manchego cheese

This weekend, I visited Taste of London for the first time and it was just as fun and buzzing as I expected.

Set in the open-air surroundings of beautiful Regent’s Park, Taste of London is a showcase for the best London restaurants, local and national food producers and innovative new companies.

It’s the perfect day out where you can watch live cookery demonstrations and talks with top chefs, nibble your way around the stalls and pick up some gourmet produce to take home.

A highlight of the event is the line-up of London restaurants where you can mix and match small taster dishes that show off the chefs’ creativity yet leave you curious to try more.

I was invited as a guest of EATAPAS, a UK-based start-up that sells authentic Spanish tapas ingredients online.

Launched just seven months ago, EATAPAS offers luxury food products that can only be found at high end stores such as Selfridges and Harvey Nichols – they even persuaded one artisanal brand to export to the UK for the first time through them exclusively.

EATAPAS shares the story of all our their food brands online, making you feel more connected to the producers. A particularly interesting brand to look out for is Museu de la Confitura – a small Catalonian company set up by Georgina Regàs where the jams are made by a group of 60-year-old grandmas.

I enjoyed a tasting plate of the most delicious, flavoursome Manchego cheese with crunchy Picos Camperos while perusing the products and devising Spanish-style recipes in my head. EATAPAS very kindly gave me a bag full of exquisite Spanish tapas ingredients and I can’t wait to get cooking with them.

After discovering EATAPAS, I browsed the stalls and procured plenty of samples along the way. I tasted almost every coconut water in existence (definitely a prominent trend at Taste of London), dipped pieces of sourdough into the sweetest Seggiano balsamic vinegars and grazed on tiny cubes of fudge in every flavour.

Celebrity Cruises recreated its signature Lawn Club with tasting events and live music while the VOSS Water stand brought a holiday vibe with cool sounds by live DJs.

One of the prettiest spots was the Laurent-Perrier Champagne Lounge, which was ever so elegant with pastel furnishings, pink roses and flowing rosé Champagne.

There were some top notch restaurants present and my thinking was to try dishes from restaurants that I haven’t yet visited. The truffley aromas around The Palomar stall were too good to resist, so I went for the Polenta Jerusalem style with asparagus, mushroom ragout, Parmesan and truffle oil. It must’ve been a favourite that day, as one of the servers predicted my order as I approached and they weren’t wrong.

The rich, creamy polenta was perfectly complemented by the truffle oil and I loved the addition of the slow-cooked, garlicky mushroom ragout. I’ve heard great things about The Palomar and this divine dish has definitely made me want to visit for a proper dinner.

To follow, I had my eye on a Kurobuta BBQ pork belly steamed bun or a Chinese special roast duck and hoisin mantu bun by Chai Wu, but sadly it was not meant to be. While procrastinating and wandering, 4pm struck and I didn’t realise that at this time, almost everything shuts down and we would be ushered out with a quick turnaround before the next four-hour session.

Not even a hopeful smile or flash of the crowns could score me a morsel, so when you go, be sure to pick up your dishes in good time and leave shopping until the end. Here’s the Kurobuta pork belly sizzling away, so near and yet so far…

However, all was not lost as I managed to spend my remaining crowns on a very indulgent chocolate chip brownie from Olivier’s Bakery and a box of T2 New York Blend to add to my ever-growing T2 collection at home.

Taste of London is a great way to dine around London’s top restaurants and meet new food producers and companies. It was such a fun event and I’ll definitely be heading back next year.

For more information, visit: london.tastefestivals.com and www.eatapas.co.uk

Chérie City was a guest of EATAPAS

All photos by Chérie City

Last week, London’s ‘in the know’ food bloggers and journos boarded the Thames Clipper ‘Sherry Ferry’ on a boozy expedition to authentic tapas bar/restaurant Camino’s new opening, Camino Puerto Del Canario in Westferry. I say ‘in the know’ because anyone who has tried Camino’s simply incredible food will be hitting Canary Wharf quicker than you can say ‘Pedro Ximénez’!

Before the sister restaurant opened, Cherie City was invited to the original Camino at Regent’s Quarter to taste the menu, wines and sherry and to observe the thorough staff training session. So of course, I was dying to see the results of such hard work and preparation and to see if it would live up to the high expectations confirmed at the training session.

Camino Puerto Del Canario certainly didn’t disappoint and the restaurant’s formula of beautifully cooked authentic Spanish food served in a cool, sociable surrounding has clearly travelled well to the stunning, waterside location.

We started off the evening with a glass of dry and nutty Amontillado fino sherry at the bar, followed by an tour of the kitchen. Head chef Nacho del Campo gave a brief talk about where the high quality ingredients are sourced from – fish from Cornwall, steak from Scotland and cured meats from different local regions in Spain.

After some more sherry quaffing and tortilla canapés, we sat down to a set dinner of delicious tapas – sociable and sharing, just the way it should be.

As my previous article on the staff training event at Camino Regent’s Quarter detailed the full menu in almost encyclopaedic detail, I won’t overwhelm you with the multitude of dishes that we tried from the Sherry Ferry Set Menu.

There were subtle differences between the way that some dishes were cooked at each restaurant, but this is a good thing and shows how fresh and unique each dish is. Everyone will have their own favourite Camino dishes, but after two separate visits, I’ve come to the conclusion that their steaks and meat from the parrilla grill are definitely their forte.

The Chuletón a la parrilla (Scottish rib-eye steak, matured 28 days, served Basque style) is beautifully tender and presented in easy to share slices and the Presa Ibérica (Ibérico black pig shoulder blade cooked medium-rare) had the whole table talking about how surprisingly tasty pork could be.

Other top dishes included crispy Croquetas de jamón (Serrano ham croquettes), Pinchitos de pollo (herb marinated free-range chicken skewers) and Chipirones a la andaluza (crisp-fried baby squid with alioli and lemon), which were beautifully coated and far from being rubbery.

With each course, we tried a different wine – Godello followed by Pinot Noir, Torre Silo and finishing with a delicious dessert wine, Moscatel Solera 1847.

Our wonderful host Krista also introduced us to a new beer called Inedit by Estrella. This light, smooth and easy to drink beer was created by the people behind top Michelin Star restaurant El Bulli as a beer that can be successfully matched with food. Inedit is exclusive to Spain, but both Camino restaurants are one of the only UK stockist.

It’s £9 for a litre bottle but it’s very much worth it. It is light, mellow and a pleasure to drink, with crisp, dense bubbles and a pleasing matte golden colour.

The Sherry Ferry Set Menu was less of a full on tapas avalanche than the staff training session, so there was room for some Spanish desserts. We were presented with a plate of miniature desserts such as Tarta de Santiago (almond tart from Galicia), Bombitas de crema (cream-filled profiteroles topped with chocolate) and Crema Catalana; all delicious, of course.

This was followed by Helado con Pedro Ximénez (bourbon vanilla ice cream served with PX), which came topped with chopped nuts. Never have I tried fino sherry on top of ice cream before and it really is even more decadent and indulgent than it sounds.

Camino is sure to make a huge impact on the Canary Wharf dining scene, which is gradually moving away from high-end chain restaurant blandness. While the Regent’s Quarter restaurant has more of a laid-back, daytime venue atmosphere, Camino Puerto del Canario has a more buzzing, night time feel, with a slick bar and low-lit warehouse style restaurant.

A ride on the Thames Clipper sherry ferry makes it feel like you’re dining out of London, especially with the stunning waterside location. Get ahead of the bankers and financial folk and book a table before they make it their local.

Taste of London 2015 with EATAPAS

Camino Puerto Del Canario opens at Westferry