I snaffle a couple of drinks walking past the stalls and get talking in the queue of fellow judges to a vegetarian teetotaller. Hmmmm, this might not be as fun as first thought. But once we're in the canapé room, I realise that he is pure gold, most of the dishes are not vegetarian, much to his chagrin and my delight, so I eat his as well. I'd like to apologise in advance for the quality of the pictures here, but it's quite difficult to take photos when balancing a glass of champagne, a voting form, a handbag and a pen, all the while trying to avoid someone leaping in and getting their hand in the photo.
Subterranean canapé tasting.
First up is Alistair Hugo, with organic Atlantic salmon, with fennel cream. It's good, but too much fennel, I happen to like fennel, but thought that horseradish cream would have worked better. Gosh, how fussy I am getting in my old age.
Organic Atlantic salmon.
Next up are tiny little parcels of canapé loveliness, the perfect size for finger food, and light too. These little beauties are from the Winter Garden at The Landmark Hotel, and are "fresh tuna and marinated cucumber, rolled in rice paper and topped with sesame seeds and ponzu caviar". They are little bundles of deliciousness.
Yellowfin tuna rice paper roll.
My favourite table for the sheer enthusiasm and positive attitude of the lady manning it is Stratford Old Town Hall. The food is windfall too, and makes my new friend very happy as its pretty much the only veggie dish on offer (I still snaffle two). This is a jollof rice, which I love, black beans and spices rolled in a courgette and served on fried plantain. It's wonderful, and I love the fact that people are commenting on the size, only to be told that Africa doesn't have a tradition of canapés, so eat up!
Odun Nengor "Nice Nice"
London's friendliest lady from Stratford Old Town Hall.
Back to meaty goodness for the next course, and I'm not just talking about the boys in the picture below.
Meaty boys from Rotunda.
This is Rotunda's offering of teriyaki marinated beef, and it's so, so tender, the beef having been hand reared and grass fed, then aged for 32 days. How could anyone be a vegetarian after tasting this? Nice work boys.
Teriyaki marinated Northumbrian beef.
I'm a little disappointed with the next offering. It's from Quince at the May Fair, and sounds like it should be fabulous - " tea smoked duck with scotch quails egg", and while you can taste the slightly gamely quality of the duck, there's nothing of the tea smoke I recognise, and the bread 'soldiers' to scoop out the egg are a bit lacklustre. Next!
Tea smoked duck with scotch quails egg.
Next doesn't let me down. This is by Melissa Webb at Hedsor House (check out the fab yet simple presentation), and it's cured wood pigeon, molasses, beetroot and anise blossom. The flavours work perfectly together and it's autumn in a mouthful, the sweetness of the molasses and beetroot and the gaminess of the duck brought to life by the anise. I love it.
Out of the Woods (and on to my plate) cured wood pigeon.
I think it says a lot about the next offering that there is no photo. It's from the Hippodrome, hardly gourmet central (miaow), and it's six hour cooked beef fillet, with "organic heirloom tomato gazpacho jelly, gin salt crystals, celeriac and wasabi remoulded with brioche dust." There's way too much going on here, the beef tastes nowhere near as good as the offering from Rotunda, and the squares of toasted bread it's served on are soggy. The guy manning the table makes no attempt to engage with the punters, and all in all, it's a bit of lame effort. Proving what I have long thought, that it's not just the food, but the interaction of those cooking and serving it, that makes it all part of the experience of how we enjoy what we're eating.
I confess that I spend a lot of time in Feng Sushi, as they have a branch in Borough Market, near my office, I love sushi, and a now sadly ex-colleague and I used to spend an inordinate amount of time in there gorging on soft shell crab. Their offering is crispy miso salmon cube, and, as the name suggests, it's salmon served on warm rice, with popping salmon eggs and yuzu tobiko (some form of citrusy roe apparently, I had to Google it.) It's pretty good, but way too big, not the sort of canapé you'd want to be caught attempting at the Christmas party by the cute boy from the accounts department.
Crispy miso salmon cube.
Rather randomly, a dessert follows before we go back to savoury. I have practically no sweet tooth, a fact that seems to annoy other females intensely, until I reassure them that my love of cheese and wine means I'm never going to be a size zero. I digress. This is by Eden Caterers at Ministry of Sound and is a cherry, packed with the flavours of Black Forest Gateau - kirsch, chocolate and cream - without the evil sponge that makes you want to fall asleep before you've even hit the dance floor. Yum.
'Cherry Picking'
Finally, we come to 'A Taste of Autumn.' Again, I feel I should apologise for the picture quality, but this was the last one In this particular batch, and there was someone else eyeing it up, so I had to get in quick. This is "sweet smoked ham and sticky apple skewered on liquorice root and rolled in pork crackling." It tasted like Bonfire night, and I mean that in a good way. Pork and apple is a classic and this didn't fail.
Autumn Classic
Having tasted everything, I nabbed myself another glass of champagne and as there was still more food coming out, I felt it my duty to go and try everything one last time, just to ensure that I was making the correct decision when voting, you understand. I decided how to vote and also that the golden rule of canapés is that they should be small, it is finger food after all. If they are going to be big, they have to be exceptionally good, and here I refer you back to Stratford Old Town Hall, and their veggie option.
So I voted, in no particular order, to quote Strictly Come Dancing, and I gave my votes to Melissa Webb at Hedsor House for the 'Out of the Woods' pigeon, Stratford Old Town Hall for the 'Olun Nengor' taste of Africa and Rotunda for the teriyaki marinated Northumbrian beef. Winners are announced in the Autumn edition of Square Meal and I look forward to seeing these three take the Gold, Silver and Bronze.
www.squaremeal.co.uk
www.melissawebb.com
For Stratford Old Town Hall contact Alison.davenport@newham.gov.uk
www.rotundabarandrestaurant.co.uk
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Location:Old Billingsgate Market, London
