A foie gras burger with summer truffle created by Pascal Aussignac, head chef at Club Gascon pipped a veritable champions league of chefs to the post for Best in Taste award at Taste of London last night.
A panel of critics and food writers including Rene Redzepi, Gizzi Erskine, Matthew Fort, Kate Spicer, Zoe Williams, Jay Rayner and Joe Warwick spent an onerous six hours tasting signature dishes from 40 of the capitals top restaurants - yes it's clearly a tough job and someone has to do it...
On the winning dish Jay Rayner said, 'Club Gascon’s foie gras burger is shamelessly outrageous and an absolute joy. Is it good for you? No. Does it make you feel good? Yes!'
The triumphant chef was clearly thrilled with the result, saying; 'I wanted to do something with foie gras that would fit with summer. It’s a cool approach to have it roasted on a burger and the combination with the truffle works well for this time of year. It kind of suits the summer time pallet.'
The judge's second favourite dish was from Helena Puolakka of Skylon who created a warm smoked Loch Var salmon, lemon verbena jelly and pickled cucumber and sweet rye. In third place was Launceston Place’s Tristan Welch with a rice pudding soufflé with raspberry sauce for two, while there was a special mention for Paramount’s Colin Layfield for his rump of lamb, goat's cheese and white onion tart with sweet pea puree.
Guide to Taste of London 2011
Find out what to see at this year's Taste in our first-timer's guide to Taste of London.
