BOROUGH MARKET is a foodies heaven with stalls selling a variety of fresh ingredients as well as food vendors selling some amazing snacks and tasty treats. Open on Thursdays to Saturdays, the markets are right near Borough tube station. They are also a short walk from Waterloo and London Bridge if you fancy a walk by the Thames.
For my first trip to Borough Market I was given a few pointers by people who had been there before. The first was to get there fairly early as it gets packed out with weekend shoppers and the second was to find the cathedral, smell the cheese and turn around to find the most delicious chocolate tart in London.
I know these instructions sound bizarre and I thought that it was unlikely I would find this chocolate treasure but once I arrived it wasn’t long until I realised the markets are located right next to Southwark Cathedral. As we were wandering through the markets we suddenly got a whiff of the overwhelming smell of cheese being melted onto bread (which is an amazing snack as well a good directory tool) so of course we turned around and saw a bakery stall. They had so many sweet treats it was hard to just stick to the chocolate tart but since the instructions had been great so far I thought I’d give it a go — and yes — it was delicious.
From there, my friends and I wandered through the markets and checked out all the food on offer. Some of the best bits about the markets is that there are many little stalls that offer taste tests of their cheeses, pesto’s, jams and salami’s. As we were wandering we kept grabbing the crackers and checking out all the dips when we reached a chili jam stall. I saw little sign that said extra hot and when I asked the stallholder if it was really that hot she just shrugged and said ‘it grows on you’. As a fan of spicy food I thought I’d give it a go and went for a taste of the extra hot chili jam. I was pretty disappointed it wasn’t super hot and so had a second cracker. Well that was a rookie mistake. When the stallholder said it grows on you she meant it. The heat in my mouth started to build and build – it was worse than any vindaloo I had ever eaten. I ended up drinking two bottles of water to try and quell the spice!
After I had burnt off my taste buds we kept wandering through the marvelous markets and found much of the fresh food area selling all different types of meat from beef to ostrich as well as fresh fruit and veggies. If you aren’t already full from your taste testing there are delicious food vendors ranging from Thai green curries to falafel wraps and my favourite – halloumi and veggie burgers. There’s also an amazing smoothie bar and a coffee shop nearby for those who fancy a drink.
Borough Market is the kind of place where you can go for a few hours to wander and buy all the wares or where you can drop in to pick up a quick bite on your way to somewhere else. It is definitely the kind of place that caters for everyone so make sure you check it out. My words of wisdom are — find the chocolate tart (you have the directions now) and avoid the chili jam!