Uncle Vernon said sharply, “Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley.”
The giant chuckled darkly.
“Yer great puddin’ of a son don’ need fattenin’ anymore, Dursley, don’ worry."
He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn’t take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, “I’m sorry, but I still don’t really know who you are.”
(Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)
Answer
The answer to your question is no. If you removed but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant, the rest of the sentence would remain unchanged.
Harry was so hungry that the food tasted better than anything he'd ever eaten before. The phrase he had never tasted anything so wonderful expresses this idea. In particular, had never tells us the sentence describes his entire life up until this point in the story. If the story were told in the present tense, it would say has never; since the story is told in the past tense, it says had never.
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