Borough market

Anyone who asks me for recommendations on what to visit in London would definitely hear the words “Borough Market” 20 times until the words are etched into their mind. Ummm… I love food and having so much food under (literally) one umbrella is enough to make me drool everytime I relate my experiences there. The food isn’t fanstastically cheap there. In fact, I have already blown about 150 pounds over the 4 trips that I have been there. YES!!! FOUR times!! Even some/most of the Londoners have not been there and probably most would go there once or twice. It is not just the food that draws me back there, because I am sure it is possible to get the food separately at different places in London, if I look hard enough (of course, having them all at one location makes it all soooo convenient). It is the atmosphere, the aromas, the bustling… Ummm mmmm…. I usually hate crowd. So much so that I would rather give some sales a miss because it is JUST PRETTY DAMN NOT WORTH IT to lose my limbs fighting over some unwanted but cheap designer goods. However, the crowd at Borough Market creates the perfect atmosphere of what a food paradise should be like ^_^

All right, all right, other than all the points mentioned above, the crucial reason why I love Borough is that I had great company each time I went (realise the lackluster of this sentence, because honestly, I would go to Borough more often on my own if I can, except that I need people to help me eat up the leftovers that I can’t finish. That is probably the only reason why I drag people to go with me. Of course, if you are Tian’en, my sis, my mum or Daryl, you obviously know me well enough to know that I am kidding, right?).

I always discover something new each time I go to Borough Market. In my first trip to Borough my mum, I tried the traditional popular dishes like raclette, oyster and brownies. Going with my mum was great, because after all, she was the one who taught me how to eat. So our tastes are pretty similar. And she being my mum meant that I got to choose what I wanted to eat (if this sentence doesn’t make sense to you, then you need to change mums).

This is mum at Tower bridge. Sorry dudes, I realised that my mum and I took NO pics at Borough Market when we went. So I have to use this random pic.

This is raclette. Potatoes with melted cheese on it.

On my second trip to Borough, I went with Tian’en. Poor boy as he was, he had to endure me forcing sickeningly sweet Turkish delights and slimy fresh oysters down his throat. He got his revenge, when he insisted on buying this “caramel custard pot”. Probably only my housemates would know that I shun caramel like poison because it tastes like, feels like and is poison. I grudgingly said that I would only try a tiny bit and he would have to finish the rest. They said that revenge was sweet and it was truly so! Gosh!!! Poor Tian’en could only watch helplessly when I finished the whole pot of custard after tasting it. (We did buy a 2nd pot eventually but that didn't matter, because the point was that I finished the 1st pot which I refused to buy.) Ooooohhh…. And that was how I discovered “caramel custard”^_^

This is my sis, not TE!, eating caramel custard. Unfortunately, TE was the photographer for this trip to Borough and so I couldn't find a pic with him in it. So this has been ripped from the trip to Borough with my sis.

Now, my third trip to Borough was different from my previous two trips because I went with a guy whom I had never shared food with. What if he has STD? What if he thinks I have STD? What if he is a selfish bastard/ scared of other people’s saliva and refuses to share with me? Luckily, Daryl turned out to be quite normal. Quite, you ask? Well, if you look at the photo below, maybe everything is self-explanatory. Going with Daryl was a good decision, because this guy is out for adventures. He seek and conquered only the exotic food. This is exactly what I look out for in guys fellow food hunters. We tried the ostrich burger, which was tasted vaguely like beef, but much more tender. In fact, when I was taking the appetizing picture of Daryl’s opened jaws (sometimes, you have to use the right nomenclature for the right species), I was holding back myself from licking the food off his tongue.

Daryl's scrumpilicious ostrich burger

One other fanastic find was the crunchilicious “honeyed nuts” because Daryl absolutely loves his nuts (grow up, guys!). It was a pity that my mum didn’t get to try it when she was here, because she loves nuts too.

"Cranberry" store, selling nuts and chocolate (the honeyed nuts are to die for)

My fourth time was today, with my sister. Both of us are crazy about our food, so going Borough Market with her is especially enjoyable. I thought by now, I would have tried everything and nothing can amaze me anymore. Again, I was proven wrong. We tried the apparently-popular-but-I-have-not-tried fried scallops, which were REALLY sweet and fresh.

My sister still loved the fresh oysters the most, rating them as the best she had eaten. And I had to agree with her. Out of the three times that I had eaten the oysters at Borough, this had to be the best batch I had tried. It is most unfortunate though, since we all know that oysters are aphrodisiac, so it would be much preferred if Tian’en had this batch of oysters instead. On the other hand, I should thank my lucky stars that Daryl didn’t get to eat the oysters :P (yep, this loser went to Borough, wanted to leave the oysters to be the last thing to eat but ended up facing an empty stall after eating other food)

We also bought the nuts for our mum. The nuts are that good (I am already on the way of finishing them even before they reach my suitcase as I type now). Any of you who want to know which stall it is from can ask me. I believe I can draw you the map of borough market of the stalls which I recommend.

It is a pity that we didn’t try the banana cake which my sis' friend recommended. Her friend insisted that it was better than the brownies. Personally, I didn’t think the brownies were THAT fantastic, so I would have to try the banana cake first before I make my own verdict. That just means a fifth trip to my favourite London tourist spot. Any takers?

(Dun worry, you only have to live up to the standard of 4 others.)