Taste of London 2016: A Foodie's Paradise

Taste of London is hosted in Regent's Park on the 15th-19th June 2016, and it hosts some of the top restaurants and best chefs in London. It's a fantastic opportunity to sample some of the best dishes available in the capital, as well as to take advantage of all the other activities that Taste of London has to offer. This is actually my second year visiting, and I really do think that it makes for a really fun afternoon or evening. Apart from Wednesday 15th, there are two sessions daily to pay Taste of London a visit - and I'd say that the earlier tha tyou arrive during the session that your ticket covers, then the less busy the festival will be.

Last year I visited during the weekend, but this year I decided that I wanted to visit on the first day of the festival - and with a foodie-friend of mine in tow, we made the most of the amazing food on offer. I'd definitely suggest opting for a seriously light lunch and/or breakfast before heading to Taste of London, just so that you can make the most of the experience. I don't think that Tom and I expected to find quite so much that we wanted to try, but we ended up visiting quite a few stalls.

Unlike last year, you can now pay with contactless debit or credit cards (as well as "crowns", the currency at Taste of London). This makes it much easier to pay for last minute treats, or you can totally skip buying "crowns" altogether and just pay for everything on your card. However, there were a couple of stalls which had problems with their card readers, which resulted in waiting around for about ten minutes before being able to pay. Hopefully by next year these sorts of issues will have all be resolved - and maybe we'll even be able to say goodbye to "crowns" for good.

Chai Wu - Popcorn shrimp with spicy wasabi mayo (£5.00)

Kurobuta - BBQ pork belly bun with spicy peanut soy (£6.00)

Farang - Green curry salmon and cod cakes with fiery sweet chilli, fresh lime and pak chi farang (£5.00)

Jose Pizarro - Prawn fritters with saffron aioli (£5.00)

Babaji Pide - Chicken Dürüm, tomato & pickled kohlrabi (£5.00)

Hook - Jerk panko encrusted red gurnard with chipotle sauce, seaweed salted chips and wakame pickle (£4.00)

Bubbledogs - Sweetcorn fritters with jalapeños and cheddar cheese (£4.00)

Roka - Black cod, crab and crayfish dumplings (£4.00)

My favourite dishes were from Chai Wu and Kurobata, but I also think that all of Hook's dishes were delicious and represented great value for money so I'd highly recommend visiting their stall. Tom and I also enjoyed a beer at the Pisnell Urquell tent, but I was a little disappointed that there weren't more seats available. After a couple of hours walking around I was ready to put my feet up, and although there was some seating available there wasn't nearly enough for all of the attendees. I think we both would have been happy to stay longer if we'd found somewhere comfortable to sit and enjoy a drink or two. However, all things considered, this is a very minor complaint and it didn't detract from our enjoyment of the rest of the festival. 

Taste of London runs for the rest of the week, and tickets are still available to purchase directly from their website - or from Groupon, who are offering some good discounts. It's a very enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours - expect great food, lovely drinks, live music and countless foodie stalls to browse at your leisure.