Fresh rubharb, more amazing oak roasted tomatoes, polish sausages, and brownies - oh, Borough Market, can you please marry me?
I returned to Borough Market, and this time, I was armed and ready with my camera and some cash. Took better photos and bought some awesome delights instead of obsessing over free samples…
My girlfriends and I entered the market from the east side where we encountered a huge brownie skyscraper. I just had to have one.
You’ll just have to visit yourself to see that huge free-standing tower. So we trudged along, me especially happy with some really good devil’s food in my mouth, trying samples, looking here and there, buying cheese and some other vittles, and I came across some pastries that looked peculiarly similar to Chinese egg tarts…
I asked the lady behind the stand what these pastries were, and she replied that they were Portuguese Egg Tarts. Portuguese? I couldn’t fathom how similar in appearance, yet different in cuisine these two tarts were. After doing some research when I arrived home, I discovered that these Portuguese Egg Tarts (also known as pastel de nata) actually made their way to China. Some theories suggest that the Chinese egg tart came from British custard tarts and became a part of Hong Kong cuisine since Hong Kong was a British colony. Other theories pose that the Chinese egg tart came from Macau, a past Portuguese colony. The popularity of these tarts integrated into dim sum, a Southern Chinese specialty (mainly Hong Kong and Guangdong), which actually makes sense because the southern ports were the most westernized at the time.
Yet, the most epic experience of the day was tasting my first raclette.
Raclette is a Swiss dish of melted cheese, potatoes, pickles, and traditionally, dried meat. The word “raclette” comes from the French word “racler,” which means “to scrape.” The huge cheese round is melted
then scraped onto the dish. The dish tasted amazing, but I instantly turned my brain off thinking about the calories.
As we ventured more into the Jubilee Market side, we came across Oliveology.
Although I did not taste the olives, I had some of their honey. And that honey was probably one of the best honeys I have ever had. Unfortunately, I do not think they sell their honey online (I couldn’t find it on their web site), but their bees produce flavored honey as well. They harvest honey from bees from specific areas, so for example, honey from the bees around chestnut trees produce their wild chestnut honey. I had no doubt that I was able to taste the hint of chestnut - wonderful.
Next to the Oliveology stand, there were strands of Polish sausages. You always see Polish sausages advertised in your Costco hot dog or elsewhere, but I wanted to eat authentic Polish sausages. After having some samples, the girls and I split a mini sausage for forty pence.
The piece was much bigger, I just forgot to take a photo… I found out that these sausages are “smoked” and cooked literally by hot smoke. After hours of smoking, the sausages finally carry that smoky flavor. A bit salty for my tastes, but a tastier snack than Slim Jims.
We ended the trip by browsing through the chocolatier
where I had another free dose of chocolate.
Oh, Borough Market, so attached I am to you.