Monkey Fingers, Burgers and Wild Mushroom Dumplings at the Taste of London Food Festival in London - Part Three

 

As you can probably guess by now, we were quite snap-happy at the Taste Festival so we have a few more pictures for you. Bear with us!After having probably eaten more than enough for the entire night, we decided… to keep going. There were just too many temptations and with each step we took, deliciously food was overwhelming our senses. We left out inhibitions and stepped towards the stalls with open arms and open mouths. 

 The Duck & Waffle and SushiSamba bar was conveniently located just close to the Mexican stands, so when I got a whiff of the smells, I got a hankering for some guacamole and we followed the clear path to Mexico. 

 Mr. Kan Kun didn’t disappoint, we were lead to heaven.Quick question for you guys?Which cheese isn’t yours?NACHO CHEESE.…get it?No? Okay, then let’s keep going.We got to the Peyote stand, and stood in line for goodies. While I was standing in line for my guacamole and chips, Rosie decided to have a chargrilled corn with chilli mayonnaise and queso fresco. 

 The guacamole was deliciously spicy! I had asked for an extra kick, but did not expect it to be this strong. Not that we didn’t like it. We devoured it in no time. 

 Rosie having had a taste for the Mexican now, decided to go try out the slow roasted pork pibil tacos. 

 Which was, according to her, succulently tasty. She devoured the taco and wanted more and more, but I dragged her away.My little stint in “Taste of Thailand” didn’t quite satisfy my oriental cravings so when I passed the Yaoatcha stand, I knew I would be satisfied. I decided to try their wild mushroom dumplings.

 These may not look like much but trust me on this, they were. And all of this coming from someone who doesn’t normally like dumplings…Which caused Rosie to look at my like this. 

 That’s when I knew she wanted something. She got up, rushed over to the stand and got herself the venison puff. 

 Where she left you her teeth marks to admire.I quickly ate the second piece of my dumpling while she was busying herself with her puff and before she could get a taste and then felt slightly guilty and took her (and myself) to get a burger at our belovedShake Shack stand. As you guys may or may not remember, Rosie and I love Shake Shack. We even did a little blog post about it when we were in Miami back in March!A lil’‘Shroom Burger (crisp-fried portobello mushroom filled with melted cheese, topped with lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce) for me, and the Lil’ShackBurger (100% Aberdeen Angus beef cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce) for Rosie. 

 Rosie inspected her burger, gave it her nod of approval, and sank her teeth into it. 

 her face may not seem like much, the sounds that were coming from her confirmed to me that it was amazing.As if we didn’t have enough with the burgers from ShakeShack, we decided we wanted to compare the burgers with the ones from the MEATliquor stand. I ordered up a halloumi mushroom slider, Rosie ordered the double bubble cheeseburger slider and some chicken monkey fingers.My halloumi mushroom slider: 

 Attractive.Rosie’s double bubble cheeseburger slider. I must admit her burger looks just a smidgen tastier, probably because I’m just the more talented photographer. 

 Within seconds, the burger was gone. Magic.And on she went to tackle her monkey fingers. Monkey fingers are super soft breadcrumbs-crusted-deep-fried chicken tenders covered with a holy-crap-this-is-delicious homemade spicy hot sauce with a garlicy oniony cream dip.Have a look for yourself. 

 It tastes as good as it looks. That’s at least what Rosie’s face tells me. 

 But then, the inevitable happened.*PLOP*.A monkey finger dropped right on the center of her dress, leaving a red hot sauce stain.Whoops.Rosie rubbed and tugged at her dress and eventually realizing it won’t budge, came to peace with her new companion of the night and embraced it. 

 “Stain? What stain? The only thing on my mind is this delicious chicken.” And she took another bite.Just look at that sheepish grin. 

 Still, sensing she was a bit dissapointed in her messy situation, I thought it would be nice to cheer her up with a little something-something.At the Frozen Yogurt stand. 

 Where does the milky froyo come from?” *strategic placement* 

 Literally stuffed to our toes at this point, we sat and enjoyed the rest of the sun at the Taste of London. We were even fortunate enough to get to see SushiSamba’s Executive Chef Cláudio Cardoso at the Cook Skills Theatre where he explained the importance of cutting a fish right and demonstrated how to cut a fish right in front of us. At the end of the day, completely knackered and full, we hopped in a cab and headed to Soho where he hit up the Experimental Cocktail bar, tried a few cocktails out and then sank happily fed into the soft sheets of our beds.Goodnight!

Love,

Juliana