To Market, To Market

On the south bank of the Thames, tucked under the elevated railway viaduct, there is a wonderful place. It is all about food... the local, the exotic, the artisan, the esoteric (I’d have no idea how to cook a rabbit saddle, or how to select from amongst three dozen types of mushroom, but the point is, you could). It’s where you go when you feel like following up a lunch of paella with a slice of German Bienenstich, or pairing a Buck’s fizz with an ostrich burger. It is gorgeously presented – cascades of vegetables piled with artistic nonchalance; stacks of loaves looking, against the brick-wall backdrop, like they’ve just been pulled from the oven; huge wheels of cheese; pots of oils and jams and mustards and spices. It is, therefore, a natural hotspot for camera-toting tourists, with corresponding prices, and not a place you’d go and do your shopping on a weekly basis. If, however, you want to load up your eco-friendly recycled-material tote with beautiful produce on a Saturday morning and revel in how very European you are, this is the place to do it. On the other hand, if you want to make an ultra-casual meal consisting entirely of free samples, it’s possible (although perhaps not entirely decent) to do that here too.

This is Borough Market. And I love it.