Tasty treats from Taste of London

Hey lovelies

I am super sad because Taste of Edinburgh was rained off last weekend... I was so super excited to go.. I had my little menu all planned out for the restaurant stalls I wanted to eat from.. but alas... it wasn't meant to be... considering the Meadows looked more like a pond than a park!

{Photo taken from facebook page for Edinburgh's Hogmanay}

I am consoling myself by reminiscing about my time at Taste of London a few weekends ago with Ms Sok... Sadly, most of the tasty treats I managed to haul back to Edinburgh with me are just about all goneskies... and as I spent the better part of this evening trying desperately hard NOT to eat the entire jar of Isle of Wight tomato relish I brought home, I thought I'd do a quick write up of the all yummy things I actually managed to bring home with me.

{Photo from the Propercorn website}

The first thing to disappear (into my belly!) was the sweet & salty Propercorn.. mostly because we only discovered them at the end of the day and I only had enough cash left to buy one bag... they reminded of the kettle corn I loved so much when I lived in Canada... they were just the right mix of sweet and savoury and the popcorn was perfectly crunchy and fluffy! I wasn't overly crazy about the sour cream & chives.. personally I think that's a flavour more suited to potato chips.. 

{taken from Vegesentials website}

The folks at Vegesentials launched at the event and were super duper generous with their samples.. There were plenty of people walking around with entire 6 packs of juice, myself and Sok included! I also walked away with an extra 3 bottles of varying flavours as they opened new bottles to let people test out the different varieties. Their juices are 100% natural and taste like it.. in a good way! They taste healthy as opposed to sugary which gets a big thumbs up in my books! I had the Perky Bliss, Groovy Mellow and Groovy Roots juices and they were all delicious! The Perky Bliss was quite 'earthy' tasting which I attributed to the beetroot, I quite liked it after the first few sips, but may be an acquired taste for others. Big thanks to Vegesentials for being so bountiful with their product!! Much appreciated!! Just waiting for them to stock it somewhere local....

{Photo from The Tomato Stall website}

The lovely folk from The Tomato Stall had all sorts of delicious tomatoes from the Isle of Wight along with relishes, ketchups, sauces and juices. If I lived in London, I seriously would have bought lots of tomatoes from these people... they were so delectable! I had trouble deciding between the red and green relishes, ultimately going with the red though Ms Sok bought the green and we gobbled up half the jar that night. I was so busy trying to rearrange all my stuff that I left my jar of relish on the table after I bought it... I literally turned around, as we were leaving, and ran back across half the grounds when I realised it was missing from my bags! They were very gracious and I didn't have to leave the event heartbroken at being relish'less.

{Compiled from images from Flour Power City website}

I also, rather outlandishly, bought a loaf of walnut and sundried apricot bread from the lovely people at Flour Power City Bakery.. only outlandish for the fact that they don't use any preservatives in their breads and I had to transport it all the way to Edinburgh! Ms Sok also bought two pieces of delicious decadent brownie from them.. They had lots and lots of samples of all their different types of breads and they were all fabulous! I have yet to discover an artisan bakery in Edinburgh so I'm super sad that they don't stock anywhere in Scotland at all.

{Compiled from images from Black Garlic website}

Ms Sok also bought a handful of Black Garlic and we had a fabulous chat with one of the guys, who we were pretty sure was also a Kiwi! To be honest I was rather hesitant when we were offered this stuff to try. They just had the peeled cloves in a pile on a board... so I really had no idea what it was I was about to consume... but I gave it a go and was glad I did! The taste is only slightly reminiscent of regular garlic... they are quite sweet with a tangy hint of balsamic. As we stumbled upon them quite close to closing time, they gave Sok LOADS of black garlic and I benefited from their hospitality! There is a recipe for mushroom and black garlic risotto on their website that I'm pretty keen to try.

We sampled lots of other food and drink during our 5 hours at the event and if I could remember them all to give them all a mention, I would.. but there were just too many!! We also saw chef Michael Roux Jnr and ate tasty morsels from restaurants headed by Jaime Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal and various other Michelin starred chefs.

It was a marvellous afternoon, even though Regents Park was a bit muddy and we had a few showers, we had an incredible time. If I can find the photos I took of the tasty morsels we ate from the restaurant stalls, I shall do a write up about them too.

Thanks to Ms Sok for being great foodie company and to all the fantastic peeps that exhibited at Taste of London! With Taste of Edinburgh rained off, I'm not looking forward to the Foodie Festival in Edinburgh in August! I think festivals are such a superb way to discover new (and local) places to find tasty treats and who doesn't like to support local!?!


Happy Eating!!