Scrumptious Saturday

This week, Taste – London’s biggest food festival – returned to the iconic Regent’s Park.

Over the five days, 55,000 Londoners descended to sample small plates from some of London’s top chefs and restaurants. Alongside the pop-up restaurants, were dozens food and drinks brands offering freebies and activities like De’Longhi’s experts teaching coffee aficianados how to make the best espresso martinis, and Juice Lab and Oddbox teaming up to run a smoothie masterclass.

After visiting Taste of London at Tobacco Docks back in November - and making the rookie error of not coming prepared with a list of dishes to try – we spent the morning creating our plan of attack.

We arrived at midday and started our weekend off right with a couple of dishes from Sri Lankan institution, Hoppers. As a (albeit, fair-weather) veggie, I feel like Jackfruit can be a bit of a cop out – but this pulled jackfruit roti was anything but. Fresh, hot and tangy. I didn’t try the curried beef burger, but it got rave reviews from Trev.

Three Falcons was next on our hit list – for the samosa chaat and Amritsari fish fritters. The fritters had a great level of spice, set off with a zesty coriander sauce. The chaat was everything you’d want - rich, sweetand spicy – with loads of texture.

An obligatory champagne break at the Laurent Perrier tent was followed by Treats Club’s pistachio white chocolate and hot honey donut. Despite its delicious description, we were a little disappointed – the filling was fab, but the salty to sweet ratio seemed off. After our unexpected salt overdose, we chose to hydrate with a nice smooth ale.

Juici Jerk offered two hits with their jerk chicken taco and plantain fries with chilli jam. Two of my favourites of the day, and both well worth the queue.

Things went a bit left field (in a good way) with Japanese-Italian fusion Angelina. We tried the lobster and katsuobi donut: think a sweet Christmas panetonne combined with a fresh lemony and rich lobster flavour. It shouldn’t have worked but it did, growing on us with every bite.

We finished off our session with Gloria’s renowned lemon merigue pie. Gorgeous, buttery and light.

Despite Saturday’s wind and rain, the mood at the festival was upbeat – the park was packed full of families, couples and friends connecting through incredible food. We loved it.