Foodie Heaven

It was Eddie's birthday at the weekend, and on Friday we treated ourselves to an afternoon in foodie heaven - errr, I mean Borough Market, next to London Bridge.

Borough Market is one of London's largest food markets and has operated here for hundreds of years - perhaps even since Roman times. It opens in the early hours of every weekday morning for wholesale trade to the restaurant industry, and is open to the public for retail on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays only.

Although it is traditionally for fruit and veg - on the website it still calls itself a "wholesale fruit and vegetable market" - these days it is also packed with fine artisan foods and exotic international produce. Traders come here from all over the world! There are German sausages, Italian oils, Spanish olives, Indian teas, French pates and cheeses, Greek olives and cheeses and dips... There's a chilli expert, an ostrich farmer and a smoothie specialist... There are garlic products from the Isle of Wight garlic farm, vast displays of seasonal British fruits and veggies - and not-so-seasonal foreign ones - quality jams from England Preserves, organic beers from Utobeer, Spanish delicacies from Brindisa, a wealth of spices at Spice Mountain... There are breads, cakes, meats and fresh fish, including boil-while-you-wait crab and lobster. There are free tasters of everything - we tried fine darjeeling tea, truffle and herb oils, cheeses and garlic chutneys, including a banana chutney! And you can munch-while-you-browse too - there are falafels and oysters and hot dogs and fish-and-chips and veggie delights, not to mention sangria, Pimms and hot spicy cider... In fact, there's so much stuff, I'm just gonna let the pictures speak for themselves for a bit... Click for close-ups!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Of course, as well as all the stalls offering lunch for hungry shoppers, plenty of restaurants have popped up in the close vicinity too. There's a Fish! kitchen, a Brindisa tapas bar (next on the list for us...), Feng Sushi, the highly acclaimed 'Roast'... This time, we opted for traditional real alehouse The Market Porter, with a gastropub reputation and an impressive range of beers.

Although downstairs and on the forecourt the place was buzzing (err, this picture was taken later), we were amazed how quiet the upstairs restaurant was - apparently that's the way it goes on a hot day with so much on offer outside too - but the food was great. Eddie had the 'Porter Quarter Pounder', I opted for a delicious duck, fig and pistachio pate with bread and salad, to leave plenty of room for market-treats later...

Of course, if you're going for a day out at a market, you have to buy some stuff...

We came home with a chocolate beer, an elderflower and elderberry champagne-yeast beer, a peach beer, some white truffle oil, gooseberry and elderflower jam, white asparagus (a delicacy I'd never had the opportunity to try), dried ancho chillies (smoky, not hot), extremely cheap English cherries (lovely!), ginger beer (better than the big-brand stuff packed with sweeteners!), delicious chocolate brownies, and white-chocolate coated raspberries! I was disappointed I didn't manage to find the awesome garlic cheddar I bought last time I was here, but I think this little lot made up for it. Of course, most of it's gone now. More of that in another post, I suspect...

So. Borough Market. Highly recommended. If you're gonna go, go hungry, go ready to try new things, and go with spare cash!