Play by Play - Taste of London 2009

5:30pm - Rendezvous at The Albany with Ed, another food geek to go explore the wonders of the Taste.

5:40pm - Enter the Taste at Regent's Park, surrounded by delicious smells and BA flight attendants offering brochures.

6:00pm - 6:30pm - Get our barings. Map it out.

6:30pm - Reach our first destination, the LoveBeer stand, run by LoveBeer@Borough, Utobeer and The White Horse. We are immediately greeted with samples of delicious beer and the happy news that a Beer and Cheese Tasting is about to begin. This is led by the marvelous Melissa Cole, beer queen and someone who I would gladly follow into any brewery, any pub and, it turns out, any open part of Regent's Park populated with tents.

BEER & CHEESE MENU

• Sword Swallower (Schmaltz Brewery) + Wensleydale Creameries Wensleydale
• Victory Ale (Batemans Brewery) + Capricorn Somerset Goats Cheese
• White Sheild (Worthington) + Denhay West Country Farmhouse Cheddar
• XXXB (Batemans Brewery) + Davidstow Extra Mature Cheddar*
• Ola Dubh 12 (Harviestoun) + Colston Bassett Blue Stilton**

* The best pairing, where the combination improved both flavors.

** The most surprising pairing - as one who doesn't usually like stilton, this was absolutlely delicious.

The lessons learned from the tasting? Beer should cut, complement or contrast the cheese with which it's paired. Also, unlike wine which creates a film in your mouth when tasted with cheese, beer wipes the palatte clean, preparing your for a clean taste.

7:00 - We ventured to our first taste - The Salt Yard and Tamarind.

At the Salt Yard, we sampled:

• Spanish style meatballs with a plum tomato and basil sauce with Pecorino Nero - while Chris thought the meatballs were nothing special, the combination with the sauce was delcious - definitely a restaurant worth trying!
  
• Slow-cooked Ibérico pig cheeks with a pea, broad bean and Jamón Ibérico boullion - a hit! A palpable hit! The pig cheeks just melted into the deap and delicious broth.

At Tamarind:

• Pepper chicken and coconut rice - delicious, but generally agreed that Le Cinnamon in Brook Green does better curry.

7:15pm - Headed up to the Taste Theatre to watch a maestro, Michel Roux Sr., the architect (along with his brother, Albert) behind the original Le Gavroche and The Waterside Inn. Michel prepared a Tarte Anglaise for us, as well as demonstrating the ease with which fresh pastry can be made. He mixed, kneeded, sang and shocked the British onlookers by using a mountain of butter for his 1:1 flour to fat ratio for pastry. His answer? It's good his brother Albert isn't here, or the ratio would have been 2:1! He also took a few swipes at Gordon Ramsay, asking why would one swear at staff in the kitchen? Everyone should be happy and polite. It was devastating in the way that only the French can pull off.

7:45pm - Encouraged by Michel to go patronize his nephew (also named Michel Roux and now head chef at Le Gavroche), we headed that way towards both Le Gavroche and Asia de Cuba.

At Le Gavroche:

• Bisque de homard, parfumée à l'armagnac - delicious lobster bisque, hilariously served in a small plastic picnic wine glass. When finished, you had the added surprise of lobster chunks saturated with brandy.
• Daube de boeuf à l'ancienne et gratin dauphinois - one of the true stars of the evening, just an amazingly tender braised beef with the creamy goodness of gratin.

At Asia de Cuba:

• Mexican donuts - delcious deep-fried brioche, dusted with cinnamon and sugar, filled with butterscotch sauce and served with a mojito sorbet. A lovely dessert.

8:00pm - We headed toward The Grill at the Dorchester, Tom's Kitchen and Ed splintered off in search of Joël Robuchon's foie gras burger.

At The Grill at the Dorchester:

• Seared scallop with sardine pie and cauliflower purée - Eric had this one and let me sample the scallop. Delish - so sweet and light. It just shows what elegance quality produce and simple preparation can bring.

At Tom's Kitchen:

• Seven hour braised Daylesford lamb shoulder with balsamic onions and mash - another one of the best dishes of the night. The lamb fell apart at the mere sight of a fork and the balsamic onions were a sweet gooey mass of goodness, complemented perfectly by the unearthly smooth and creamy potatoes.

At L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon:

• Le burger au foie gras et aux poivrons verjutés - an amusing take on the burger, with a piece of perfectly cooked minced beef, with a lightly carmelised pepper slice separating the beef and a delicious morsel of foie gras.

8:20pm - We dashed back to LoveBeer's stand for a beer and canapé tasting, stopping along the way at L'Anima:

• Fettucine with wild mushrooms and summer truffle - now I see what all the fuss is about. Truffles are delicious, and L'Anima's chef's certainly didn't skimp. It's a warm earthy flavor unlike any I've had.

8:30pm - Back home at LoveBeer, we delved into beer and canapé parings (and came out quite a bit drunker at the other end)

• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale + Duck Liver Parfait
• Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted + Beer Poached Trout
• He'brew Origin + Dark Chocolate Mousse *
• Harviestoun Ola Dubh 12 + Colston Bassett Stilton

* A delicious beer brewed with pomegranates which perfectly matched the mousse, cutting through the sweet creaminess with a slightly bitter refreshing taste.

9:00pm - it was now go time, the final round, time for us to use up our remaining 25 coupons at Bentley's, Le Pont du Tour and Launceston Place.

At Le Pont du Tour:

• Plateau Fruits de Mer on ice - Ed came back with this marvelous mix of oysters, lobster, prawns, crevette... all sorts of fresh deliciousness.

At Launceston Place:

• Potted devilled brown shrimp and crab in a shell on pebbles - by the time we arrived, these were two for one. Delicious and salty with a fabulous presentation.
• Roast Aberdeen Angus beef fillet wtih taragon mousse - All have hailed this as the best dish of the night. I dream of preparing beef this tender and the taragon mousse - with just a hint of aniseed - was incredible.
• Rhubarb and custard ice cream crumble - served in an ice cream cone, this was also a huge success, a delightfully fresh take on a traditional English dish. The chef, Tristan Welch, lists this as among his favorite dishes.

At Bentleys -

• Tipsy Trifle - we used our last four coupons on this light and refreshing (and boozy trifle).

9:30pm - We bid farewell to the Taste, sated with gourmet food and saturated with good beer. Launceston Place is hailed as the new find, the place we will save up our pennies and try one special evening. Back settled comfortably at The Albany, we learn that we have good reason to praise this restaurant. Tristan Welch came up through L'Aubergine and Le Gavroche, bouncing to Paris for a stint at L'Aperge and returning to London to work at Petrus.

Goodbye, Taste of London, we'll definitely see you next year...