Taste of Winter Returns to London at Tobacco Docks
It was a cold evening with the promise of the winter to come when I went to the press preview of Taste of Winter (formerly Taste of Christmas) at Tobacco Docks. I have never been to an event in this venue before so I was pretty much instantly lost. It was an Aladdin’s Cave of foodie stalls.
One of the things I noticed was that there was a lot of ready-to-eat food happening. While you could buy chocolate bars from Green & Blacks, you couldn’t easily shop for the foodie in your life. There was, however, a LOT to do. From cooking masterclasses to cocktail masterclasses, you could spend the day going from free demo to free demo, eating and drinking your way through the show. With starters at one theatre, mains from another and maybe pudding with Gu, you could pick up enough recipes and tips and techniques to make the ultimate Christmas dinner.
The food is also excellent. I mean, where else but maybe Soho) are you going to find Peruvian next to British, next to Spanish? And you could choose anything – like the extremely spicy but filling and delightful seabass with Amarillo tiger chilli tiger’s milk, avocado, sweet potato, goldenberries and crunchy cancha corn. This cup of deliciousness from Andina was so popular people were queueing waiting for a cup of deliciousness. It smelled gorgeous but as chillies don’t really have a smell the heat of the spice was a pleasant surprise.
The two desserts Gu was demonstrating were White Chocolate Panna Cotta with Gingerbread Caramel and Apple Cider Granita which was so fast to assemble they almost didn’t have time to show us all the prep before they were ready! The Lemon Chestnut Eton Mess was absolutely perfect as a finish to a big Christmas dinner. Before serving your Buche (because you know you want the one from ME Hotels) serve this as a palate cleanser as your guests moan and groan in delight as their full tummies deal with the masses of glazed veggies, bronzed turkey and perfect sides you just served them 😉
Green & Blacks had pairings with their chocolate from port & dark through tea and coffee to white wine! Of course, theirs was a VERY busy room. You got a free hot chocolate when you spent £5 and with 3 bars being £5.50 it was easy to do. TRAGICALLY they had discontinued Crispy Milk. My world ended when I heard that. It was my guilty pleasure. I loved that bar so much I couldn’t stop eating it once I opened it. I’m gutted and inconsolable… wait, is that a bar of G&B Almond I see? OK… I might be consolable with that… 😉
Overall Taste of Winter is a massive foodie shopping event just before Christmas with lots of free booze, free food and lots to buy as well. You *do* have to pay to get in though and you can BUY TICKETS HERE
