Before I start sharing my love for food and Borough Market, let me try (yet again) to clear something up - you may skip the next chunk of text if you just want to read about food.
The most common phrase friends and family members from Singapore say to me when I meet them in London or talk to them via text/skype is "You have been traveling a lot!" To which I sheepishly smile and say "Hahaha really? Just a little!" I don't really know how/what to feel or respond sometimes, after hearing it from different people, I just accepted it, and stopped feeling bad for so doing. I gave up denying that I travel too much or justifying why I travel, I gave up telling people how I afford it, because some people just assume my family is rich (NO I don't take money from my parents to travel).
Anyway, I think the main reason why people tell me this is because I keep blogging about my travel adventures, and sharing images on Instagram of the places i've been to around Europe, and I barely mention about my life in London (apart from the outfit photos). But this is because I don't know what to say about my life in London. When I'm in London, I go to school, sometimes I eat out, other times I binge watch american dramas, and most of the time I'm hooked on instagram, youtube and pinterest. Apart from dressing up to school - my way of dabbling in something creative so that part of my brain doesn't rot from all the intense science and engineering - there really isn't much I do that is worth sharing (in my opinion!)
Honestly, compared to other exchange students, I must say I don't travel as much. When you get 1 year to stay and live in Europe, you MUST travel. If not, it is a colossal waste of opportunities. My friends visited 35 cities in their half a year of exchange, I doubt i've gone to 25 thus far. So, I will be traveling MORE. Just because I can, it makes me happy, and I WANT TO. There are many many MANY more places I would love to visit, explore and document my experiences. You're most definitely welcome to join me and hear about them.
Now that that is out of the way. We can go back to talking about London. You might think travel and clothes are my weakness, but my true weakness is actually food. It may not seem like it, but it is. I HAVE to eat out when I'm in a different city. It's as if it is a crime when I don't. And I get very upset when I miss out a chance for good food. In the same way, I get very excited when I do eat good food, and one of the places in London with AWESOME FOOD is Borough Market!
I went to Borough Market with my family, in December. They loved it so much they wanted to go back the next day! My impression of (and experience back home with) markets are that they are crowded, rowdy, noisy and in general just all over the place. I expected Borough Market to be a typical open air, street markets with pushcart like stalls being set up side by side. But no! It was one of those partially covered, considerably neat (I mean they had a map - of course I got lost anyway, but when there is food all around, I don't mind getting lost), each stall was beautifully set up and decorated, and they had sections for different types of food. Not to mention, the market is HUGE. I wished i had a super huge stomach so I could sample all the different food there.
For the first 10 minutes, I didn't get anything because I was afraid i'd be full from eating it and "Something better would come along". Eventually, I saw a stall selling Egyptian food, and decided to try it. My mum and siblings were hesitant because we had no clue what Egyptian food tasted like. But it was so good we finished up that bowl almost immediately after taking this photo!
*I realised the image of the roast hog is pretty... explicit for people who are against eating meat/pork, sorry for that!
After trying several different meat options, we proceeded to walk around to the other side of the market with the help of the map. When we saw this stall selling Fresh Oysters, my brother and sister insisted the HAD to try it. After we bought 3 oysters (my mum doesn't like seafood), the queue got long. An older couple in front of us bought 8! This young man was just busting open those oysters like it was a piece of cake. I doubt it is as easy as he made it seem to be.
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| A we-love-oysters-and-this-is-awesome shot taken by my mummy and suggested by my sister. |
Those oysters were really fresh and just so much juicy goodness. I don't even fancy seafood that much (with the exception of chilli crab), and I thought the oysters were so good. Zara and Isaac went for seconds, obviously.
After having lunch and so much savoury food, there is no way we would leave out deserts! There were so many different sweet treats available to choose from, my sister went for cookies, my brother said oysters were a good enough desert, and my mum and I decided to try the Thai Style Coconut Pancakes.
I was expecting it to have a mild artificial coconut flavouring, like most coconut cakes and sweets, but no it was completely authentic! The texture of the pancake was thin and crispy, and the coconut centre was soft, jelly-like, and exploded when bit into. I would highly HIGHLY recommend trying this if anyone is planning to visit Borough Market in London.
I think this was my mum's favourite dish of all the different food items we tried.
Generally, eating out in London can be pretty expensive. So a good way to not break the bank, but still have nice interesting food, is by visiting markets such as Borough Market. I have yet to hear a disappointing story from anyone who has been to Borough Market. I think there are so many options that it is hard to not find anything that you like. From fresh fruits and vegetables, to meat and cheese. Even bottles of honey, biscuits, cookies, and of course various savoury food from around the world. Paella, thai curry, african food, you name it, it probably can be found there! Having a meal in a market is definitely a great way to have a variety of food in one location - something I dearly miss from Singapore.
Even though the food prices aren't too cheap, and the portions may not be big, it is still cheaper than eating out at a café of restaurant. Plus the atmosphere and the aroma of food is just heavenly! I am getting hungry just talking about this.
Borough Market
8 Southwalk Street, London SE1 1TL
Opening Hours
Monday - Thursday: 10am - 5pm
Friday: 10am - 6pm
Saturday: 8am - 5pm
What do you love most about food markets? Are there other markets in London I should visit? Suggestions please :)
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