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Check out Taste of London Today...

No plans for today? Then get yourself to Taste of London. It goes until 5 p.m. this afternoon, Sunday, June 21st 2009.

Thanks to  The Guardian Word of Mouth Blog, myself and a few other London bloggers and tweeters were able to get a behind the scenes look at the festival and taste a number of amazing dishes. What impressed me most was the seasonality of so many of the offerings. I found myself saying over and over again, "This is a really summery dish." Second most impressive thing was the number of Chefs in attendance. That's Giorgio Locatelli himself at the Refettorio stand above. We also saw Gary Rhodes over at Rhodes 24, Tristan Welch at Launceston Place, and Shane Osborn at Pied a Terre. (Pied a Terre gave us a great overview of the type of fish they use and how to prepare it.)

I'm going to try to pick some of my favorite dishes--please rest assured that I didn't actually eat ALL of these--but I did share quite a few dishes with fellow London restaurant reviewers Chris from Cheese & Biscuits and Oliver from Thring for Your Supper. And I shared the rest with Jen, Leigh, Justine, and Leigh's parents.

#5. Cupcakes at Beas of Bloomsbury. We had a chocolate one with raspberry icing. Gorgeous chocolate cake. Really just gorgeous. And the raspberry icing managed to be more like a soft, light, foam. Again, summery.

#4. Arroz negro at Fino. Sorry for the slightly blurry photo. Chris or Oliver probably have better shots. This wasn't short on seafood--it was jam packed with it--and just had a lovely texture and aroma. This was also the absolute first thing I tried, so there's that...

#3. Fassone beef carpaccio with rocket salad from Ristorante Semplice. Earlier, I said that a lot of the dishes made me think summer, and this was really one of them. I'm not much of a beef eater, but the coolness and lightness of this dish had me converted. It also rocketed Semplice to the top of my to-do list. Manager Giovanni Baldino himself walked us through all of the dishes we tried, which was great. (We also sampled the Tagliatelli with Caporicci's summer truffle and broad beans, as well as the dessert of liquorice foam with bitter almond gelatine and salted almonds--which was really one of the most interesting dishes I've tried as of late, although maybe not entirely to my taste. Or at least, not to my taste when I'm standing around in a park. Might have been better at a table!)

Giovanni also took us behind the scenes at Semplice where I was able to snap these photos. (Honestly, I didn't really ask them to pose. They just did!) We were impressed by how spacious the prep area and cooking areas were.

#2. Roast aberdeen Angus beef fillet, tarragon mousse at Launceston Place. So I've already told you I'm not much of a beef eater, but here I am eating beef twice in one day. This was some of the best beef I've ever had. Really flavorful and rich, but sliced so perfectly and cooked to just about medium rare as to make it a very light dish, particularly when paired with the tarragon mousse. Leigh got to have a nice long chat with Tristan Welch here, while Jen, Justine and I stole some ice cream from Chicago-born sommelier Mickey.

 #1. Tiger prawns with a spicy mayonnaise alongside little cubes of mango and Thai basil at Kai. Kai is one of those restaurants that wasn't anywhere on my radar, but now it's a "must visit." I thought this was one of the more inventive dishes I tried at Taste of London. Awesome textures--crunchy prawn, soft mango, sharp basil. And again, super summery and light. (Photo came out quite nicely, didn't it? This is the only photo I didn't take with my phone.)

I have to send a huge thanks to Chris from Cheese & Biscuits who passed The Guardian's Word of Mouth invite on to me. And to Suse, the editor of Word of Mouth, for organizing everything. My only regret was not getting there sooner so I could meet everyone--by the time I got to the park, it was 3 p.m. (I had a brunch to go to in Blackheath beforehadn.) And I was also a bit sad that I didn't have an iPhone because it was really difficult, if not imposible, to follow the #tastefringe hash tag throughout the day, so I missed out on some of the communal fun.

In short, if you're around today, get yourself to Taste of London, and follow #tastefringe on Twitter.

Blackheath Farmers Market

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, May 31

The Victims: Feathers, Matt, Anna, Stephen, Miles, Archie. Yup, a whole bunch of Americans, living in London.

The Damage: About £10 in total for some strawberries, some asparagus, and some very tasty raisin walnut bread.

The Background: I am a bad friend. Since my friends moved to Blackheath, I don't see them as much as I used to when they were all in South Ken. I thought I'd make it up to them by making the pilgrimage out for the Sunday farmers market. And boy, was it worth it. This is a great little market, and remember it's only a few stops away from London Bridge! I thought it was worth a visit. And the best part is that because you're pretty close to Greenwich Park, you can make a picnic of everything, as we did.

The Verdict: The Blackheath Farmers Market gets a great review from me. Check it out!

London Food & Wine Bloggers Meetup

Last week, I went along to the London Food and Wine Bloggers meetup in Battersea, over at The Westbridge. It was nice to meet a few new faces...fellow London restaurant reviewer A Girl Has to Eat was there, as well as Silver Spoon, who does a nice mix of restaurant reviews and food. Allotment blogger Food Urchin was extremely generous and picked me up at the bus stop and let me share a taxi back to the City with him at the end of the night. I also got a chance to catch up with Ben from Food & Drink, one of London's original restaurant bloggers, who I haven't seen in ages.

We had a lot of cheese, thanks to The Westbridge. And a lot of wine, thanks to the great folks over at Catavino. In my excitement over the different Madeiras on offer, I accidentally broke a glass (apologies to Westbridge host  Charlie). And well, when I sent myself home at 10 p.m. the place was still packed with food and wine dorks, so it was a highly successful evening. (And I mean "dorks" in the most affectionate sense of the term.)

This was all organized by Niamh by the magic of Ning, that social-networking site. So now we've got a London Food & Wine Ning, as well as a UK Food & Wine Ning. If you're a London or UK foodie and haven't joined our Nings already, you should! Here are the links...

Visit London Food and Drink Bloggers

Visit UK Food Bloggers Association

And because the world is a big place and there are a lot of restaurants to eat in that aren't in London, I went ahead and created a THIRD Ning for anyone around the world who specifically blogs and reviews restaurants...I don't know how we'll use it yet, but I'm sure a community of like-minded restaurant bloggers will have its uses eventually!

Visit Worldwide Restaurant Bloggers

What have I been up to?

Nash House in Stratford-upon-Avon

I promise my Rome series will come to an end soon and I'll get back to blogging about London restaurants. In the meantime, inspired by Sam over at Becks & Posh, here's what I've been up to...

• Hanging out at Lunar House in East Croydon, with a break for lunch at Le Cassoulet while waiting for my Indefinite Leave to Remain visa.
• Listening to the Fleet Foxes.
• Thinking and rethinking buying a flat.
• Booking flights to die Schweiz, Barcelona, and Chicago.
• Watching Season 1 of Mad Men on DVD. Hooked!
• Saying goodbye to Julie over dinner at The Ivy
• Celebrating my birthday with Crispy Duck at Crispy Duck in Gerrard Street .
• Having drinks and snacks with Rutton and his ladyfriend on the rooftop deck at The East Room.
• Getting some Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon with Gerry and Ben, marching with a parade (serendipitously, with British soldiers, newly arrived home from Iraq), and then constructing our own little pub crawl.
• Having great margaritas and an okay dinner at Mestizo, the Mexican in Euston, with Gerry and Ben.
• Enjoying a nice lie-in on Sunday.

And what I haven't been doing...

• Eating carbs.
• Writing about The Ivy.
• Writing about Crispy Duck.
• Running.

And what I need to be doing...

• Running.
• Taking more photos.
• Studying for my WSET exam

Go Where the Taxi Takes You...

One of my favorite blogs is written by an American living in Argentina. It's called Go Where the Taxista Takes You. The gist of it is that she gets into a taxi and asks the taxi driver to take her to his/her favorite place for dinner. She's got some great stories.

She just posted this contest up on her blog, so I thought I'd spread the word...I've copied this post directly from her blog...remember, this is her contest, not mine.

Ever had an amazing cab ride? Had an intense but fleeting encounter with a taxi driver you'll never forget? Had a cabbie deliver you to a place you never could've found on your own?

I'm hoping you have. And I'm convinced that the rebel band of readers who follow this little blog would love to know about it - which is why I'm launching the First Annual Taxi Gourmet Story Contest.

Tell us about your greatest taxi adventure. Where were you? Where were you headed? Who was the driver? Where did you end up?

You have 600-800 words to chronicle all that was strange, lovely and/or meaningful on your cab ride.

If you win, I'll post your story on 'Go Where the Taxista Takes You.' I'll also send you 'Buenos Aires for Food Pilgrims,' my (happily researched) compilation of traditional restaurants, ‘ethnic’ enclaves, cafes, bakeries, and ice cream parlors that will lead you to treasures like Bolivian empanadas, dulce de leche cheesecake and struffoli.

Deadline: March 31, 2009
Where to steer submissions: lmosler at yahoo dot com.
Story format: Please paste your story directly into an email. If you're not a scribe, I'll also accept submissions in audio or visual format.
Note: If you discovered anything good to eat on your quest, that's wonderful but not required.

From Krista: If you do submit a story--especially if it's a London one--please let me know!

Inspiration for Your Weekend

This was the sign outside The Grocery on Kingsland Road, where I had breakfast a few Sundays ago. (More to come next week.) I thought it was priceless. So I was just thinking...it's Friday. Maybe you need a plan for Sunday. Maybe you should call/text/e-mail/twitter that person you like and invite them out for Sunday breakfast. (Or Sunday brunch. Or Sunday lunch. Whatever you want to call it.) The worst they can say is no, right? Life's too short to sit around!

Congrats to the Winners of the 2008 Food Blog Awards!

I was a bit remiss in letting you know that this year's Food Blog Awards, run by the nice folks over at the Well Fed Network, were going on. London's own Helen Graves was nominated in the Best Food Blog - City Category, a category I was in the running for last year and the year before. The winning blogs, while all spectacular, seem to be mostly U.S.-based (although a few are written by expats). So next year, let's give them a run for their money.

Here are the winners...

Best Food Blog - Chef - Tartelette

Best Food Blog - City - Champaign Taste

Best Blog Covering Drinks (Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic) - RumDood

Best Food Blog - Family/Kids - Picky Palate

Best Food Blog - Group - Apartment Therapy: The Kitchn

Best Food Blog - Humor - Thursday Night Smackdown

Best Food Blog - Industry - PigTrip

Best Food Blog - Photography - Cannelle et Vanille

Best Food Blog - Post - “Polenta and Mushrooms and Love Past” - Tea & Cookies

Best Food Blog - Rural - Farmgirl Fare

Best Food Blog - Theme - Lunch In A Box

Best Food Blog - Writing - Smitten Kitchen

Best New Food Blog - Apples and Butter

Food Blog of the Year - Tartelette

Games in Pubs

I like games. Word games in particular. When I got back to the U.K. after Christmas, I started carrying around Scattegories and Quiddler everywhere I went. You know, just in case anyone wanted to play a random game or three. And I wasn't alone. I had dinner at The Charles Lamb; people were playing dominoes. I had lunch at The Peasant and people were playing cards. We had drinks at The George Inn, and people were playing something.

I declare 2009 the year of games in pubs. People can't afford to go out big-time anymore. We're getting back to basics. And I'm wondering...why did we ever gave this up? Games are fun. And cheap. I think I'm going to take up mah-jong.

Are people playing games in your local? Where? And can I play?

Good Friends

Good friends invite you over for Sunday Lunch. I am a bad friend. But Richard and Mireia are the very best. Here are just a few of the items on the menu when they hosted Sunday Lunch at their flat right before Christmas.

 

Roma tomatoes stuffed with guacamole.

Beef carpaccio rolled around Parmesan and rocket. Really so simple, but so delicious.

 

Nigella's roasted potatoes. Roasted in goose fat! These were really amazing.

Menu for Hope V: Fab Londonelicious Prize!

 

You don't know what Menu for Hope is? What, you've been living in the mountains somewhere, cut off from the food blog world? Well, fret not, here's a list of frequently asked questions to answer your every query. Read it and join us! (If you're on Facebook, join us there too.)

What is Menu for Hope?
Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising campaign hosted by Pim of Chez Pim and a revolving group of food bloggers around the world.  Five years ago, the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia inspired Chez Pim to find a way to help, and the very first Menu for Hope was born. The campaign has since become a yearly affair, raising funds to support worthy causes worldwide. In 2007, Menu for Hope raised nearly $100K to help the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry.

Each December, food bloggers from all over the world join the campaign by offering a delectable array of food-related prizes for the Menu for Hope raffle. Anyone – and that means you too - can buy raffle tickets to bid on these prizes. For every $10 donated, you earn one virtual raffle ticket to bid on a prize of their choice. At the end of the two-week campaign, the raffle tickets are drawn and the results announced on Chez Pim.

What Does Londonelicious and Krista Have to Do with This?
I'm raffling off a prize! I think it's a good one...

EU21: Gift Voucher for Cooking Class at London’s L’atelier des Chefs
	Offered by Krista of Londonelicious.com, Win a £36 Gourmet Gift Voucher to London’s L’atelier des Chefs. The voucher can be redeemed towards any of L’atelier’s London cookery classes. L’atelier des Chefs is a beautiful cooking school in Marylebone. [Shipping:  I'll ship this wherever, but bear in mind, it's only good for the London branch of L'atelier des Chefs.]

OK, I'm in! What Next?
1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at http://chezpim.com. For European readers, of which I have many, please see the full list of European prizes at Ms. Adventures in Italy.
2. Go to the donation site at http://www.firstgiving.com/menuforhope5 and make a donation.
3. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02. If you want my L'atelier des Chefs Gift Certificate, the prize ID is EU21.
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win.  Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

That's it! How cool is that?

OK, I'm on holiday until January 5th. So far, all you have to look forward to is Hummus Brothers. And maybe, just maybe, some photos from Sunday lunch at my friend Richard's flat. Maybe. But trust me, it's not like I'll be starving or anything...