There was no way I could miss this monster of an event dubbed the ‘ultimate gourmet food show’ and I didn’t. I spend much of last saturday whizzing around london olympia, nibbling on free samples, being swayed by the latest gimmickry in kitchen technology, sipping free wine and also managed to squeeze in some food in between. I took less pictures than I anticipated, but I think I managed to get the ones that mattered.. and this one, definitely matter. Do read on to have a look at more.

foodie heaven comes to london

The bbc good food show is a food fair where producers, restauranteurs, wine merchants, kitchen gadget wizards, bakers, farmers and anyone selling anything that is even slighly edible showcase their stuff in a great big exhibition. At the moment, the show is doing its rounds around the nation with earlier dates already gone by in Scotland, last weekend was london and next week the show is going to birmingham.

Needless to say, this show was huge, being spread across two floors, there were far too many stalls for it to be countable, that’s music to my ears as it just means more free samples. My stomach was very empty on this occasion.

a chocolate fountain

We start the adventure with a chocolate fountain.

One of my mates had a fascination with these things. In order to get the chocolate flowing, one would need to prepare it by melting it in a pan with butter (or was it oil?) until it goes all gooey. And then, one would put in on the fountain contraption and the heated base plate would keep the choco-pool hot and liquid. It can be quite fun dipping strawberries or marshmallows into the fountain, only the finest belgian chocolate would suffice of course.

fat geese

Are you like me in the sense that when you see fresh meat, you’ll go up close to the glass window and check for freshness. Well these birds were really nice and I also managed to see some fresh beef too. If only this kind of quality was available at my local sainsbury – I didnt quite fancy lugging around a 2kg goose so i forgo-ed the option of purchasing one on the spot.

the dining experience

While there were lots of stalls to see, I didnt really take that many pictures, rather I was mostly drawn to the dining area bit which was a great big mess with ‘fine dining’ bite-sized dishes on offer. You couldnt pay with cash, instead you had to buy fod using dining credits. £1 was 1c. I can’t wait to get round to trying some of the restaurants which has set up shop here.

wasabi prawns

These were the wasabi prawns from Kai Mayfair. Apparently Kai are Haarden’s best chinese restaurant this year and this little sampler was avilable for 5cs. I did a quick check at their website and it’s a starter that costs £21! Yikes, that’s expensive. Unfortunately, I didnt try this and now I live in eternal regret…

T&T

….Until I came across the tuna and truffle oil roll from sumosan, which I did try. Before the show, I’d never heard of sumosan – but after this, I am sure to be paying a visit because this particular roll was a gem. The tuna is marinated with ponzu and a dash of truffle oil. That truffle oil added a smoky and flavoursome dimension to the tuna roll by which I had never really tasted before, it was really, really good. The roll was topped off with a truffle oil infused mayo and really brought a well-rounded smokiness that enhanced the taste of the nori wrap inside. This was such an appetising dish and as I thought the the addition of one superb ingredient in the truffle oil was absolute genius.

Lamb furikaki

The lamb furikaki is lamb in a coat which includes sesame seeds, ground dried fish and seaweed. The whole chop is then deep-fried and a mustard sauce, which includes lemon juice & onions, is smothered all over it. I quite like this too. The furikaki coat balanced the strength of the dominant lamb, and that mustard sauce was actually quite gentle and almost gravy like rather than being thick & stuffy. It looked great too, being that it was served in a banana leaf. I don’t tend to re-use pictures across posts, but I really liked this one I took and decided to re-use it after I posted it on my eat&read yesterday.

the chocolate fondant

Each restaurant stall had just three samplers, since all of sumosan’s looked good, I ordered all three. The pudding was a dark chocolate fondant that hid a white chocolate centred and all smothered with a green tea chocolate sauce with some vanilla ice cream on the side. Let’s crack that sugary shell to check the contents inside:

My oh my, this was so good. I am a white chocolate lover by the way, unconventional I know, but I love the white stuff. I am also a lover of vanilla ice cream, again unconventional I know, but in the words of a certain miss chee, vanilla is not plain, its a flavour in itself. This was such a decadently good pudding. The green tea chocolate was so rich, almost ice cream like and the white chocolate centre was gooey and thick. I really liked this alot and after a small sample, I can honestly say that sumosan is definitely on my eat list. The cooking appears to be very progressive, yet simplicity is emphasis and the tastes just goes together. Looks like good fusion at work here to me. My compliments to chef Belkhit.

fruit flowers

Like the same way I leave Jennie after a pleasant evening, I was still thinking about the sumosan tuna & truffle roll well after I ate it, but then I came across this stall which did home delivered fruit bouquets, everything is fresh and edible, albeit abit pricy. You can look it at passionleaf.com if interested.

sweet endings

After spending the whole afternoon in the olympia, Jennie & I were positively exhausted.. actually I lie, I was positively exhausted but she was still buzzing as she tends to perk up when the sun sets. This was one of the stalls close to the exit and we just had to pick up some oversized sweet pastries for dinner.

Overall, I enjoyed the food show, only 350 or so days before it rolls around again next year, and I’ll be sure to make my acquaintance once again.

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Eating tapas, upping my twittering campaign and watching Daniel Craig brood his way into a quantum of solace.

eating happenings here on London Eater

This has been a relatively slow week and I got to say, most of you have forsaken me for your Halloween plans ( thanks for coming back to read this ) . Hope you guys had a great ( and spooky ) time. I went to see Quantum of Solace last night and I gotta say, Daniel Craig is probably my favourite bond right now. He’s not conventional, but he’s created a new kind of Bond who’s you know, edgy. I don’t know if it’s just me, I think Craig’s take on playing a Bond who’s still learning how to be ‘Bond’ but still can’t seem to grapple how the ‘half-monk half hit-man’ concept works, is subtle, but well done. Heaps of emotions happening beneath those man boobs. On the other hand, Olga Kurylenko… WOW. She is stunning. Go watch the new James Bond, it’s pretty good.

Over here at London Eater, I produced little more than three posts this week:

• Soho Tapas I went to Barrafina in soho which is a tapas bar in the truest sense, it’s a great little eatery and definitely a must-eat, read the review here.
• Gourmet Burgers I’m running a loose series of burger eats and my third outing is the crowd favourite Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Supersized burgers and shakes (oreo no less) , check the review here.
• Pairing wine with Food The quickie wine guide rolls on and is now in part four! In this edition, we talk about pairing food with wine, go have a look here.

Most of you will not know that I’m actually on twitter too, although, I don’t twit enough. However, starting today, things are going to change. It’s part of my slow (but steady) progression into social networking, I think I’ve come to grips with stumbleupon, and now I’m moving to increase my presence on twitter. You can follow me here, make sure you friend me up so I can follow you too

london happenings around the Smoke

There’s actually quite alot of foodie related events coming up in the following weeks, here’s some where I plan to go to , if you’re interested in coming along, do let me know guys:

• The BBC Good food show Last week I blogged about this, which will be held at Olympia and is allegedly going to be the ultimate gourmet food show in London. I’m going on the 15th, it’s only about £16 general entry and I’m looking for people to drag with me. If you’re planning on attending too, do let me know, I’m excited about this, Heston Blumenthal will be there, Saturday morning kitchen James Martin is going to be there and luscious lips Nigella Lawson will be there too. Here for details.
• French wine growers fair is occurring on between 21st and 23rd November 08 in barbican and lets you meet wine growers and taste 500 wines all for a measley £10! I’m going on the saturday ( 22nd ) and will swallow more than spit. If you’re going, let me know too. Read here for more info.
• Westfield Shopping mall, Whitecity I somehow missed the grand opening on thursday which had Leona Lewis belting out in the atrium and Danielle Bux parading for La Senza. Well, I’m heading over there this afternoon do give us a shout if you’re planning to go too! Here for details.
• Hyde park Winter Wonderland I still find it unbelievable that it snowed for the first time in october for more than 70 years. I managed to miss this last year, so I will need to go this year. Apparently, it features an authentic german christmas market, complete with german sausages and christmas sweets. Starts November 22nd and lasts till early January. Read all about it here.

reading happenings around the community

• Italy in SF Who loves italian food? I know I do, Vanessa who runs the excellent Italy in SF is on a mission to find the best italian eateries in the bay area, in this post, she pays a visit to Pizzeria Delfina.. oh that picture of the Napoletana with the parma ham on top …. gosh you gotta read it.
• My last bite Foodbuzz is great for finding delicious foodie blogs. I found My last bite last night while stumbling along, in addition to an ultra clean design, she hates negative reviews and only writes about all the good stuff she eats, I cannot agree more with that concept. Read Jo’s latest super grouper dinner post here.
• World in a wok Found another new foodblog here called the world in a wok. Think it’s a cool blog name where a former expat brat writes about food and musings, from Thailand as, you’d guessed it, an expat.
• Zesty Cook I’m up for spaghetti! People are always blogging about the latest and greatest but sometimes, it’s nice to return to the basics. Cory whipped out a great one on spaghetti, check out the classic already.
• The Hungry Mouse Im going to try this five minute cake recipe at work tomorrow morning , Jessie over at the hungry mouse generously shared this recipe with us, 2 minutes to whip and 3 minutes in the nuke. Here’s hoping I don’t kill any of colleagues.

Finally..
There will be more eating next week, so expect more reviews from Maze, wild honey and a heroic sushi bar in ealing common. I also upgraded my lenses (for my camera) , so I’m hoping my pictures will turn out better, but you can be the judge of that. Have a great end to the week folks.

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