Update: Summary added for the ‘He Who Knows’ Challenge

Located just outside the London Bridge Underground station, you will easily stumble across London’s Borough Markets, with the closest thing back home in Brisbane being the farmer’s markets organized by Jan Power. I had high expectations for these markets, having read about this place sometime last year at The Passionate Cook’s food blog, and after visiting can say that I was definitely not disappointed.

The only way that I can succinctly describe the markets is that it is distinctly London. Unlike the powerhouse markets back home where you can walk up one side and down the other, the Borough markets can be difficult to navigate. Just like the city that hosts it, the markets comprise of winding paths connecting all the stalls seemingly held together by the swarms of people from all over the world that flow through them all. Admittedly the markets are not as big as I was first anticipating, consisting of about 70 stalls and a handful of stores, but the quality and variety of food and produce available certainly make up for it.

The offerings of food is amazing and had I actually had a kitchen to return home to yesterday, probably would have come away with much more than I did. Stretching further than just typical farmer markets fare, the markets have pretty much everything you would need for any pretty fine dinner, and listing them all here would not really give justice to what the markets really do offer, but you can find huge varieties of fresh fruit and vegetables, seafood, poultry, meat, game, jams, cheese, wines, breads, cakes, chocolates and just so much more.

One of London’s premium coffee stores, Monmouth, has a double presence here with a small stall in the heart of the markets fuelling the crowd’s almost frenzied movements with shots of caffeine, and the more permanent fixture on the street just opposite the markets. The more permanent fixture is so popular, that like all busy pubs in the city, that it has people cascading onto the streets, all standing around chatting and drinking coffee out of proper cups and saucers. Neil’s Yard Diary, well known for its quality cheese products also has a physical store just next to Monmouth but was so busy inside I didn’t feel up to pushing my way through to its delightful offerings (especially where there is one just a street away from work).

It should be fairly obvious to a person new to London that meat and meat products play a big game in British food fares (or is that just London?). Amongst the many meat products on offer, I saw a much wide variety of things including fresh Haggish, Black Pudding, pies, sausages, rabbits hanging, wild boar, pheasants and an amazing amount of cured, smoked or dried meats. I was thoroughly impressed by one particular store, the name currently eluding me that had four or five legs of cured pork meat each held by a single vice all on a large long bench. At the request of a customer, attendants would shave off fresh slices of what looked like prosciutto or parma-ham, with a long blade to be carefully layered on sheets of plastic.

Feeling like I couldn’t come away from the markets without making a purchase, but unable to really buy anything that useful (my hotel room doesn’t have a bar-fridge or anything) I decided to pick up a punnet of fresh raspberries to snack on, and a small bottle of oak-smoked garlic butter to give to my sister.

The markets are only open from noon until 6pm on Friday and then 9am to pm on Saturday. Crowds on a Saturday are thin early on, but increase in density pretty quickly. There are plenty of things that you can still pick up, even if you don’t live in London (fresh coverture chocolates, cakes, croissants, sweets, berries, coffee, etc) and even though the markets are on the southeast side of London, it is extremely easy to get to. It’s definitely a place I will be visiting regularly.

Details: The Borough Markets (Location)
Found on: 8 Southwark Street, SE1
Highlights: Fantastic variety of food, nice atmosphere and great variety, and the potential to see Jamie Oliver walking around.
Room for improvement: Crowds and people with strollers make it difficult getting around to all the stalls and combined with the winding paths may make it difficult for you to return to that stall you may want to revisit.
The Kua Rating: 8.5 out of 10 (I’m impressed but I haven’t visited any of other London’s market offerings)