Shopping for special ingredients in London

Attention foodies, this is invaluable information. If you live in London, you've probably come across Borough Market, which I've blogged about extensively in the past. You will find most fresh goodies you will need there.

Game season at Borough market

But when it comes to dry goods, surprisingly, London can be a tad tricky, so I'm going to share a couple of the places I go to when I'm scavenging for special ingredients.

First and foremost. The Harrods Food Halls. Not only are they beautiful, art nouveau, historical, and really fun to visit (if you can ignore the hoards of tourists, of course), but they are massive, with halls and halls filled with the most exotic ingredients, all the cheese, charcuterie, breads you can imagine. They also have several little restaurants and traiteurs, if you really just want to stare and eat, without necessarily having to cook.






Harrods also do a spectacular "own brand" line of wines and bubblies. Really well priced, great quality wines. You can buy by the case and have it delivered to your door, I strongly recommend their Chablis, amazing value. They've just opened a beautiful new wine shop in the LG, well worth a visit.

Image courtesy of www.harrods.com

Whole Foods is also a pretty good option, particularly the larger stores, like the Kensington one.

Another surpisingly good place to try is the Harvey Nicks food hall. It's rather tiny, but really well stocked. I was recently on a mission to find semola di grano duro to make some pasta at home, and this was actually the only place I could find it.

Finally, Fortnum and Mason. You will find the usual array of jams, pickles, cheeses, and teas, but also, in the LG floor, a minimart with all sorts of goodies as well.

Infos

Harrods
87-135 Brompton Road,
http://www.harrods.com/

Borough Market
239 Borough High Street
http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/

Harvey Nichols Fifth Flor
67 Brompton Rd
http://www.harveynichols.com/

Fortnum and Mason
181 Piccadily
http://www.fortnumandmason.com/

Whole Foods
http://www.wholefoods.com/

London Markets 4 - Borough Market

There is also Borough market, but that is definitely a place where people go specifically to shop. For food, amazing, beautiful food of all types. Stalls of exotic fruit and veg, venison pies, fish and chips, olives, wine, quiches, really, you name it. It s open thursday, friday and saturday, at different times, so best to check the website: http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/



London Bridge has been a congregation stop for traders of grain, livestock and vegetables as far back as 1014. In the 13th century traders were relocated to what is now Borough High Street and a market has existed there ever since. Nowadays, this is a gourmet affair, within a big metallic structure, with stalls offering top ingredients and an with an attachment to local produce. They also host special events, and the website is packed with good recipes as well (quite handy if you get carried away buying something really odd and then have no idea what to do with it...)


Images courtesy of wwww.boroughmarket.com

Most stalls have samples to try, so do make sure you only eat AFTER making the rounds, if you have any room left in ya...

It’s quite close to the Tate Modern, so you can go have a bite and then go see the art, and do something useful with your time, you know?