KEY POINTS:
"If our fish were any fresher, you'd have to slap it." So they say, at the fabulous Borough Market under London Bridge. Believe it or not, that motto goes for the rest of London too. It's shockingly easy to eat fresh, more or less affordable, beautifully made food all over this city.
Affluent Londoners live in a state of transference and instead of wishing they were in the countryside, they think they are in the countryside. Any food establishment has to be wild, organic, natural and artisan or you just wouldn't bother because your body is a temple. The good folk of London simply won't eat a lettuce that was picked yesterday, never let pesticides pass their lips and indulge in frequent exclamations of hedgerow rapture.
Up-market take-away outfits such as Pret a Manger, now just called Pret, are city wide and serve really good food like smoked salmon and wild crayfish salad, dolphin-friendly tuna sandwiches and elderflower youth drink. I mean, cripes! Even Selfridges' food hall on Oxford Street is hip, clean and chic with a champagne and oyster bar (so necessary if you've just come down from the third floor and been up to your neck in Marni frocks).
The Borough market on Saturdays is London's oldest, dating from Roman times. It's a riotous symphony of red-faced farmers selling hand-raised pork pies, black puddings, Devonshire Red chooks, deep red grouse and wild rabbits. There are drop-dead cheese stalls - the English are mad for cheese and this year they will spend 1 billion (NZ$3 million) on cheddar alone - sparkling wet fish stalls, cake stands selling Dawson apple pies and lardy cakes, plus organic vegetables freshly ripped from Mother Earth.
If you're feeling peckish, there are a myriad of food stalls but I headed upstairs to try the desperately popular and not cheap Roast restaurant.
Overlooking the market, it serves such loveliness as roasted pork belly with mashed potatoes and apple sauce; and beer battered haddock with chips and mushy peas.
Marylebone High Street is a charming, village-like street in central London housing an earnest Sunday morning farmers' market, behind Waitrose and very close to Peter Gordon's Providores where I breakfasted on perfectly grilled fresh sardines. The Natural Kitchen is up the road - an inspiring, thrilling food shop bursting with smiling staff, stunning produce and with a cafe upstairs. Further along the road is Conran's homewares and the kitchenware shop Divertimenti.
Another smashing area of London is Notting Hill/Westbourne Grove where you'll find the famous Books for Cooks shop, fashionable restaurants and Gail's the bread maker who needless to say, serves 13-year-old sourdough, uses only posh French butter and walks her sausage rolls all the way from the butcher next door.
Oh and one last thing: the monthly Where magazine gets my vote for best guide - slim, has everything in it and is grammatically correct at all times. Cheers!
- Detours, HoS
