I celebrated the longest day of the year by attending London’s Taste festival with a few friends. I will try to sum up what Taste London is all about, if you’re not aware of it.
The festival comprises stands from many of London’s top restaurants and food retailers with some exhibitions, and the usual prizes and giveaway rubbish. You are issued with a book of tokens (quaintly referred to as ‘crowns’), and these serve as your cash for the day. Some of the drink and foodstuff stands take cash, but we dealt exclusively in crowns for our adventures on the 21st.
Instantly, there were a few stalls we wanted to check out. Le Gavroche was top of almost everyone’s list, since it is, or has been near to, the most famous London restaurant for ages. Other hopeful highlights were Joel Robuchon’s L’Atelier, Tom Aikens, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester and Theo Randall’s stand.
There were some middling lows and soaring highs. The first plus point was the weather. We strolled around the park and enjoyed the beauty that sets Regents Park apart from almost every other green spot in the capital, and ended the day lounging by a pond filled with wildlife. It was sunny and breezy, and it reminded me that when it’s summertime in London, you almost never want to be anywhere else.
The food was, by and large, excellent. We chose carefully beforehand how much we were going to spend and where exactly we wanted to eat, but this also proved tricky as some of the menus were not quite appetising enough to warrant spending our precious crowns. The first casualty was L’Atelier. I’ve eaten there once before and it is fabulous (and this was only a set menu meal), but the options on offer just weren’t doing it for us. I saw people walking away with what I discovered to be foie gras burgers, but these were so miniature that I couldn’t justify spending 10 crowns (around £5) on them. I’m sure they were divine, but they were just too tiny.
I’ll start with the most hotly anticipated stand, Le Gavroche. We tried two of their dishes on offer: chicken & truffle terrine with pickled mushrooms and some braised beef with dauphinoise potatoes. I have to say that given the standard I expected – and I think this is one of a few London restaurants you can sample with high hopes and reasonably expect to have them met or exceeded – was not amazing. Don’t get me wrong, the terrine was light and sumptuously classy (as pressed and shaped chicken breast should always be), but a little thin on the ground. I felt a little like I’d eaten essence of terrine, rather than terrine itself. The braised beef was very red-wined and rich, but a little relentless for my tastes. I also thought the potatoes on the side were very ordinary. Shame, but I’m still determined to eat a proper meal there one day!
The chicken & truffle terrine
The braised beef
An early delight was Tom’s Kitchen. Tom Aikens’ Mayfair restaurant is also somewhere high on my London wish list. As with so much modern cuisine, Mr. Aikens plumped for the classics: chicken liver parfait with grape chutney & brioche and braised lamb with mash and onions. I have to say that I was pretty hungry, given that these were the first dishes of the day, but I was not prepared for such exquisite mini-portions of loveliness. The lamb was rich and tender, but not as harsh as the beef from Le Gavroche (the dishes were similar), and the mash that accompanied it was practically foam – nice. The parfait was as exceptional and thick as one would want it to be: I did not eat a better starter all day.
The braised lamb
The chicken liver parfait
The one big let-down for the day was the duck burger on offer at Croque Gascon. I’d read a piece about Gascon cuisine which moved me to think that it is the kind of food I want to be eating more of. (Essentially rich, lavish French cuisine.) Unfortunately, I found the duck burger tough, bland, over-sauced and boring. The chips that came with it were alright though. Another disappointment was The Grill At The Dorchester. Ducasse actually had his own stand for The Dorchester next to this too, thus ensuring blanket-coverage for his famous franchise. We were desperate to try the seared scallop with sardine pie, but they had unfortunately sold out. Even so, they gave us some half priced dishes to make up for it: ballotine of ham and chocolate crumble. For half price, they weren’t bad but neither were particularly inspiring. The former was too dry and the latter too much like a fancy supermarket dessert. Both tasted okay, but “okay” isn’t really what you expect from The Dorchester.
Two dishes from The Dorchester
Another attraction of the day was the opportunity to see top chefs preparing food. Theo Randall hacking into a Guinea Fowl and preparing it with lemon and potatoes rejuvenated everyone’s appetite at the halfway stage of the day. We were also treated to a wonderful appropriation of ‘My Favourite Things’ by the eccentric and charismatic broadcast sommelier Olly Smith. More impressive were near-front row seats to watch Jun Tanaka of Pearl Restaurant prepare some herbed lamb and trout confit. It is very interesting watching top chefs up close, and this was the first opportunity I had had to do so outside of television. Tanaka seems a very down-to-earth person and was funny and garrulous throughout his session, in which he also made a 20-second omelette. The key feature of this session was the simplicity with which he prepared his dishes; the initial theme of his new book on French cuisine.
Jun Tanaka whips up a 20-second omelette
Olly Smith watches Theo Randall prepare Guinea Fowl
The big surprise of the day was some ravioli we sampled from Refettorio. It contained cod, potato and marjoram emulsion. I must admit I was sceptical: I hadn’t heard of the restaurant and the idea of mixing potatoes with pasta seemed ludicrous. We were all blown away by the light, smooth and refreshing dish. (Refreshing? Pasta and potatoes?! Wonderful!) It was a delight, and one which I’m glad I sampled against my initial judgement.
The cod ravioli
Desserts (as you might have guessed) were near the top of my list for the day, and two places were singled out for pudding alone. The first was Launceston Place, where chef Tristan Welch had provided his specialty rhubarb and custard crumble ice cream. I had to read this twice to ensure I understood what it meant and to check that there hadn’t been a typing error. Indeed it was correct, and boy did I want to try some. Unfortunately it was served in a cone (which I cannot abide), but the crumble-dusted ice cream was excellent. Very sour/sweet as a good rhubarb crumble ought to be, and riotously fun. The second was the classic lemon tart with strawberry sauce from Gary Rhodes’ Rhodes Twenty Four restaurant. I have to say that sitting on the grass, sampling this delicious standard on a hot day was just about perfect.
The rhubarb & custard crumble ice cream
The lemon tart
And it is the topic of perfection that I wish to close on. The standard of cuisine sampled throughout the day was generally very high, but there are two dishes that stood out as universal favourites. First up was the lamb with pea panna cotta & mint sauce from Odette’s. This was as gloriously simple as it sounds. The lamb was tender and perfect, the pea panna cotta was gelatinous and smooth, and the mint sauce worked as well as it should. Same goes for the chocolate cake with mascarpone cream from Theo Randall. I can say without hyperbole that this is the finest chocolate cake I have eaten. And I don’t need to say any more than that.
The lamb
The chocolate cake
So that was the Sunday that was… Stunning weather, food and company made for a super day. I enjoyed practically all of it and would recommend next year’s event most heartily. It’s not really worth rating the chefs and the food (I tried painfully little of the stalls on offer, and regrettably missed out on some of the more diverse cuisines), but here’s my Taste London three course meal of the day:
Starter – Chicken Liver Parfait from Tom’s Kitchen
Main Course – Lamb from Odette’s
Dessert – Chocolate Cake from Theo Randall
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