

Finally meeting in person with Chef Dan Doherty.



And finally it was time to put on our aprons at the Electrolux Chefs' Secrets cooking demonstration!

 

 

After the short briefing session, we both excitedly took stood ready by our station right at the front to get a better view.
And seeing as everyone else was taking last minute selfies, we decided to take some ourselves before we started cooking!





I let Wai Kit have the honour of being the official 'chopper' - I wasn't going to risk shedding blood with my poor knife skills...
Look at the concentration on our faces...okay, maybe his more than mine.
I did help out, honest.

Photo snapped from the Electrolux facebook website :)

Not quite the best looking dish, but it still tasted good.
Wai Kit was clearly to blame for that 1cm un-chopped chive.



And I just couldn't miss out having a photo taken with the talented and dashing Chef Colin McGurran...

Having a little rest in the VIP lounge with some champagne...

I've lost count of how many desserts I've had...but here's my last one from L'Anima - Amaretto tiramisu.

Oops, sorry I meant that THIS was our last one...BoneDaddies green tea ice cream sundae from Flesh & Buns.



We were handed free ice cream as well, which we obviously could not refuse...

Besides food-hunting, we also tried our luck in the competitions that were on offer.
God knows how much junk mail will be flooding my inbox over the next few weeks...







We have also been really lucky to have had good weather upon us on both days that we visited.
Looking forward to the next Taste of London event - and hoping that I'll get lucky again!

The Cheekster, signing out x

MAY BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND

Bank holiday weekend has come and gone so soon again...

So here's what I've been upto over the weekend.

I spent the weekend over at Wendy and Martin's - they made an amazing roast dinner, which I unfortunately was not able to enjoy as I was still suffering from a dodgy tummy...

Oh well, at least I have some pictures to look at!

 

In the evening we went to watch Iron Man 3! 

Robert Downey Jr. was dreamy as always... 

Woke up the next morning to some scrumptious bacon rolls...

The initial plan was to head to Legoland, but as expected there was a ridiculously long queue of cars, so we decided to go with Plan B - Brighton!

 

 

We were starving by the time we arrived, so our first stop was Harry Ramsden's for some good 'ol greasy fish & chips!

 

 

And then on to get some ice cream! - one where it didn't require us waiting ages for the ice cream machine to work!

 

 

 

After a long day out, me and Lili headed back to London to get some rest before our next meet up the following day.

We planned to rent some Barclay's bikes around Regents Park, but there weren't any available where we were, so we just went for a relaxing stroll - less risk of me falling down clumsily in public!

 

After much walking and working up an appetite, we stopped to have some brunch at Cachao Toycafe at Primrose Hill.

 

Not the most amazing meal that we've had (and also pretty pricy for the small portions!), but at least it filled our hungry tummies.

Spent the rest of the day just enjoying the good weather, which looks like it's going downhill again tomorrow...oh well, that's English weather for you!

Time to get geared up for work - urgh.

The Cheekster signing off x