Borough Market

 

I spent last weekend at what has to be my new favourite place in London for lazy Saturdays. My mother is a cookery teacher and has been begging for me to take her to Borough Market for a while now, however for some reason or another we have never got round to it (it is the other side of the river *shudder*). Finally, we made it there and I must say, it is amazing. I was expecting a tourist-y place not dissimilar to Camden Market, but oh no siree Borough is like an amalgamation of the quaint markets of France and Spain, coupled with the coolest pop-up restaurant and a well-stocked deli.

The extensive beer stalls made for a very happy boyfriend, who bought one of pretty much everything.

Whilst I made friends with this little guy! The fresh fish selection was amazing; I was particularly taken with the humongous oysters, an absolute favourite of mine.

We plumped for the juiciest salt-beef sandwiches smothered in mustard and pickles. The queue for them was reassuringly long and boy, they were good! Steaming hot and packed full of the pinkest beef. 

My mother takes burger-eating very seriously!

And after a busy morning all we wanted was a nice cup of tea. The afternoon tea at the National Gallery was unfortunately not quite of the same standard of Borough Market's cakes and sandwiches; really quite expensive and, although the scones were a delight, the other sweet treats were unremarkable and the sandwiches even worse. The service was also dire; despite an almost empty restaurant, we were seated on a long canteen style table with another party almost in the dark, well away from the windows, the waitress took forever and forgot various other parts of our order. A shame, because the galleries are so beautiful and Trafalgar Square is always full of interesting street performers and the perfect photo opportunity. If you were thinking of heading for afternoon tea at the National Dining Rooms, I'd take heed and consider checking out somewhere else. It was rather a shame to end such a lovely day with something so disappointing.