The best dishes to try at Taste of London 2026 this week

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This is our fifth year of judging the Best in Taste prize for Taste of London in Regent's Park. This year, we tasted 24 of the dishes on offer (yes, we did need a lie down after) to come up with this year's winners. So based on that, here's what we think are the top 10 must-have dishes at this year's event...

Orion by Alex Webb - Black cod, onion puree, pickled shallots, crispy potato, chicken butter sauce
Winner: Best in Taste
This is former MasterChef The Professionals winner Alex Webb's first time at Taste of London with his new restaurant and he's come in strong, winning the top prize. We were really impressed by the effort and attention to detail in this dish, and the chicken butter sauce in particular is fantastic.

Afghan Caravan - Kabuli Pilau, lamb with fragrant pilau rice, topped with caramelised sultanas, carrots and almonds.
Runner up: Best in Taste
If you're looking for comfort in a bowl you couldn't do better than this dish from Afghan Caravan who are based at Boxpark Croydon. The tender lamb was amazing and it's topped off with caramelised carrots and raisins. A well deserved runner-up this year.

Eataly - Maritozzo, a traditional Roman sweet bun, filled with freshly whipped cream and with a choice of classic, chocolate and pistachio toppings.
Winner: Most Instagrammable dish
Eataly impressed with their light (and huge) maritozzo, and we fully expect to see everyone instagramming their own personalised versions over the weekend. The best thing is that they taste as good as they look.

DakaDaka - Grilled baby aubergine, walnut, corno red pepper, sunflower seed tahini, confit garlic and pomegranate
If you're looking for a vegetarian dish with layers upon layers of flavour then this aubergine offering from Georgian restaurant DakaDaka hits the spot. We voted as a team of course, but this was one of our personal favourites on the day.

Los Mochis - Trailer park chicken taco, fried chicken with guacamole, jalapeño BBQ sauce, habanero gochujang, toasted sesame and parsnip crisps.
We love their restaurants in Liverpool Street and Notting Hill and here at Taste Los Mochis' mix of Mexican and Japanese influences gave us this fabulous street food favourite. Best of all, this is hard to share, so you'll get to enjoy it all to yourself.

Pahli Hill Bandra Bhai - Masala crab moons, spiced crab masala with banana bun moons, coconut, fennel and curry leaves.
Generously filled banana bun halves with a bit of heat, this would go very well with one of the many beers on offer throughout Taste this year.

Dim Sum by Chai Wu - Golden sesame prawn toast with snow crab and caviar
We were seriously considering this dish for Most Instagrammable. I mean, just look at it. But this is more than just a pretty plate, the toast was perfectly crisp, the prawns plump and juicy and that topping of snow crab and caviar was a nice touch.

Dumplings' Legend - Trio of dumplings, with lobster, whole crab claw, wagyu beef and black truffle
If you're a fan of Chinatown's Dumplings' Legend (and we are), then you're really going to need to try their Taste of London special as all three of these dumplings are brand new ones that have been devised especially for the festival.

Roka - Westholme cross wagyu beef rump with confit garlic and soy sauce
Beautifully cooked wagyu with those pickled onions providing the necessary acidity to cut through the richness of the beef.

Rottura - Beef fillet, dressed crab and sourdough crostini
Crab was a distinct theme in the dishes we judged for this year's Best of Taste. Rottura is a Brentford-based family restaurant, and they brought their A-game to Taste. This was a fun take on surf & turf.