Review: Borough Market

All the world’s organic delicacies on one market in Borough

Review by Vincent Alblas

Borough Market is busy, noisy and bursting with wonderful produce. Look round carefully before you buy – the Market sells some expensive delicacies but there are also lots of delicious cheaper cuts of meat and good-value seasonal fish, vegetables and fruit. Borough Market is rather a maze, but exploration yields delicious rewards.

My experience

As a lover of fine foods and drinks I’m always willing to get some new experiences. I like food and drinks that make me float away to a dream world, in which cars don’t exhaust fumes but champagne drops, pigeons don’t crap nasty crap but white chocolate instead, and herds of girls (all of them being gorgeous) are carrying around big baskets containing the most perfect delicacies from all around the world. On my second day in London, after moving here from Holland, I already found this seemingly unlikely Valhalla in the form of the Borough Market, close to tube station Borough on the Northern line.

However, the champagne at the Prosecco bar was too expensive, and there were no gorgeous girls feeding me their sweets. What I did find though, was a lovely market full of food stands selling their goods to anyone who is prepared to pay some pounds for very tasty organic stuff. And most important, I tasted some excellent white chocolate and homemade fudge, and there were delicacies from all across the globe, that were begging to be eaten by me.

So the variation and taste of the produce from practically every market stand were excellent, however living in Germany for almost two years learned me that it’s not only the quality that counts, but also the quantity. The schnitzels served in German restaurants are sometimes as big as the plate, and sometimes even bigger, as I saw in a restaurant near Aachen, where the humongous pieces of meat were as heavy as 1000 grams. Not that I ate them anyway, because I’m vegetarian (on doctor’s advice now semi-vegetarian), but even I was impressed by the big-bellied Germans forcing entire cows down their throats.

Anyway, I didn’t plan to discuss Germany’s eating habits here, so I won’t. The point I wanted to make is that if you plan to come to the Borough Market for stuffing your mouth like a pig, you will have to bring a big wallet. Food in the UK is relatively expensive anyway compared to other places I’ve lived, but buying bulk at an organic food market can make you go home with empty pockets. Nonetheless I can really recommend visiting the Borough Market. Even if you don’t plan on buying anything, it’s still great fun to walk around and smell all the flavors this world has to offer.

Directions

Borough Market is located on a five minute walk from tube station Borough on the Northern line. There are signs that show you the way. Or just follow the rest of the people.

Hot tip

Even if you’re travelling on a low budget you can taste many different products on the Borough Market. Most stands have a plate with small pieces of cheese, meat, pancake, fruit, chocolate, or whatever they’re selling, from which you can taste. If you actually plan to buy something, you need to bring all the pocket money momma gave you.

More info

Opening times:

Thursdays: 11am – 5pm

Fridays: 12pm – 6pm

Saturdays: 8am – 5pm

London review pages.