A rather cramped morning debrief of about twelve Word of Mouthers in Susan Smillie’s boat moored on the Regent’s canal, explained what our aims were for the day. Eating, blogging, photographing, tweeting, followed by more eating. My kind of day!

Before leaving for Regent’s Park and the festival we did a restaurant lottery, picking three restaurants each that we’d have to liveblog about, as well as having to closely monitor #tastefringe at twitter to see where to flashmob at what particular time. Today was what I had initially hoped for by getting involved. Going to the stalls of high quality restaurants and eating fine food all day long for free, only having to show a press pass to get what I wanted.

Breakfast started with a couple of Foie Gras Burgers from L’Atelier du Joel Robuchon followed by a Crab & Fennel Mousseline. The burger was fantastic although I wasn’t too keen on the Mousseline.

Next up was Bentley’s Oyster Bar, where I nabbed the Rock Oysters with Vietnamese dressing. A little too salty with the Fish sauce, but a great palate cleanser after the rich Foie Gras burgers.

Now what could top starting the day with Foie Gras and then Oysters? How about a glass of champagne from Champagne Devaux? I don’t think I’ve ever had so many fine things in such a short space of time, but I would happily do this every day.

Next up on my list of roulette restaurants was The Grill at The Dorchester, where the most interesting dish was the Seared Curry Crusted Scallop with Sardine Pie & Cauliflower Puree. I loved the look of it, especially the compact little Sardine Pie, but was absolutely blown away by the taste of the pie. I have never eaten Sardine that tasted so good and was so impressed, that I went back to the stall to tell them how much I liked it and to ask them how they made it. I was then further surprised that they went out back, got the man himself, michelin-starred chef Brian Hughson, to come out and very happily receive my praise before explaining they marinade the sardine in Aspalls Cider before adding a layer of sweated down silverskin onions. Quality!

Then it was time for some refreshment, so I mosied over to the Fuller’s stall, flashed my press pass and got myself a pint of ESB.

Flash mob time no 3 consisted of a Vodka tasting session at Ketel One, which isn’t my favourite thing in the world. I didn’t quite manage to avoid producing several types of foully face after drinking three types of neat vodka, attempting to ascertain what flavours they held (errm, alcohol and vodka?), but the cocktail making part went much better. I was rather proud of my Watermelon Martini, even if I do say so myself.

Having already tried the Crab Salad at Odette’s (OK), I’d visited all the restaurants I’d had to, so decided to wander around and check out a few places of my own accord.

The Fettuccine with Mushrooms and Summer Truffle was a dish that a lot of people had already highly rated, so I made my way to L’Anima to see for myself. I have to say, L’Anima were very generous with the Truffle and the overall dish was pretty good, but it didn’t blow me away like it seemed to have done for everyone else.

I then fancied something a bit spicier, but spied the Lamb’s Sweetbreads & Tongue at Hereford Rd whilst on the way to Nahm, so chomped on that (a 6 out of 10 dish) to get me through the several minutes walk to the Thai section of the event. The Geng Gola Gai caught my eye at Nahm, which was Southern (presuming Southern Thailand) Grilled Chicken Curry with Pickled Ginger. It did have a good kick to it and the meat was lovely, but did lack a little of the aromatics I usually associate with Thai food.

My final visit of the day was to Asia de Cuba, which, unsuprisingly, combines Asian cuisine with Cuban cuisine even if this is a bit of a surprising combination in itself. I went for the Tunapica, which consisted of Tuna tartare with Spanish olives, blackcurrants, almonds, coconut, soy-lime vinaigrette and wonton crisps. It was one of the most disgusting dishes I think I’ve ever eaten, even if I hadn’t eaten some of the finest dishes in my life earlier in the day. Looking at some of the ingredients, I can’t say I was that surprised as combining olives with blackcurrants for a start is bad enough, let alone with tuna, almonds, coconut, soy & lime. Definitely a wrong-un.

Despite having the time of my life chatting to producers, chefs and eating some amazing food, I did actually learn a few things along the way. I’d always believed that these events were something of a cashcow to organisers, what with high entry costs and all the exhibitors paying through the nose to have a stall, but the people in the know said that this wasn’t the case at all. At best, the event would have broken even and the point of the whole thing is just a case of pure marketing. So, I stand corrected on that. The other lesson was that it’s amazing what freebies you can get with a smile and a press pass!

The final bonus of the event was that I managed to get an article in The Guardian, about breakfasts, which has made me very proud, not least because it was the fifth most read article in the Life & Style section that week. So all the hard work on Friday paid off after all!