Hello everyone! Apologies in advance as this will be a very different, lengthy and image-heavy post. But please do read on, as it is all good stuff and I will be entailing my experiences in the BBC Good Food Show last Saturday.

Now, let's get started!

As soon as we stepped foot into the venue and started browsing through the sea of food stalls, this one immediately caught my eye. I knew I recognised it from somewhere but couldn't quite put my finger where, until I saw the bakery name in their banner. 

It was Karantania Deli, the very same bakery stall that I visit on Thursday lunch times at work. I've been working in a content marketing agency right in the centre of Covent Garden for almost a year now, and have had the luxury of visiting the regular Thursday food markets. I always go to this stall to look (sometimes buy) and salivate at all the savoury pastry goodness. I was quite disappointed to learn that they aren't participating in the market during the Winter season, so of course, I couldn't pass up on this opportunity and had to buy something!

My friend and I bought the 8-layer cake slice to share and it was goooood! As in finger lickin' goooood! (True story, it was a messy slice). This artisan bakery never disappoints that just before we left, I had to come back and buy a few more of their strudels, which by that point had been reduced to their closing time prices. Bargain!

Another favourite stall of mine was the Meringue Girls. Hands down, it was the most visually pleasing of all the stalls in the show - the signature, neon logo; pretty packaging; vintage wooden crates; and of course, the vibrant and colourful meringues. The whole package was an aesthetic success. I just want to buy their book! (I hope my family reads this: *Christmas hint*) I'm sure at some point you had or will have heard of them since their meringue revolution have become more and more popular. And if you haven't checked them out, then I urge you to do so!

One of my highlights for the day was seeing all these celebrity chefs. Now, I'm not one for idolising celebrities. In fact, I try my best to avoid mainstream celebrity culture but in this instance, it was nice to see people who have inspired me in the flesh. Seeing Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood banter live, and watching Larkin Cen (my favourite finalist from Masterchef 2013) cook live was quite a novelty experience. Plus, I got to meet Howard!! Him, Frances and Ali were my favourites in the Great British Bake Off s4. He was such a lovely guy!

For an extra £8, I also booked the macarons and wine tasting experience with Le Cordon Bleu. This is quite an embarassing story but amidst booking tickets, I saw 'Le Cordon Bleu', 'tasting experience' and 'macarons' together, panicked and hurriedly booked a space for the event without actually paying attention to the context. I don't know how I have completely overlooked the 'wine' bit, hence, on the day I was surprised to see half of the session spent on tasting and learning about wine. Now, I'm not a big wine person (my lovely readers, please don't judge me!) but I actually enjoyed it! The wine selection was lovely. They were a mixture of sweet and fruity which harmoniously accompanied the mandarin, Christmas pudding and foie gras macarons.

Almost finished... I just want to point out these macarons from the Dimkin's Patisserie stall. One word, they were: intense! I bought a variety across the flavour section: capuccino, salted caramel, passion fruit & chocolate, green apple, and white chocolate & raspberry. The white chocolate and raspberry one was my favourite - the ganache filling mixed with fresh raspberries was beautiful and wasn't too sweet.

And lastly, just two more things worth mentioning before I finish this post. I didn't have the chance to take a picture so this will have to suffice:

Mr. Todiwala - I ate from their pop-up restaurant and also purchased some pickles from their food stall. The Goan King Prawn curry and their Lemon and Chilli pickle are highly recommended! I cannot praise it enough.

Garrett Popcorn - Originally from Chicago, they are branching out to the UK with one of the most delectable popcorns I have ever tasted. They urge to mix both sweet and savoury popcorns in one bite which I tried in their stall, and there was no other way to describe it! It was both weird and nice at the same time - the sweet caramel tone cuts through the cheesy and buttery counterpart. I am eating them right now as I type this...

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