Bank Holiday weekends can sometimes be a washout, but this weekend the weather was glorious and so were the food events.
We went to London and our first stop was the Southbank Centre, where the Campo Viejo Spanish gastronomy event 'Streets of Spain' was being held - a four day celebration of Spanish wine, food, culture and art. Market stall owners from the famous La Boqueria brought over their delicious produce direct from Barcelona's Las Ramblas.
As luck would have it, The Real Food Festival was right next door to the Spanish event, just behind the Royal Festival Hall, where there was a large food market to enjoy. The market is actually there every weekend, Friday-Sunday, displaying a great range of fresh produce from carefully selected Real Food producers.
We had a lovely stroll through the touristy parts of London...
...And made our way to Dehesa, a charcuterie and tapas bar inspired by the cuisine of Spain and Italy. A couple of months ago, I had the good fortune to win a meal for two at one of the Salt Yard restaurants via their Twitter competition, so a big 'thank you' to the Salt Yard Group for dinner! Here are a few photos of the dishes that we chose, my favourites being the courgette flowers which were crisp and sweet, with a lovely salty kick from the cheese, and the chocolate cake which just melted in your mouth. I adored the spiced squashes that accompanied the lamb dish, but unfortunately the lamb was just too rare for me. My husband loved the pan roasted cod with white asparagus, courgette & piquillo peppers and pickled mussels & clams.
We went to London and our first stop was the Southbank Centre, where the Campo Viejo Spanish gastronomy event 'Streets of Spain' was being held - a four day celebration of Spanish wine, food, culture and art. Market stall owners from the famous La Boqueria brought over their delicious produce direct from Barcelona's Las Ramblas.
As luck would have it, The Real Food Festival was right next door to the Spanish event, just behind the Royal Festival Hall, where there was a large food market to enjoy. The market is actually there every weekend, Friday-Sunday, displaying a great range of fresh produce from carefully selected Real Food producers.
We had a lovely stroll through the touristy parts of London...
...And made our way to Dehesa, a charcuterie and tapas bar inspired by the cuisine of Spain and Italy. A couple of months ago, I had the good fortune to win a meal for two at one of the Salt Yard restaurants via their Twitter competition, so a big 'thank you' to the Salt Yard Group for dinner! Here are a few photos of the dishes that we chose, my favourites being the courgette flowers which were crisp and sweet, with a lovely salty kick from the cheese, and the chocolate cake which just melted in your mouth. I adored the spiced squashes that accompanied the lamb dish, but unfortunately the lamb was just too rare for me. My husband loved the pan roasted cod with white asparagus, courgette & piquillo peppers and pickled mussels & clams.
Courgette flowers with Monte Enebro and honey
Cornish crab & prawn croquetas with crustacean aioli
Patatas fritas with romesco sauce & alioli
Potato gnocchi with butternut squash purée & picos blue sauce
Pan roasted cod with white asparagus, courgette & piquillo peppers and pickled mussels & clams
Grilled & marinated lamb leg with spiced squashes, chard, caper & anchovy brown butter
Soft chocolate cake with Frangelico ice cream
Warm almond & clementine cake with pistachio ice cream
Leaving Dehesa feeling comfortably full, we walked to Chinatown, and had a mooch around the supermarkets before leaving. Look how cute the cakes were!
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
This content belongs to Nic at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2013 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
6 comments:
The Spanish Food Festival looked like great fun. Such a great array of mouthwatering treats.
Dehesa sounds rather delicious too!
i love food festivals! each item of that meal looks marvelous, but i'm intrigued by the clementine cake. my brother has planted a clementine tree and is expecting fruit soon, so i'm needing lots of ideas for how to use them!
I really enjoyed La Boqueria, Campo Viejo masterclass and the good weather. Your bank holiday looks fun
Sounds like you crammed a lot in! The spanish food festival looked great, shame I missed it!
I wish I'd known about the festivals, I might have arranged to be in London! :)
What a fun food festival! Thank you for sharing and taking us to the event. :) Those little cakes at the end are just adorable!
Post a comment