After doing a wonderful food tour of Brixton market in London with Mind The Gap tours, we were wanting more action! So we hopped on a short bus ride which bought us to London’s Larder – Borough Market, just in time for lunch! Our guide gave us an orientation of the market and also talked about little history of the place. This was followed by enjoying a taste of one of Borough Market’s famous gourmet sandwiches. There was a lot of grilled chorizo & rocket. Not to be missed was the Montgomery cheddar on poilane bread.
Borough Market is a wholesale and retail food market in Southwark, Central London, England. It is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London, and sells a large variety of foods from all over the world. It is supposed to have existed since 1276 but most of the new buildings are just over 150 years old. It was very crowded due to it being a Saturday so we were mostly asked to check out our favorite stalls on our own rather than just moving around in groups. It was like a fair or festival where people from all over the world converged right under the watchful eye of the London Bridge and the Shard.
Lot of vendors were displaying some really unique fares like bakery products, diary products, cheese, chocolates, etc. Photography wasn’t really encouraged as vendors felt that some people could steal the ideas and create similar products and sell it at much lesser price. As the competition is fierce, all vendors had to bring in their A-game and world class products to this fair which beats like the heart of London right in the epicenter!
Kappacasein Dairy in Borough Market serves possibly the World’s best toasted cheese sandwich. They have been serving Raclettes and toasted cheese sandwiches since 2000. They use top quality ingredients including Ogleshield cheese for the Raclette, a mix of Montgomery cheddar/Ogleshield/Comte cheeses, five types of onions and Poilane sour dough bread for the toasties. No wonder it tastes so good and you don’t need to search for this store as you can just head to the most popular store in Borough Market and you will be there! Be prepared for long lines or hope that your guide is a good friend of the stall owner! They also sell cheese they make on the Borough market stall so it might be a good idea to parcel some to take home!
To end the Borough Market food tour on a high, our guide treated us to some of the most sinful chocolate around! These were the Artisan du Chocolat No 1 Salted Caramels Original. These little balls dusted with dark chocolate are filled with molten chocolate which is like liquid gold! They are heavenly and retail at around 14 sterling pounds. They have shops in Chelsea and Notting Hill.
Before we headed back to our hotel, Val Austin, our Visit Britain representative, told that we should not miss out on checking a significant piece of history which was just nearby – The George Inn. It is known that the George Inn existed in the late 16th century though the present building dates from 1677. Both William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens knew the hospitality of this inn which has continued right upto the present day. The George Inn is now owned by The National Trust. It was an amazing feeling to have a drink right where world class authors like Shakespeare and Dickens relaxed and chilled out. It was wonderful to raise a toast to them at the George Inn remembering those literary classics they wrote!
