FEAST 2014: Food Festival @ Tobacco Docks, London

FEAST is an "unmissable" (Grazia)"epic food fest" (Time Out) that's apparently "taking the food revolution a step further" (The Independent). Last week, the 4-day festival returned to Tobacco Dock for its third year, with over 150 of London's finest food traders exhibiting their goods. I was ecstatic to have been given free passes by Nuffnang.

Upon entering the docks we were greeted by hot, hot, heat in the literal. A circus ringmaster drew our attention to a young fire-breathing chap but my eyes went straight to the Fire Eater whisky shots they handed out to sample (honestly not my cuppa - or shotta? - due to its aniseedy taste).

We saw a few food trucks along the docks including Lickalix (cocktails on sticks) and Happy Maki (sustainable sushi).

Dessert comes first, and as it was hot, it was only right to grab a green apple sorbet from Black Vanilla.

The salted caramel gelato was a winner (I'm not into salted caramel!) and the other flavours they have on the website look so good! Best thing? They deliver!

We headed indoors and it was just... sensory overload! The smell of delicious stuff hit us immediately and suddenly we were alert to the sound of sizzling, blow-torching, squeezing, brewing, etc. The sight of all the glorious food made our mouths water even more and our inner bellies instantly felt the magnitude of hunger. Most of the time I believe in delayed gratification, but not when it comes to my appetite!

So what did we see/taste/sample/have?

Craft beer from Mean Time Brewery

Notting Hill Kitchen's croquetas and pastel de natas

The Fat Bear's Brisket Po' Boy Sandwich may be a crowd favourite, but their pimiento cheese was so good! They called it the "caviar of the south" and aptly served them in blinis.

Anna Mae's Mac & Cheese was quite punny

I've been craving so much for iced tea this summer so when Jasiminne raved about Harry Brompton I had to give it a go. Yum! My mind went on overdrive thinking about the super cool cocktails we can create with it.

Aqua Shard & Hutong had a stall, too. They served confit duck bloomers with lime mayo (too pretty!), grilled pork belly with Guinness caramel, and a crab salad (which I thought was meh).  

Salvation in Noodles showcased some prawn salad, Vietnamese noodles, and really good and really juicy fried chicken wings with some sweet and spicy sauce.

Downstairs was quite a pretty sweet affair starting with The Marshmallowists whose little squares of pillowy goodness were just too darn cute to eat. They're egg-white free, gluten free and dairy free! Had the matcha and coconut marshmallow and it was good.

The Merengue Girls had an awfully sweet booth, which comes to no surprise as the ladies are pretty darn good food stylists. They've got the prettiest merengue kisses I've seen. Who knew you can create a banana split and an Eton mess with merengue?

My favourite pudding was from London's first brulee specialists, The Brulerie. Coffee & Cigarettes is a coffee creme brulee with scotch whiskey (woohoo!), waffles, pecan and salted caramel (I'm beginning to convert aren't I?). Super balanced, super smoky, super yum!

We also tested Pontoon's pre-made cocktails, which we wore on our necks (they gave us lanyards!), Dusk is a sweet peachy concoction and Tommy's is a modern-day margarita. I do like the Gotham though (similar to a Manhattan)


After dessert, we headed upstairs to find the black paella from Negra Y Mor. I had to resist myself from grabbing a large portion as I was already stuffed to the brim but the tiny portion was enough. It was pretty yummy, especially with the aioli they served on the side.

Overall, a good day for feasting. There was a lot to see and a lot to taste - even my gigantic belly storage couldn't handle it. Went home with a jar of Gran Luchito smoked chilli paste and a lot of stuff I can't wait to buy online. Congrats to the Feast team for a geat job. I can't wait til next year!