If I recall correctly, Borough Market is the second market I went to in London. Located near the city centre, we went to the market to kill time before our sunset Thames riverboat date. Visiting the market was such a fun experience, even more so the boat ride itself. After so much eating and produce buying here, I’d say Borough Market is one of the best markets in London.
Borough Market The Foodie Market of London
The first thing I did in the market was to join the long queue in front of the Bomba Paella stall. After some time, Fafa left to hunt for other food because, as he said, the queue wasn’t moving fast enough. He had a point because I hadn’t reached the front of the queue yet when he returned with the Salt Beef Bagel filled with sauerkraut and gherkins fillings. His bagel was good, but I decided to stick with my choice and continued queuing.
Eventually, I reached the front of the queue and made a split-second decision to a plate of seafood paella instead of Thai green curry and rice. The paella was good, but I have had better ones, including the one in South Melbourne Market, and it’s definitely not worth the long queue.
After finishing our meal standing, Fafa wanted to get coffee at Monmouth Coffee which also had an equally long queue, so I wandered around.
More Food…
There are multiple food sections in Borough Market, and most of them were hella inviting. Even I, who had food only minutes before, was persuaded by the delicious abundance choice of immigrant food in the market.
So I texted Fafa to meet me on the left-hand side of the market and waited for him there with a box of Mango Sticky Rice. It was a perfect dessert.
Shopping in Borough Market London
You can buy plenty of food items from Borough Market, from exotic spices and blended tea to artisan olives and cheese. And I wanted them all. Unfortunately, knowing how restrictive Australian Custom rules are, I made peace with just getting a Borough Market mug as a souvenir for Liz, a sleepy tea from Bird & Blend Tea Co (which I loved and finished during my stay in London itself) and two bags of the special Queen’s Jubilee blend from an iconic tea stall inside the market called Tea2U.
There were also produce, wine, and snack stores in the market. I assumed those were more of local Londoners‘ thing – which I am utterly jealous about.
Eating Kiwano For The First Time
In the produce section, we spotted a few exotic fruits, most of which I have eaten, including snake fruit (Salak in Bahasa) and mangosteen – no durian, though. But then there was Kiwano. The African native fruit looked like a yellow dragon fruit from the outside and more like passion fruit from the inside. We decided to give it a try. It was nice, sweet and juicy and best eaten scooped on a spoon.
Drinking in Borough Market
The last thing we did in Borough Market was drink in the traditional British pub within the market. It was my first English pub experience which felt exactly the same as how we drink back in Australia 🤷🏽♀️.
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