One of the highlights of our trip to London was visiting Borough Market. It’s a food market on the South Bank offering a wide variety of delights, from cooking ingredients to prepared food. We went by ourselves on Friday and again on Saturday with a foodie walking tour.
I’m a cheese lover, so I was delighted to see a number of cheese vendors with plenty of samples. Among other cheeses, we tried some Caerphilly and the raw-milk version of Stilton, Stichelton.
Stichelton, Our “foodie walking tour guide” Anna offers us Caerphilly, the legendary cheese sandwich makers at work
Hungry, we devoured a couple of sausages – first, a bratwurst from the German Deli booth and then a wild boar sausage with spicy sauce around the corner. A giant brownie was the perfect dessert, though it was hard to choose between several vendors proclaiming their brownie the best.
A bratwurst at the German Deli stand, Wild Boar sausage with spicy sauce
Not only can you visit the vendors, but a food community has grown around the market, with stores such as Neal’s Yard Dairy and Konditor & Cook (where we had luscious hot chocolate and a fruit tart).
I already want to return to London because we failed to try the “Platonic Ideal of a Cheese Sandwich“. It seems inexcusable, but after plenty of samples, two sausages and a brownie, it was hard to convince ourselves to stand in the long line. I’d also love to stay somewhere with a kitchen so I can experience the market’s amazing vegetables and meats.
Borough Market is London’s oldest food market, dating back to at least the 13th century (it’s been in its current location for “only” 250 years). It experienced a rough patch in the 1990s, but was revisioned and revived by local food lovers and is now a great success.
Which walking tour did you do?
I’ve actually won a walking tour of Borough Market from the author of the “Eat the Right Stuff” blog[1] in July, which I’m really looking forward to (last time I was in London it was Xmas time), but I’m always interested in walking tours….
[1] http://eattherightstuff.squarespace.com/blog/2007/12/10/menu-for-hope-4.html
I love and miss London and England in General. I lived in Tavistock Square in the Summer of “69” (did I just say that). Over the years we gravitated towards France and its gastronomic delights and cycle friendly byways, visiting Britain on ether the way over or the return. http://www.ids.net/~tandem/loire
We are working on a “cottage in Provence” for this year. For a month or less in June or September, the $$ permitting.
Sorry, I forgot .htm on the above after the word loire.
Hey, I am getting old!
Kaszeta: The walking tour I did was through http://www.walks.com/. Your tour sounds like it will be fun – what a great prize!
Don: I definitely want to go to France next – I have only been briefly and a long time ago. This time the flight to London was cheaper, but next time it’s France’s turn!
So far in Europe, I’ve just been to Italy. This year, Spain and Portugal. But London and Paris are next on my list!
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shannon@foodbuzz.com
Great to see you had a good time at Borough Market. I moved house just to be near and six years later I find myself running an ecommerce site for one of their traders.
I’ve made a list of all the stalls that sell online which you might be interested in… http://www.marketquarter.com/pages/definitive-guide-to-borough-market-stalls-online