Taste of London 2013: review It is hard to see how the Taste of London format works in other cities. It has offshoots in places as disparate as Dubai and Melbourne, but Parisians would surely turn up their elegant noses at this crass fetishisation of cheffery. New Yorkers would be baffled that the existence of good restaurants, something they have taken for granted forever, was a cause for any kind of celebration. Yet in London the festival draws thousands of discerning punters, top chefs (all three of the Roux men, Raymond Blanc and Pierre Koffman are appearing this year), and a wealth of restaurants and independent suppliers from all over the world. As much as it is a showcase for suppliers and restaurateurs, there is also an element of happy disbelief, a kind of "I can't believe it!" quality that this once palate-offending city now has so much good nosh to offer. Since Taste's debut in 2004 (at Somerset House - it moved to Regent's Park the following year and has stayed there), the capital's culinary standing has continued its improbable rise. On the opening day of this year's event yesterday, bankers and hipsters walked shoulder to shoulder, clutching bowls of exotic pulled pork and pints of craft beer. It would never have happend in 1990. Which isn't to say things are perfect. On Thursday night the weather was lovely, but the festival must be miserable when it rains. And it is ruthlessly, at times almost laughably, commercial. Tickets cost £28, and then visitors have to buy 'crowns' - vouchers redeemable at the various stands and restaurants. This ensures that you spend money in multiples of ten (and don't have any left over), and lets the organisers take 40 per cent of the restaurants' proceeds. The food was sometimes excellent - I ate deliciously punchy zucchini fritters from Theo Randall, and had a fine smoked duck egg with grated truffle from Alyn Williams. But some items suffered from the open-air, standing-up vibe. A steak from Gaucho was slightly chewy and lukewarm. I went with a vegetarian friend, and meat-free options were limited - there is only so much burrata one woman can eat in an hour. No doubt Taste's overheads are big. But while you wouldn't have such a range of options, £50 (a conservative total spend) would get you an excellent meal in plenty of the restaurants on display. Still, watching the happy crowd at the Alhambra tent sip Spanish beer and munch fat olives, with the setting sun on their necks, it was hard not to think that for the discerning London foodie, Regent's Park was probably the place to be, despite the competition seething around the city.