I was a bit 'what?' to hear that the location would be inside Exhibition Buildings and not the gardens because the setting in Regents Park in London has quite the charming picnic-y atmosphere. However given that it is the tail end of Winter, it makes sense to have it indoors. For some reason, I had anticipated that there wouldn't be a huge turnout and that we were super-smart (and super-Asian) for turning up exactly when the doors were to be swung open.
Little did we know that the turnout was rather impressive and it seemed that everyone else had the smarts to turn up at opening time too! Here we are at the Wimbledon-esque queue.
All the stalls with goodies on offer.
I hadn't realised that the menu was available online (duh!) and didn't manage to plan our food attack in advance. Luckily, we Food Soldiers have forward thinking stomachs (we were farking hungry) and our first choices were easily settled.
(L-R) Mezzo's organic slowly braised pork cheek, white polenta, raisins and marsala sauce.
Stokehouse's seared atlantic scallops, lardo, breadcrumbs and gazpacho dressing.
The Palace's eye fillet, potato mash and sauce Bordelaise.
Moo so happy to present the pork cheek. Me so happy to eat the pork cheek. Mmm so melt in the mouth, tender and full of cheeky goodness.
Yeah - YOU. Rude man.
I'm not sure how we decided on the eye fillet. I think Moo had a hankering for mash potato which she was greatly rewarded in a most creamy, smooth manner.
The whole deal with the 'Taste' festivals is making sure you get your fill of 'taste'. You expect the tastes to be free but I was warned by someone who attended last year that they had to exchange Crowns for tastes! Wtf! Luckily that really wasn't the case and I'm happy to report that all our samples were nice and free :D
Moo's arm sampling the olive oil.
The Asian Vultures that we are, we waited for this lovely man to fry up his steak and cut it up into bite sized pieces for us. It was yummy and melted in your mouth.
Moo and I couldn't resist the free wine sampling... here and there. Decent sized swishes too!
More food:
(L-R) The Palace's wagyu burger came recommended to us. Moo really wanted the European's duck tortelloni with pea puree and truffle oil. SEM's tuna carpaccio with goat's feta, rocket with ginger eschalot dressing courtesy of The Palace again.
Yeah Moo had a rocking time. Especially with her samples of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
(L-R) The Libertine & Le Traiteur's game consomme & truffled rabbit agnolotti. I didn't quite like it, a bit too gamey for me. Smoked duck, apple and walnut rillettes. Nums! SEM's hazelnuts and chocolate parfait, forest floor from Embrasse. Charcoal Lane's roadkill dish - wallaby tataki, ginger, soy and horseradish. Tastes like... beef. The dressing was a bit too salty.
Desserts and afterthoughts:
(L-R) Damn you Stokehouse. After vowing not to return, The Bombe sounded too good to pass up. Your rude waiter remains on the blacklist though. A few more samples to round out the day. Mini meringues - too cute to resist. King Island Black Label blue cheese. I do love my moulds (except in the bathroom) and I will go out and buy this one!
This doggie wasn't made for consumption, but I did want to take him home.
Having expected a so-so experience, I was pretty pleased with today's eating festivities. Food brings us happiness!
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