This was my first experience of taste of London. They run similar events all over the country. For those who don't know, ToL is a festival where lots of chefs and food proprietors bring their offerings to hyde park. My boyfriend and I bought standard tickets for £20 which turned out to be excellent value. This allows you to visit the stalls and pick up free samples of whatever they're offering. You have to buy the chef's food separately using different money called 'crowns'. My friend and her boyfriend attended ToL the day before we did. As it was their anniversary they bought VIP tickets for £90 per person. However, this turned out to be a major disaster since the only thing they received additionally was access to the 'secret garden'. However, once inside the secret garden they realised that there was nothing extra they could get unless they belonged to one of the many companies (e.g. British airways) who had areas there. Basically, they paid extra for nothing.
However, my boyfriend and I were perfectly happy with the value of our ticket. We spent our time wondering around all the stalls eating all the free samples of food and drink that we could find. We queued up for a wine tasting and there we learnt how to match drinking water with wine. A great tip here: do not add ice cubes to bottled water, you are simply mixing tap water with mountain water. So obvious and yet I'm sure most of us have committed that cardinal sin.
We bought with our crowns a plate of fettucine with freshly grated truffles (the first time I've ever tried them; they were totally delicious) and a malaysian chicken meal. We also downed several shots of toffee vodka, where the sweetness decreased the burn somewhat. We bought some aged balsamic oil (£12.50 for 100ml) and 10 vanilla pods for £6 which seemed very good value. All in all, a great afternoon.
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