Bellavita London Mediterranean Food & Wine Trade Show 2021

As food writer, the Bellavita London Mediterranean Food & Wine Trade Show was such a great event.

There was a good showcase of wines and food.

The most outstanding items at this show was probably the Terremare underwater aged wines.

Who knows, we might even see space aged zero gravity wines in future.

https://terremare.it/

On the topic of wines, I liked Spirito Cocktails because their ready to drink cocktails are in a stylish black paper sleeve like compact discs in a CD box which contains a collection.

They also do a gift set which includes an ice tray for diamond shaped ice cubes, glass tumblers, coasters etc.

https://spiritococktails.com/

As well as fine wines and cocktails, Dolce Vita Coffee has a lot to offer for coffee pods as well as unusual pods like pina colada which is served cold.

Other decadent offerings were salted caramel, pistachio and Macaron etc.

https://dolcevitacoffee.co.uk/

If you are bored of Panettones, the Veneziana which is a traditional cake of Venice will bowl you over. This sweet bread is soft and fluffy topped with icing and nuts.

I tried the pistachio cherry which was so decadent and dreamy.

Moving on the Italian chocolate at its finest is the Stainer Chocolate booth!

Never have I been so impressed with all these choices as well as thick hot chocolate offerings.

They had cannabis, papaya, floral, ginseng and aperitif chocolate with olives, basil and Parmesan.

For hot chocolates they even had bourbon, ginger, cinnamon etc.

https://www.stainerchocolate.it/

You can even get Italian ready meals by Pronti Via which are ready in 2 minutes in the microwave.

They are trying to tap into the UK market just like RANA who have successfully entered a few supermarket shelves.

Sadly, I couldn't try any to see how worthy they were.

https://www.facebook.com/prontivia.official/

As a pate lover, the Iberitos booth was impressive who are also suppliers of Iberico pork fat to Sainsburys.

Their pates are light as whipped mousse which are delicious on anything.

https://www.iberitos.com/

Last but not least are Spanish prickly pear products known for its health benefits available as powder, jam or cider vinegar.

https://tunocanarias.com/

London Business Design Centre:

Chocolate heaven at KNOOPS

I discovered KNOOPS while I was at Chelsea.

When you go in the shop, you are greeted with so many choices for chocolate drinks.

Not only do they have dark chocolate but they also have my favourite Ruby Chocolate which is made with Callebaut chocolate chips.

Basically the concept is like coffee where you choose the percentage of chocolate but before that you have to decide on whether you want your drink hot or cold which a choice of ice or milkshake.

Having it vegan is also wonderful because you get to choose almond and hazelnut milk which would give the chocolate a wonderful nutty taste.

It was really hard deciding between hot or cold let alone the percentage which is why I couldn't make up my mind on the first visit and left!!

Went back another day to the Clapham branch with a drink in mind.

I was really tempted to have the ruby chocolate which is served hot only but as I have already tried it elsewhere I went for the 96% Extra dark with no added sugar milkshake which is blended with Knoops white chocolate ice cream.

As expected, the milkshake was so good and you could taste chunk of chocolate in it.

Also topped it with Maldon Salt and cinnamon which takes it to another level.

There was an interesting sour aftertaste to it like coffee but I was fine with that and I am definitely coming back but the problem is deciding which drink to have.

Detox and chicken noodles at Itsu

One evening while I was waiting for someone I went into Itsu at Chelsea because I was bored. 

On the menu I spotted the detox noodles so asked what was it in and was told it was crystal noodles in miso soup.

Since both those elements were my favourite I decided to try the detox noodles.

To my surprise, it was actually really tasty, glass noodles in miso soup was so flavourful and you also get vegan gyozas, tofu and seaweed which make it quite filling depending on how much crystal they put in.

After this delicious experience, I was in Camden and there was an Itsu there so I tried the chicken noodles because it also had crystal noodles, however they forgot to put the vegetables in which I found out later when I browsed the menu online.

Despite it was missing the vegetables, the taste was so good because the chicken broth was full of sesame flavour.

The chicken was a bit bland but the Korean Gochujang sauce took it to another level because it was like BBQ sauce with a tangy fiery kick to it.

After this I was hooked so went to another branch and had the detox noodles with chicken broth which was so good!

I got the chicken noodles again and it came with the vegetables that it was supposed it.

The amount of vegetables from this shop was generous!

Greggs Christmas lunch soup, Vegan festive bake and Christmas finds 2021

Heinz got me craving for their Christmas dinner soup but sadly it was sold out!
Anyway, Greggs has bought back the Christmas lunch soup so I decided to try it.
Overall it was nice but just tasted like your regular vegetable soup with diced smoked bacon, pork sausage, tasty chicken, turkey, sage & onion stuffing and vegetables, blended with a mix of herbs and spices.
I know there are a lot of sprout haters but I felt that it should have sprouts for that complete Christmas dinner feeling.

It would probably not sell as well with sprouts hence the reason it was not added.
Hopefully one day I can get my hands on the Heinz one and I reckon it would be a lot cheaper in a can.

Greggs has been rolling wonderful vegan treats this year with vegan sausage rolls, vegan steak bakes etc and now they even have a vegan festive bake for Christmas.

This year I was greeted with three choices for the festive bake:  Wenzel's, Greggs regular festive or the vegan one.

Wenzel's was the most expensive out of the three so I went for had Greggs vegan festive bake as I have already tried the festive bake last year.

The vegan version was really comforting and I will be having it again soon.

The filling was so good especially the stuffing and tangy cranberries.

The pastry was spot on being light and flaky while the bake was nice and hot.

I felt that the vegan fared better because the regular version was overpowered by the cheese and herbs on the pastry topping.

Other Christmas finds at Greggs:

Vegan Festive slice, Pigs in blankets, Chicken with stuffing, Mince pies, doughnuts etc

Good BBQ Takeaway from Hong Kong debuts in London at Nine Elms

Good BBQ officially launches online in the UK! 

You can get your siumei fix in London.

They are located near Nine Elms so a great excuse to try out the new Northern line to visit Battersea and Nine Elms and get a Chinese on the way back.

Good BBQ UK is available for takeaway on @deliveroo, Just Eat UK, and @uber_eats. 

Sencha at My Cup of Tea

Stumbled upon this lovely Japanese style tea room while I was on my way to Leicester Square.

As a lover of tea, how could I resist.

There were so many teas to choose from so I reduced my choices and went for the Sencha.

It was really hydrating and refreshing on a hot day.

Overall, it was a great place to have tea and the service and quality is just as good as other Japanese tea houses.