Tasting London

For quite a long time, London's food scene got a bad rap, but times have certainly changed.  London -- not unlike D.C. -- is buzzing with fabulous restaurants popping up all over the city.  Today, I ventured to Regent's Park to sample offerings from 40 of the city's best restaurants, in addition to a number of specialty food producers, at the annual Taste of London. Not knowing exactly where to start, I started at the most logical of locations, the "world of beer" where I purchased a pint of ale and studied the program and map, plotting my course.  Of course, I changed my mind a million times once I was actually face to face with the food, settling on a delicious risotto, a trio of seafood sliders and a spicy ox cheek doughnut.  As you can see, I also used the day to practice some of the photography techniques and lessons I learned last week -- taking photos in manual mode takes some patience and some getting used to, but I am enjoying it!

Acquerello risotto with 8 year-aged organic parmesan from Babbo

A trio of seafood sliders from The Angler

Spicy ox cheek doughnut with apricot jam from the Duck and Waffle

Everything I tried was delicious, and I would have eaten more but I ran out of "Crowns" (the currency of Taste) at the same time I ran out of room in my stomach, though I also sampled a bite of black pudding as well as some delicious English cheeses that made their way back to my flat!

Tomorrow, I am planning to set my alarm clock for the wee hours of the morning in hopes of joining fellow tennis fans in The Queue at Wimbledon (wish me luck, apparently all of tomorrow's show court tickets have already been accounted for by fans camping out since early this morning!)