Borough Market

Today, me and my best friend from home, Charlotte, went for a wander around Borough Market. I have always really enjoyed Borough Market probably because it reminds me of the huge food markets on the continent. It's true to say my enjoyment has extended to visiting it in the rain, not an unpleasant experience but a very wet one. But today, in the middle of March, it felt like Summer not Spring, this summer lovin' experience was aided by our stop off at the Pimms stall and sunbathing outside Southwark Cathedral, as well as browsing what the stalls inside the market had to offer.

And boy did it have a lot to offer today, there seemed to be more cheese stands than ever before with loads of artisan cheeses on offer including a really creamy Welsh Caerphilly. As a spice lover the Spice Mountain had so much I wanted I led Charlotte back round for a second look..and purchase with spices I'd been struggling to find that were so reasonably priced I couldn't help myself. 

By this time we'd had another of samples and went to the real deal lunch stalls where we happened upon Scotchtails. Serving scotch eggs warm with a crunchy coating, well seasoned pork and a gooey yolk they were delicious, we went for the lunch offer between us and had a rocket salad and sweet potato fries, coated in what tasted liked cornmeal were also excellent. Speaking from personal experience of baking cornmeal coated sweet potato fries these were a lot better than what I've had out and make myself, although do give me time.  

 For desert we grabbed a chocolate fudge brownie from Artisan Foods which was everything you want from a brownie, chewy with a lot of chocolate. Given the option I would easily have bought any/all of their cakes particularly their cheesecake slice looked amazing. But we opted for a salted caramel, pear and parsnip gluten and wheat free cake slice from The Free From Bakehouse as a healthy substitute which turned out to be sinfreely moist and the salted caramel pear pieces on top reminded me of stem ginger pieces but fresher.

Following our feast we decided to haul ourselves down to Maltby Street Market via the River Thames to visit the Little Bird Gin, which has it's own speakeasy underneath the railway arches with battered mismatch tables and chairs, and an assortment of items hanging from the ceiling. Now I do normally condone drinking during the day, so I was fine with having a Pop Goes The Birdy cocktail with their own brand gin, poppy liqueur, lemon, and caraway, cumin and fennel lacquer which tasted as Charlotte said like bubblegum or I thought sort of like a cosmopolitan with a sour/sweet aromatic taste that was almost grapefruit. And Charlotte was all for a Rhubard and Ginger Collins which is as you expect with their own gin, rhubard, lemon and ginger tonic and tasted deliciously fresh and was a nice twist.

The trip to Maltby Street Market reaffirmed my thoughts that it is not to be missed, see my older post on it, and Borough Market touristy it may be but it still has a lot to offer.