The award winning lamb cutlet from The Clove Club
Could 2015 be a vintage year for Taste of London. If the signs from opening night were anything to go by, it could well be. Regent's Park was thronged with folk thrilled by the clement weather and trying very hard to take selfies with every chef they could find.
Winner of this year's Best In Taste award (and deservedly in our opinion) was The Clove Club for their lamb cutlet with gochuchang, black sesame and mint (pictured above). Following them was the first runner up of Modern Pantry - Anna Hansen's amazing mince and tatties dish was a riot of flavours and textures. The second runner up was Theo Randall who pulled out all stops for his fresh Sicilian peach sorbet with baked white peaches, vanilla and moscato.
There were more prize winners to come. Islington's Draper's Arms, attending Taste for the first time, won for Best Dressed Stand. And the winner of the inaugural Evening Standard London Restaurant Award was Barrafina Adelaide Street.
We did our best to try as many dishes as we could. In addition to those picked out by the judging panel, we'd also single out Lyles' pheasant's egg with seaweed, Kurobuta's Chilean seabass with spicy shiso ponzu. Oh, and in case you're wondering, that salted caramel soft serve with honeycomb from Tredwell's is every bit as delicious as it looks.
Update: Following a second trip to Taste on Saturday which, luckily for us, coincided with The Dairy taking over the Daily Special restaurant, we've updated our gallery below. We also made time to take in one of the classes at the AEG Let's Taste Live Cooking tent with Gluts & Gluttony. If you can, do try and swing by. There are usually a few spaces left if you haven't booked and we thoroughly enjoyed our class, turning out a pretty creditable mackerel with pickled rhubarb and rocket salad.
Taste of London 2015 Guide
Don't forget to check out our 2015 guide to all the key dishes and events taking part at this year's Taste.
