spitalfields

as you may have gathered from a previous post, we are quite enamoured with the markets here. there are so many and they usually have a great selection of foods from around the world. we've also noticed that, in london, food stands are typically run by people from the country whose food is featured. for example, thai food is sold by thai vendors. the people at the japanese stalls actually speak japanese. (this is in contrast to toronto, where there is at least a reasonable probability that the proprietor of any given establishment is chinese)

last week, we ventured over to the spitalfields market area, which also includes the ever-popular brick lane. although its name doesn't sound very appealing, spitalfields is really a very nice market. we're told from more seasoned londoners that the market was overhauled a few years back. in the old days, it was a proper market and the aisles were very narrow, which didn't help with the large crowds that packed in to visit. it has more recently been renovated and is now very upscale in feel, with a nice granite-tiled floor and posh shoppers and diners in the adjacent restaurants.

we approached via brick lane. our friend and remote tour guide jon (he's currently in toronto) alerted us to a couple of bagel shops that sell authentic jewish-style bagels. 90p buys you a fresh bagel with cream cheese. we were also told that there is sometimes a spirited match of bicycle polo in the area. unfortunately, they weren't playing when we checked it out, but hopefully we'll be able to catch it another time.

brick lane is a strip of shops and market stalls on the side. the main thing we were told about brick lane is that there are some excellent indian restaurants there. we walked by a few and made the mistake of perusing one of their menus. the owner came out and tried to sell us on a deal and convince us to go in. we politely declined, but his neighbours must have smelled blood, since we were subsequently accosted by the owners of the next few restaurants we walked by as well.

after brick lane and en route to spitalfields, we inadvertently stumbled upon yet another couple of markets. the market, called the sunday upmarket is only open on, as you may have guessed, sundays. upmarket is essentially a collection of food stands that congregate in what we can only imagine is a parking lot. it's just across the street from spitalfields and features a vintage london double-decker bus that has now been converted into a seating area for one of the vendors.


we decided to eat here since the selection was good and the prices were reasonable. caspian opted for the novelty of a hog roast sandwich, which is very popular among the markets here. essentially, the vendor very proudly displays a whole hog that has been (and in most cases, still is) roasting on a spit. the meat is then shaved and packed into a bun with some applesauce and 'rocket' (essentially some lettuce-ish greens). the sandwich is topped off with some crispy skin bits. it's kind of like eating chinese roast pork in a sandwich form. teresa chose some thai massaman beef curry, which was also quite tasty! we then washed it down with some guarana (the authentic antartica stuff) that we discovered at a brazilian stall.

after lunch, we wandered around a bit more and stumbled upon (you may begin to recognize this as a common theme) a paul smith warehouse sale. unfortunately, this was the last day of a 3-day sale and, unless you're an XXL, a deal was not to be had. not that we would have splurged on anything anyway, but it was a nice find - if not a bit random.

we took a slight detour to check out the offices for wieden+kennedy, which is the advertising agency for nike and honda (of 'cog' fame). we finally ended up at spitalfields. our ulterior motive to coming, other than just seeing another part of london, was to do a brownie comparison. steve, who was batting 1.000 after his 'best ice cream ever' recommendation, had also mentioned that the best brownies were sold in spitalfields. since we had established a good base for comparison at borough market, we were eager to validate his claim. as it turns out, the same vendor (flour power city bakery) trades at both borough and spitalfields, so our brownie challenge was a bit of a wash. (steve's record remains intact, though)

other than brownies, spitalfields sells all sorts of crafts and vintage clothes. there are stalls that sell jewellry, antiques, handbags, sleeves for your oyster card (transit pass), and even one that sold glasses made out of coke and corona bottles. all in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip made even better by the lovely sunny summer weather we've been getting!