Taste of London Winter 2014 – Part 1

Taste of London Winter 2014 was another fantastic opportunity to try dishes at restaurants that one would not visit. There were fewer restaurants serving food at Taste of London Winter 2014 relative to those at Taste of London (from summer 2014). While Taste of London (summer) is an outdoor event, Taste of London Winter in Tobacco Dock is an indoor and an outdoor event.

Given the timing of Taste of London Winter, the food festival is an excellent opportunity to complete all / most of Christmas related food shopping – for your family or for your hostess or friends who enjoy food. More on food related shopping in the next blog post.

The restaurants and dishes that I tried at Taste of London Winter 2014 are:

Benares -ChefAtulKocchar’s Michelin starred Indian restaurant in Mayfair
- Bhatti Murgh (chicken tikka salad) – the char grilled chicken was fantastic. Not sure what the chutney / dressing was – the server did not know anything more than “.. it’s a tomato based dressing…”
Club Gascon – a Michelin starred restaurant in central London serving imaginative cuisine from the south West of France
- Truffled slow cooked egg was out-of-this-world delicious! How can one go wrong with a slow cooked egg and with truffle shaving on top? Absolutely loved the ‘nest-like’ presentation!! What impressed me most was the attention to detail and presentation by the serving staff – the slow cooked egg broke in the dish as it was being served and the staff plated another one for me 🙂
Action Against Hunger – although not a restaurant, this stall (by the organisation striving to end child hunger) served a variety of hot dogs specially created for Taste of London Winter by famous chefs – Jason Atherton,JosePizzaro, Valentine Warner, Alfred Prasad etc.
- Vada pav hot dog (by Chef Alfred Prasad of Tamarind fame) – tasted very much like a vada pav – although presented and plated hot dog style – extremely innovative! Wish the (green) coconut chutney was made from fresh coconut!! Loved the vada pav at Bombay Duck Co. (in NYC) – see related blog post below.
Hixster -partofa collection of restaurants,byMarkHix, serving meat and chicken dishes to share and puddings
- Peruvian Gold chocolate mousse – was rich, decadent and absolutely divine with bits of chocolate / chocolate chips. One of the best dishes of the evening.
Shake Shack – one needs no introduction to Shake Shack of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group. Did you know that Shake Shack was just a hotdog cart serving burgers from 2001 to 2003?
- Pumpkin pie flavoured frozen custard with brown sugar cookies crumbled on top was sweet with a heavy dose of cinnamon.