London in May - food

We were sooo impressed with the food offerings in London and area. The quality of food has improved so much in the past 5 years I couldn't believe it! Many more places serving real food - organic, sourcing out local ingredients, fresh fruits and vegetables readily available, flavourful recipes... we had many wonderful meals here. I have to say it beat Paris in this department!

At Spitalfield Market - SQUARE PIE - we had a lamb and rosemary pie with puff pastry crust...

MADE IN ITALY for ham, sausage, mushroom, artichoke pizza and spinach ravioli...

For 'fast food' of the freshest kind, there is LEON, located in train stations and all over. I had porridge for breakfast (organic oats, blueberries and toasted seeds) at Kings Cross Station that was "of the gods". Leon is popping up all over and worth looking for.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT is a Covent Garden institution. This basement vegetarian restaurant has been on Neal Street since 1974 and has a well deserved reputation for good hearty food at reasonable prices.

In Notting Hill, we had breakfast at TOM'S, in a backyard sunken garden with a fig tree spreading its branches across the whole yard. Delicious omelettes...

For lunch we searched out OTTOLENGHI, which I had discovered online. Cuisine magazine describes Ottolenghi's recipes as 'effortless, simple yet surprising and utterly appealing'. Or as I say, "OMG good!" This was the best of the best. Although most of his four stores are set up as delis for takeout, the Notting Hill location has a communal table in the back for 10 - a white table in a white room with a huge skylight overhead - all the focus is on the food. Loved this place!!

Mains, mainly salads, available for takeout, displayed as if in a middle eastern market. Nothing is refrigerated as the entire philosophy is make it fresh and consume it immediately...


His selection of desserts. Yet another thing he is famous for...


Our best evening meal was at  SOFRA, on Saint Christopher Place (a quiet little restaurant row just off Oxford Street). It was Turkish cuisine, done by a 'nutritionalist chef' and we had 12 different taster dishes (each!) that included the most flavourful falafel, hummous, tabouleh, lamb and chicken kabobs, fried cheese, walnut+celery+hazelnut+herb salad - everything was soo good!

At Borough Market, from CINNAMON TREE BAKERY - the cutest 'owl' shortbread cookies...

and gelato at 3BIS GELATO...

At Camden Market, CHIN CHIN LABORATORY for instant handmade ice cream using liquid nitrogen, right before your eyes! And it was sooo good! We had chocolate, made with Valrhona 80% chocolate which was so thick it qualified more as a ganache, and mango upside-down cake, made with mango puree and cake batter.

This is a great posting that shows photos of the step-by-step process that is fun to check out... click here.

  *** WINS BEST ICE CREAM OF THE TRIP! *** and that is including lots of tastings at many different gelato places in Paris...

And then there were the FOOD HALLS in the major high street stores - Selfridge's, Harrod's, John Lewis, Harvey Nichols - always good for photo ops!

chocolates...

marzipan...

fudge...

dates...

olives...

savories...

London in May - markets

I try to visit London about every 5 years and have been pretty successful ever since my first time when I helped my aunt move there from Iran in 1975. Definitely more consistent with timing since I lived in Scotland in the early 1990s.

And one of the main things I love about London are the MARKETS!

Camden Market, up north between Chalk Farm and Camden Town tube stations, located on some of the 'locks' of river system, was one of my early favourites, with its punksters of the 1980s. Now it has tamed down and become quite commercial, but it continues to grow and artists gather to sell their wares. There are over 7 separate markets there: the original Camden Lock + Camden Stables + Camden Lock Village + Inverness Street + Buck Street + the main street... and it keeps growing. The food stalls had the biggest growth since last I was there.

A correction from C. Grant, a British follower of my blog:

"A slight correction that I think the Brits would appreciate -- Camden lock is not on the river system but on the Canal system. There are something like 2000 km of navigable canals in the UK now used for pleasure boating but in the old days the canals were the highways and road system of the country. The canals connect all the major city centres initially in the industrial revolution before railways."

Thanks for clearing this up!!! - DC

Click the link (on its name above) and watch the short video on this unique area.

The locks...

in The Stables - notice the 18th? century dressed ladies in bronze, holding up the canopy over the sitting area...

Old Spitalfield Market I first discovered in 1990. Located in east London by The City, it first became famous for its antiques on Thursdays and fashion school grads on Fridays. I couldn't believe how much it changed in the past five years with companies building office towers and being overrun with Sloane Rangers during the lunch hour - how upscale it has become with big name restaurants and trendy shops! But I still love it and would highly recommend a visit to others - there are many stalls with small-scale artists selling their creations.

They are now called themselves just "Spitalfields E1" and their new look is described:
"After 18 years of sensitive preparation, the Spitalfields regeneration programme was completed. This regeneration has resulted in the creation of two new public spaces, Bishops Square and Crispin Place, a public art programme, an events programme, the restoration of several historic streets in E1 and a selection of carefully selected new retailers and restaurants. Spitalfields is no longer considered just a Sunday destination it has evolved into one of London's favourite and most vibrant areas."


Portobello Road in the midst of trendy Notting Hill is the place to go for its infamous antique market - infamous because of how crowded it gets! This is the cute end, walking east from Oxford Street (turns into Bayswater Road, then north of Hyde Park on Pembridge Road) before the stalls start. Lots of antique stores, flea markets, second hand stores, and more...

Borough Market under the Liverpool Bridge is London's 'foodie heaven' and the symbol of its culinary revolution. It is a tasting extravaganza! Food sampling everywhere - and all of it is good! Lots of imported Italian, Croation, Spanish and French specialty foods. Locally grown and produced from around the Uk. There are bakeries, vegetarian stalls, honey, traditional candies, pates, terrines, olives, boar, pheasant, fish - anything you can think of in the food preparation area. A wonderful place to wander around and spend a morning tasting...

 

breads...

sausages...

olive oils and balsamic vinegars...

and old reliable Covent Garden Piazza - filled with street performers, food (new Jamie Oliver restaurant opening this summer), shops, museums (London Transport) and the Apple Cart and Jubilee market areas.

London in May - sights

We stayed in a Rick Steve's recommended bed and breakfast - The Astor House - that has won best B'nB for 3 years and gets stunning reviews on the web. Located in South Kensington, there was a handy tube stop with lots of lines, and museum row  (V&A, Natural History, etc) was just down the street.

Located in a National Trust property street of 18th century homes...

A baby elephant was part of a city-wide art project (Calgary had painted cows back in 2000), and this one was in the neighbour's front yard...

our room...

and London sights we passed and visited...
Wellington Arch and New Zealand's War Memorial

Royal Academy of Art on Picadilly

Big Ben and the House of Parliament (we even took in a sitting of parliament!)

the London Eye

Westminister Abbey

St Paul's Cathedral

and the Tower of London

and all the while those blue, blue skies!