Bite Me

A Foodies Day Out BBC Good Food Show

On Friday we spent a gluttonous day out at the BBC Good Food Show, now a regular event in our Foodie calendar and I had been counting down the ‘sleeps’ like a child waiting for Christmas. I went with my usual intentions of getting a few gourmet treats for friends and family and had last year been overwhelmed by the array of small artisan producers who were enthusiastically selling their wares. The highlight last year however had been the Dining Experience where those coming from outside London could sample delights from upper end restaurants without waiting weeks or months on end for a table. Indeed a pork belly dish last year blew my mind and I had high hopes of being as impressed on this visit.

Lets start at the beginning.
Kensington Olympia is massive and we 
arrived just after lunch armed with rucksacks 
for goodies, empty bellies and elasticated trousers 
wholly prepared for a day of eating, 
drinking and shopping.

It didn’t seem as busy as last year and queues were small so we had a quick wander before deciding on our first Dining Experience choice.
I have to say this was the only disappointing part of the day, the choices seemed more
limited than last year.


We started with ‘The Bowler Gourmet Balls’, a street food van making hand rolled meatballs
and tried both options, a Thai flavoured pork and beef meatball with a delicious coconut curry
sauce, not too spicy but in my opinion spoilt by the addition of sweet chilli sauce drizzled over
the dish. 



The other was a beef and bacon meatball, tasty with a tomato sauce, nice but not a patch on the Albondigas I posted last week. As street food, a tasty option I would go for if I was out and about, but not something most people could not achieve at home.

With sated bellies we wandered around the food-stalls for a while, doing a preliminary scout for our likely purchases tasting delicious cheeses, meats and getting slightly tipsy from gin flavoured with orange, chocolate wine and toffee vodka.

Many purchases were made over the next couple of hours, I won't bore you with every one, here's the picture of just some of them.

There were many producers selling wonderful delicious treats, too many to mention. I will just mention a couple that stood out for us in terms of product and enthusiasm for their craft. The Artisan Smokehouse, where we bought smoked duck, beef fillet, smoked Stilton and my favourite, smoked goat's cheese. I could have bought more but stopped myself. Mr Vikki's, seller of hot hot hot sauces, we particularly liked the XXX Hot Chilli Jam and Piri Piri Mustard.
If you like Irish Cream particularly at Christmas, you have to try Coole Swan. An Irish Whiskey blended with white chocolate, cream, cocoa and vanilla, it has a more grown up taste as the whiskey is the star.
Finally another boozy offering, Thunder Toffee Vodka. I must admit, I resisted this last year as sounding too sweet. Served ice cold it is delicious, syrupy, sweet with a kick. Other customers were asking if it could be mixed to make a long drink, I say don't spoil it, it is perfection just as it is

Lastly, all the producers I have mentioned are online so if you feel inspired to try anything you can do so.