Just came back from Regent’s Park, chilled to the bone but stuffed with wondeful food and happy, sipping mint tea to calm my stomach down a little. Pictures from the event will be uploaded on Monday since I took my friend’s camera and don’t have the cable till then. Above are some macarons from one of the stalls I got for my hubby, he is also getting a sweet goody bag from Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester.
Overall the event was relaxed, full of food lovers with a pinch of pretentious people like the wine bloke from BBC. There is a special currency – crowns. I suppose it saves everyone the mess of giving the correct change, you pay and go, it’s fast and efficient. Luckily, it was not overcrowded, the busiest part of the festival is tomorrow’s lunchtime. Got slightly chef star struck – Michel Roux Jr, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, Gary Rhodes, Atul Kochhar and Bryn Williams to name a few.
The food. Tried to stick to my list however I did change my mind few times. Everything I tried was excellent.
Started with the tagliatelle with truffle and broad beans from Ristorante Semplice, it was so good I can’t get it out of my head, the truffle generously shaved on top of the pasta. Heaven.
Truffle tagliatelle with broad beans
This was followed by lobster bisque with Courvoisier from Le Gavroche. I think Michel deserves another Michelin star for this rich delicious cup of lobstery goodness.
Lobster bisque
Then we moved onto goat cheese stuffed courgette flowers with honey from Salt Yard, such a perfect combination.
Cougette flower with goat’s cheese and honey
Followed by Benares, I planned to have the rose scented panna cotta however soft shell crab was another option, I settled on this in the end and it did not disappoint, crunchy spicy crab with citrus dressing, yum.
Spicy soft shell crab
Next was Pied A Terre’s pickled crab with chilled pumpkin and ginger soup, this had the most wonderful color and tasted amazing.
Last was Tom’s Kitchen, had a wondeful palate cleansing dessert of vanilla and raspberry mousse with raspberry jelly, the perfect finish. It was not the only desert I tried, I also had apple strudel from the Viennese stall, it was light like a cloud.
Unfortunately I missed Hugh’s presentation, only saw him later on signing books.
I loved every single bit of food I had, great experience, would do it again. Regret not being able to taste more food though.
