|
|
|
|
Eating My Way through Borough Market
|
By May on
February 4, 2010
|
Some people go to markets to buy groceries. I go to markets to eat. That's why when I landed at the Borough Market in London this Saturday, hair blowing in the wind and stomach rumbling for all to hear, I knew was in heaven. Everywhere I looked, scattered amid the rows and rows of vegetables and iridescent spreads of raw meat and fish, there were food vendors. Food vendors offering everything a hungry stomach could crave.
First, I hastily headed to the German deli vendor, where the lad and the lady behind the stall busily flipped sausages and topped buns with generous heaps of sauerkraut. The smell was amazing and for a little under four pounds I bought myself what could be the master of all New York City hot dogs, grilled to a crisp, resting on a bed of sauerkraut and soft bun and smothered in ketchup.
After gobbling that up, I headed to a vendor who was melting half-wheels of cheese vertically under an upside down flame. Systematically, at intervals, he would take one of the half-wheels and scrape off the bubbly, melted gooey top with his knife and slap it over a heap of hot mashed potatoes and pickles. As he did so, an audible gasp was heard from the excited crowd gathered round the stall. Then a lucky customer would buy the plate, scoop up the cheesy goodness, and the process would begin again. After gaping at the stall for quite a bit, I admit I was tempted, but decided to save my stomach space for more to come.
The next station was a curry station. Big, circular pots of curry bubbled in the open. There was chicken simmering in a red broth, potatoes and vegetables, and what looked most tempting to me: a green curry filled with seafood and chicken. I asked the vendor to give me a spoonful of the stuff over a pile of white jasmine rice. She artfully filled a plastic box with savory goodness and handed it to me. While I was eating, a family came up to me and asked where I had got the food, so I gave them some great, on-the-spot publicity.
After all that food one needs some refreshment, so I headed to a fresh juice stand offering rows and rows of rainbow colored juices and smoothies. The cranberry apple juice was two pounds but well worth it; sweet and tangy and tasting every bit like it was squeezed that morning.
And to round the day off, I had a freshly baked brownie off one of the baking vendors, because one always needs to end the meal with a brownie. Not as heavy as its American cousins, the English brownie is still chocolatey but flakier and not as overwhelming-- a sweet end to a great trip.
|
Comments
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|