This entire trip has beeen about one thing, and one thing only: food. Yes, we watched some theatre and toured a few historic places, but the food is what is really important. All jokes aside, this trip was more food-focused than I ever would have imagined. I mean, it’s Britain. They aren’t exactly known for flavorful food. I came into this trip assuming that everything would be bland and I would be served beans on toast at every turn. However, much to my delight, I was quickly proven wrong!
Throughout our time in London, we visited (in order of first appearance) Seven Dials Market, Covent Garden, Old Spitalfields Market, Camden Market, and Borough Market as well as several areas of London with unique restaurants and cafés. When it comes to food, my favorite market has to be Borough Market. Though Seven Dials Market had some good eats, nothing can beat the chocolate covered strawberries at Borough Market. Also, Borough Market was all about food. All of the other markets had a mixture of food and trinkets/clothes/etc, yet all of the markets, including Borough, were about the same size.
The day we visited Borough Market, I had a plan. I knew wanted to get the famed chocolate covered strawberries, but first I needed to get some real food to eat. Shawn recommended we get a pork sandwich from the renowned Black Pig. Anything with protein sounded amazing to me after eating nothing but pizza, pasta, and Tesco meal deals for the last couple days, so I made a beeline for the stand. The sandwiches other patrons were enjoying on the way to the line looked so good it made my mouth water and my stomach grumble. The chefs quickly ushered me through the process: choose, order, pay, wait… So I waited. And I waited. Until suddenly I hear the voice of an angel, “Adley.” What an odd thing for an angel to say. I look around for the “Adley” they were calling for before I decided it was my sandwich and I went up to grab it. Not only did it look good, it also smelled good and it felt good to hold. It was the perfect weight to lift up to my mouth and sink my teeth into. The crispy ciabatta bun squished under the force of my teeth and broke away, allowing the juicy and savory pulled pork to meet my taste buds. Instant fireworks! As I continued to chew I could taste the soft, tangy parmesan piled on like snow. There was technically an apple coleslaw on the sandwich, but I pulled most of it off. The sandwich tasted like heaven with or without the crunchy, sour apple slaw.
I fairly familiar with pork sandwiches from my life before London, but this sandwich revolutionized my taste buds and, subsequently, my mind. We did not get strawberries that day. One life-altering meal was enough for one day. The strawberries would have to wait. Little did I know, I was the one who was waiting. Waiting for the moment I would break through the strawberry’s flesh and into it’s juicy center as the chocolate coating migrated from its temporary home to my delighted mouth. Waiting for the moment I realized the chocolate was hardening as it cooled, and that made it taste exponentially better. Future me looked back with bated breath as I lived through the next three days without an inkling of how my life was about to change. Once I ate the magical chocolate strawberries, there was no going back. It would set off a course of events, eventually leading to another adventure to Borough Market on the tail end of our trip for the sole purpose of buying more strawberries.
Not all of my food experiences were life-altering, and some were objectively bad. Also at the Borough Market, there is a donut shop that is very popular online. Their big thing is the crème brûlée donut that they broil with a flat, heated piece of metal. In my ignorance, I ordered the less-popular Salted Caramel and Honey Comb donut. It looked creamy, moist, and delicious. It was not. There was a piece of honey comb on top of the donut which was absolutely scrumptious! The rest of the donut, though… It was filled with a creme that tasted like something burnt. I tried really hard to convince myself it tasted like caramel or honey comb or a weird combination, but all I could taste was a burnt donut.
In all of my food adventures, good and bad, I documented the food and/or beverage for your viewing pleasure. Scroll on to enjoy a few highlights from the various markets!
P.S. I did not document it, but every morning at the Royal National Hotel I would eat at least three or four small chocolate croissants with my breakfast. They were delicious.
7 Dials
Coven(en)t Garden
Spitalfields Market
Camden Market
Borough Market
TESCOOOO
A moment for the drinks…
– (H)Adley ❤
Theatre in London U of A 