The Good Food show was ok. I think however that it would be a little more apt to call it the Good Food Trade Show. Yes, there are food stalls in the street kitchen area but only about 5 and I didn’t feel wholly impressed by the choice.
When you first walk in you can purchase DC’s or Dining Currency. These come in token form and you can buy denominations of £5. The thing I found very annoying was that they neglected to tell us that these tokens were only accepted at the 5 food stalls in the street kitchen area. All of the other food on offer (artisanal produce, both cooked and to take home) only took cash. It made no sense, either only accept tokens, or only accept cash. That’s what they did at Taste of London and that worked a lot better for me.
So we be-lined to the street food area and the first thing I had was the tasting plate from celebrated Indian TV chef Cyrus Todiwala. It consisted of an Onion Bhaji, a Chickpea Chaat, some Coriander and Tamarind sauces and a crispy cup of some sort. It was ok but honestly nothing phenomenal. About 10 bites cost us £7 or 7DC’s, not worth it at all.
I could go on and on about the other bits and bobs I tried (the salt beef bagel was good) but to be honest the best part of the show came from the artisanal produce for sale. All kinds of cheeses, sausages, salamis, sauces, dips etc… Some of the upstairs stalls were run by individuals just trying to make their product known, and I liked that.
Later in the day we went to see one of the demonstrations (you have to pre-book). Gregg Wallace and John Torode from Masterchef fame were on stage hosting a cook off between 2 previous winners. It was ok but also a bit blah and I’m pretty sure Mr Torode was on the wrong side of tipsy.
I suppose it would be fair to say that my expectations of food shows is benchmarked by Taste of London, because in my opinion that’s the best one. This felt a little like a poor man’s version.
Good Food Show
7/10
www.bbcgoodfoodshowlondon.com
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