An innovative new scheme to fight food waste and food poverty is growing with a new London initiative launched this week…
Ben Longman, Olivia Haughton, Rebecca Trevalyan and Sebastian Wood launch the People’s Fridge (photo Sebastian Wood)
The People’s Fridge (similar to the community fridges championed by Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty on their Friday Night Feast in January) has just moved into Pop Brixton in south London. Following a successful crowdfunding campaign, residents and local businesses are invited to stock it with edible goodies that would otherwise, needlessly, have to be thrown away.
A community fridge can be used by anyone for free – those who want to share food that would be otherwise go to waste, and those for whom access to fresh and free food is hard to come by. Like other community fridges dotted around the country, the Pop Brixton fridge, London’s first, will be helping to solve the pressing problems of food waste and food deprivation.
Did you know that restaurants throw away 900,000 tonnes of food a year, while UK households bin approximately 24 meals’ worth of edible food every month? When an estimated 8.4 million people are living in food insecurity, relying on food banks to feed themselves and their families, The People’s Fridge movement is such as essential, and smart, answer to this problem.
Similar fridges operate in Frome in Somerset and in Derbyshire, with Spain, Germany and India also running similar schemes. If you’d like to see a community fridge set-up in your area, get onto your local council and help drum-up some local support. Next time you’re going away for a few days, you could be putting that milk, cheese, salad or glut of homegrown courgettes into a People’s Fridge for anyone to have. Now that’s cool!
Follow London’s first community fridge via Twitter
There’s a real buzz (ahem…) around King’s Cross right now – take this new tech-enhanced walk around the city’s regenerated area to find out why…
On a sunny Sunday in King’s Cross last week, we tried out the BeeTrail app, created by social enterprise The Honey Club. With a mission to create the largest bee-friendly network in the world, The Honey Club encourages people to get involved with helping vulnerable bee communities in our cities and beyond. This new app, free for iPhone or Android, is part of that mission.
The Bee Trail app takes you on a 45min walk around some of the ‘buzziest’ spots in King’s Cross. Starting at restaurant The German Gymnasium, into Granary Square, down to the canalside, up to the community gardens, past the outdoor swimming pond and ending at the fantastic Skip Garden – the walk takes in eight stops. Turn on your Bluetooth and at each stop the app will automatically ‘unlock’ the next stage (or you can manually type in a code found at each check-in point).
Each stop unlocks a few pages of fascinating bee facts and more about how London’s biodiversity supports the bee population. We learnt a few new things including the stunning fact that there are around 250 different species of bee in the UK!
Several of the stops prompt a ‘bee count’ task – start the app timer and count how many honeybees, solitary bees and two types of bumblebee you can spot within 30 seconds (a pictorial ID guide is provided if your bee knowledge is a bit rusty). On our sunny afternoon, some of these spots were surprisingly light on bees, except for two hotspots literally humming with activity. All counts are recorded as part of a wider survey on bee populations, so your ‘game’ is also a very useful bit of research.
As a thank you, each completed count unlocks rewards in the form of vouchers for discounts or freebies from some of our favourite places in the area including Dishoom, Caravan, The Grain Store, The Skip Garden, German Gymnasium, The Greek Larder, Rotunda and The Lighterman. We recommend ‘eating and drinking’ your way along the trail as you win your reward vouchers (not filling up on lunch beforehand like us – although vouchers are valid until 4th September). As an aside, do make sure you take your time at The Skip Garden – this excellent community garden has been made almost entirely with reclaimed, salvaged and recycled materials. They grow their own produce and have a cute little cafe serving great coffee and cake (and they have a covetable outdoor pizza oven!).
Exploring the redevelopment of King’s Cross, with its influx of new restaurants, bars and event spaces, you can’t help but be impressed with the fact that nature has not been forgotten in this part of the capital. Flowerbeds and window boxes full of bee-friendly plants are found all over the place – along lavender-scented pathways, within playgrounds, and lining the outdoor dining areas of restaurants. It’s a buzzy slice of nature in the city.
The Bee Trail runs until 4th September 2016 – download the app for free at www.beetrail.co.uk.
The street art scene is alive and kicking in London’s Shoreditch – join a tour with a local social enterprise to discover the alternative side of the city…
Meeting under the ‘goat’ sculpture at Spitalfields, we meet Keir and begin our discovery of Shoreditch and Spitalfields’ street art scene. Keir, an artist himself, is a guide with social enterprise Alternative London – a tour operator that supports artists and other young creatives. They may be small but they’ve been number one on TripAdvisor’s London tours list and featured in the Guardian’s top 10 tours in the world!
Keir of Alternative London leads the group
Our two hour walking tour took a loop through Spitalfields, Brick Lane and Shoreditch, taking in some of the area’s most creative ‘street canvas’ but also disovering some fascinating insights into how this multicultural area of the city has changed over the past 350 years. It was an eye-opener to hear that the building which is currently Brick Lane was once a Jewish synagogue and a Catholic church!
Getting under the skin of the street art scene
Being part of the scene himself, and close friends with many of the artists whose work we viewed, Keir was able to give some insider knowledge (did you know that street artist Stik made £50K from a limited edition print and gave it all away to charity?). Keir also knows that every tour will be different as the landscape is changing daily – new works pop up, literally, overnight.
What a walking tour also teaches you is that you should always look up, and look down. We spotted the small bronze sculptures of Jonesy on top of sign-posts. We saw tree roots transformed into snakes. We saw ‘No Entry’ signs comically ‘defaced’. We saw Invader’s famous mosaics on street corners. We didn’t just see ROA’s awe-inspiring bird and other huge murals but also found out more about how the area, and spots such as Hanbury Street in particular, are magnets for street artists.
Martin Ron mural joins the crane by ROA
Such is the sheer volume of artworks in this area, your guide can’t stop and talk about each and every one. This leaves plenty of opportunities for rewalking the route (backwards?) or taking another tour on another day. This is simply a two-hour snapshot of the scene on that one day.
Walking, cycling, drinking, eating, art(ing?)
Alternative London now run a whole wealth of tours so you can discover the many layers of this neighbourhood. Try a street art bike tour, a pub and craft beer tour, or an East London food tour. They also run street art workshops (which can also be combined with a walking tour) so you can learn how to create your own spray paint masterpiece.
As a social enterprise, Alternative London directs a portion of its profits into youth art workshops, free to budding street artists, and helps fund some of the largest street murals in London’s East End.
When/How to book
The Alternative London Walking Tour lasts 1.5-2hrs and runs Mon-Sat with multiple departure times on some days. For full dates/times and booking, plus more details of all of the tours and workshops on offer, visit www.alternativeldn.co.uk.
There may be a rather large RHS flower show taking place in the neighbourhood this May, but this year’s Chelsea Fringe is coming up roses…
Robert Bradford, Flower Poodle, 2016 (Courtesy the artist and Rebecca Hossack Gallery)
The 2016 Chelsea Fringe, the alternative garden festival, has plenty of quirky delights of the floral variety to keep gardeners (and non-gardeners) alike in the pink. Art, design, poetry, music, science and food with a horticultural focus will come together for three weeks of events from 21 May – 12 June across London, the UK and four international locations.
The festival expands beyond SW3 to every London quarter, the far corners of the UK including the Isle of Mull in Scotland, Monmouth in Wales, Margate, Leeds, Bristol and Henley-on-Thames in England, and internationally to Sweden, Poland, Italy and Australia.
Emerging themes for the 2016 Fringe include: health and well-being – the essential benefits of medicinal plants and gardening in battling depression and other health issues; wild food is the new street food – urban food foraging and how to spot edible plants and flowers in a city’s green spaces; a history of guerilla gardening – the importance of green spaces in urban planning and public spaces; domestic farming – how to use your garden space for small-scale food production; and the more decorative art of flower arranging – from how to make posies & table centerpieces to a floating flotilla on the Thames.
Covent Garden Flower Market (Image courtesy the Chelsea Fringe)
A few highlights from the festival include:
Heywood and Condie’s Greenhouse – horticultural installation artists Heywood & Condie have created a piece of sculptural architecture on the forecourt of Royal British Society of Sculptors consisting of a greenhouse constructed from discarded 18th and 19th stained glass. The Christian imagery has been dismantled and reused to present a world of chimeras, mythical creatures and folkloric hybrids. 25 May until September. FREE.
Borough Market: Find and Feast – Join urban forager, Ceri Buckmaster, on a wild food walk around Southwark and discover how to identify seasonal plants and flowers in some unexpected locations, then finish the morning at the demonstration kitchen in Borough Market and learn how to cook delicious recipes using them with chef and food blogger Celia Brooks. 27 May, 11am-2.30pm. FREE.
Perfume in Georgian London – east London Antique emporium, Townhouse, present a series of talks by renowned horticulturist, Stephen Nelson, focusing on the English garden and its direct link to perfume over the past four centuries. 31 May, 3-4pm. FREE.
Prescribing gardens and gardening for mental health and well-being – the British Medical Association Mind Garden presents a lecture series on medicinal plants and their health benefits. 26 May, 2 June, 9 June, 4.30 – 6.30pm. FREE.
Behind the Wall – New Covent Garden Flower Market are offering free tours behind the scenes of the UK’s largest flower market. Visitors will get to see what inspires London’s florists and learn about the market’s history. 21 May, 7 – 8.30pm, FREE.
Floral Flotilla – A fabulous show of a range of river craft covered in variety of floral displays will moor up adjacent to Mill House in Henley-on Thames. Visitors on foot can enjoy a picnic on the bank accompanied by live music by local musicians. 21 May, 11am-3pm. FREE.
To celebrate the new Chinese Year of the Monkey, we visited the UK’s first Magical Lantern Festival…
Don’t let the typical February weather put you off visiting this spectacular outdoor show (wind and rain made an unwelcome appearance the evening we visited – just wrap up warm and take waterproofs!). The Magical Lantern Festival, making its UK debut at Chiswick House in west London, is a sight to behold, offering enough ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh’ moments to warm the most jaded of hearts.
The festival is essentially a 1hr+ trail around the grand Chiswick House gardens to view around 50 amazing and beautiful lantern displays. Don’t just think pretty lights – these are intricate and often HUGE sculptures of flowers, animals, birds and temples.
Highlights included the cute pandas, sparkling jellyfish, giant flowers, flocks of flamingoes, a life-sized African safari, and a 60m long Chinese dragon! There are super-sized light sculptures of giraffes, zebra, monkeys and antelope; giant goldfish, Oriental ducks and frogs on lily pads; decorated swans, peacocks and elephants; cute renderings of the Chinese zodiac characters; a ‘terracotta army’; even a marching band of ants.
Good use is made of the grand setting with illuminations floating on the lake, dotted around the trees and set against the Palladian architecture of Chiswick House. (click on our galleries for more pictures from the festival)
Food & Drink
There are a smattering of street food stalls selling warming churros, toast-your-own marshmallows, satay, African curries and venison burgers. All good stuff but not a cornucopia of food and drink that you’d expect at a festival (or an abundance of Chinese goodies we were craving!) – it’s good enough for grabbing a bite to eat at the beginning or end of the trail.
All-in-all, this inaugural festival has enough surprising and intriguing sights to make it a very en-light-ening experience (sorry…).
Visitor info: The Magical Lantern Festival runs until Sunday 6th March 2016, starting at 5pm each day. Tickets are around £16 per person (click here to purchase). Find the festival at Chiswick House and Gardens, London W4 2RP.
It’s time to go slow this autumn and winter… From cooking ‘slow’ brunches to making your own leather tea tray, the new SLOWmotion workshops are here to teach us all the joys of slow living.
Organised by food magazine and event company TOAST, this new series of foodie and lifestyle workshops and events is all about celebrating the ‘slow life’. Mass production and instant gratification, step aside!
SLOWmotion at Rosewood London
Taking place at the beautiful Rosewood hotel in London’s Bloomsbury, expect tasty brunches full of plenty of sharing plates featuring slow food ingredients from the regular Sunday Slow Food & Living Market in the hotel’s courtyard.
As well as eating brunch with foodies including Rosie Birkett and Jackson & Levine, you could even make your own tray, table runner and spoon! Join one of several workshops which each focus on a different craft, and explore mindfulness and slow living by traditional techniques. Each workshop host will teach guests how to make an item to take home (ideal for Christmas gifts) as well as discussing their story and lifestyle.
See the full schedule of events and workshops below.
Tickets: Booking is essential – tickets can be reserved via the TOAST website www.eatdrinktoast.com/events and are priced from £40.00.
Location: The Living Room, Rosewood London, 252 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7EN
Doe at SLOWmotion
SLOWmotion Autumn/Winter 2015 Schedule
12-2:30pm, September 27th – Slow Food Brunch with Signe Johansen
A Slow Food brunch with Signe Johansen, Norwegian-American cook, writer and food anthropologist, and author of best-selling cookbooks Scandilicious and Scandilicious Baking; expect such delights as the Scandi Bloody Mary with tomato juice from the market, 58 Gin, Halen Mon smoked water, dill, horseradish and cucumber and Crispy Cod Cheeks with Nordic Dill Salsa, plus, to take home, Skoleboller or “school buns” – Norwegian vanilla custard filled buns with coconut www.twitter.com/SigneSJohansen
11am-1pm, October 11th – Slow Living Workshop with Grain & Knot
A Slow Living workshop with woodworker Sophie Sellu of Grain & Knot. Learn the art of crafting a spoon from reclaimed timber. During the workshop guests will learn the safest way to use wood carving knives and leave with their very own spoon. A kit of sandpaper and a homemade wood balm will be given to each attendee to continue to care for their spoons at home www.grainandknot.com
11am-1pm, October 18th – Slow Living Workshop with Waffle Design and Curate & Display
A Slow Living and interior design workshop with Waffle Design in collaboration with Curate & Display, a lifestyle and design blog. WAFFLE is a fresh range of home interior accessories made using organic cotton and a tactile waffle weave. The creative lead and founder Ciara McGarrity will share Waffle Design craft secrets, and teach guests how to create bespoke table runners. Tiffany Grant-Riley, the founder or Curate & Display, will talk about her thought process with creative, modern, clean interiors. www.waffledesign.co.uk // www.curateanddisplay.co.uk
12-2:30pm, November 1st – Slow Food Brunch with Rosie Birkett
A Slow Food brunch with Rosie Birkett, food writer, stylist, presenter and author of the bestselling cookbook A Lot on Her Plate, a collection of imaginative, delicious and approachable recipes that draw on the culinary vibrancy of seasonal, fresh produce and simple, store-cupboard ingredients www.rosiebirkett.com
12-2:30pm, November 8th – Slow Food Brunch with Jackson & Levine aka Laura Jackson & Alice Levine
A Slow Food brunch from London’s coolest supperclub hosts Jackson & Levine. With Laura Jackson and Alice Levine both working in TV and radio, they set up their supperclub as a passion project to create an interesting and fun environment for like-minded food folk to sit round a table and enjoy a home cooked meal and a glass (or three) of wine www.jacksonandlevine.co.uk
12-2:30pm, November 15th – Slow Food Brunch with Claire Ptak of Violet Bakery
A Slow Food brunch with Claire Ptak, food stylist, food writer and owner of Violet Bakery in East London. Hailing from California, Claire trained in the pastry department at Chez Panisse with Alice Waters, who subsequently wrote a moving foreword to her recent book The Violet Bakery Cookbook. Claire focuses on seasonal ingredients, natural flavourings, wholegrains and unrefined sugars when baking. Bringing a Californian sensibility to everything she does, she has also worked with Jamie Oliver and Yotam Ottolenghi. www.violetcakes.com
11am-1pm, November 22nd – Slow Living Workshop with Doe Leather
A Slow Living and leather workshop with Doe Leather, one of the last remaining Black Country leather goods workshops. Using natural vegetable-tanned leather, Deborah Thomas will teach guests how to create a beautiful leather tray. Attendees will learn the basics of leather sewing with different coloured harness threads, burnishing (on the edges of the leather with special gum and linen cloths) and then hand-stamp their initials into the final piece www.doeleather.co.uk
12-2:30pm, November 29th – Slow Food Brunch with Meera Sodha
A Slow Food brunch with Meera Sodha, cook, food writer and author of the bestselling cookbook Made in India: Cooked in Britain, a collection or recipes focusing on Gujarati cuisine written as she hovered over her mother’s shoulder at the stove www.meerasodha.com
More events, including Christmas specials, to be announced!
There’s nothing bitter about the coffee at this new social enterprise cafe…
Opened just over six months ago in Peckham, south London, the Old Spike Roastery is a little different to all the other indie coffee shops opening in gentrified corners of London. This cafe employs homeless and former homeless people. Its mission is to get them get back on their feet by providing them with training, paid employment, and other support such as housing and language lessons.
Old Spike Roastery, Peckham (photo: Nathan Small)
Excellent coffee roasted on the premises
The coffee is excellent – single origin, speciality beans, hand-roasted on the premises. Also on sale is bread from Breaking Bread in Nunhead (a social enterprise that employs ex-offenders), plus Crosstown doughnuts and brownies.
You don’t have to go to Peckham to drink their coffee. Their hand-roast is available to buy online – if you subscribe you get a fresh bag sent out every Thursday tailored to how you make your coffee at home. Every bag sold goes some way to helping a homeless person get back on their feet.
a friendly smile at the Old Spike Roastery cafe (photo: Nathan Small)
Founded by childhood friends Cemal Ezel and Richard Robinson, both local to the Peckham area, the inspiration for the social aspect of the enterprise came from Cemal visiting the Reaching Out teahouse in Hoi An which employs waitresses with hearing loss. Richard was inspired to roast coffee in-house after spending three years in the caffeine-fueled city of New York.
So next time you’re in Peckham, drop in for a coffee and say hello. You may meet Lucy, their first trainee barista who is now working at Old Spike after the founders saw her selling the Big Issue outside London Bridge station.
Old Spike Roastery is open Mon-Fri 7.30am to 3pm, and Sat-Sun 9.30am to 5pm. Find them at 54 Peckham Rye, London SE15 4JR.
Guest blogger Erin Moncur discovers an eco-friendly restaurant that is causing a worldwide stir amongst vegans looking for more than a good salad…
222 Veggie Vegan, just a five minute walk from West Kensington station, first opened its doors in 2004 and has since firmly established a reputation for being London’s friendliest vegan restaurant, serving wonderful and inspiring dishes alongside a great, relaxed atmosphere. Even at its busiest times, it doesn’t take long to be seated and made to feel welcome.
Yummy food at 222 Veggie Vegan
Meet Ben the chef
Ben, who has been a vegan himself since his teenage years, is passionate about helping other vegans enjoy their experience of eating out and, more importantly, to enjoy their food. He picks the menu himself and lovingly prepares the dishes using fresh, natural ingredients that are low in fat and salt.
He also makes sure they are GM free and organic where possible. He works with a small team who share his passions and ideals. If you ask any of them about the food, they can all tell you where it comes from.
The menu
The menu is reasonably priced considering the location of the restaurant. The evening mains vary from £8.95 to £11.95 and the lunch buffet is set at £7.50, or £5.50 if you need lunch to be a takeaway. The dishes are unusual but amazing, from Seitan Stroganoff (a customer favourite) to Pumpkin Noodles with Grated Coconut. You will also find a fabulous mixture of starters, side dishes and desserts.
Their 222 Burger, made from tofu and veggie mince, is delicious. The team are more than happy for you to make requests and variations to suit your own requirements and I encourage you to pop into the kitchen to meet Ben and chat about the food.
Outside 222 Veggie Vegan
For buffet lunches and candlelit evening meals, this is a place to go and experience, vegan or not. It is not hard to see why they were awarded the Certificate of Excellence from Trip Advisor in 2013.
Location: 222 Veggie Vegan Restaurant, 222 North End Road, West Kensington, London W14 9NU
Contact for reservations and more info: 020 7381 2322 / info@222veggievegan.com
Want to do something a bit different to your standard walking tour, and support a social enterprise? Let a homeless guide lead you through the streets of London for a tour you’ll never forget…
Other tours include Brick Lane, led by homeless guide Cris
Award-winning Unseen Tours has expanded its London itinerary with a revamped Brixton tour and a new London Bridge tour. The walking tours, all led by homeless and formerly homeless guides, aim to be fun, amaze and entertain as well as offer new perspectives on the city – and £6 from every ticket sold goes straight to the guide.
After an 18-month break in the area, Unseen Tours returns to vibrant Brixton with the Brixton Tour- Dynamic and Vibrant (£10, 1hr 45mins). On the walk, you can discover the area’s hidden gems, from the river to a restored windmill, and a prison that has been home to more than a few famous names. Led by Hazel, a local lady who became homeless after her marriage ended, the tour explores Brixton’s varied history from the riots of the 1980s to its reinvention as a Transition Town with its own currency, the Brixton Pound.
Hazel leads Unseen Tours in Brixton
A new version of the London Bridge Tour – Mysterious Alleys, Hidden Pathways (£10, 1hr 45mins) starts in August and is led by David who became homeless for a short period 11 years ago when the tenancy agreement on his flat was terminated while he was in hospital.
David’s tour follows the Thames along the South Bank before delving into Borough’s more mysterious alleyways, taking in one of the world’s greatest food markets, the infamous Clink prison and a secret archaeological dig. The tour ends at one of the city’s oldest pubs.
Faye Shields, co-founder of Unseen Tours says, “All of our tours are designed in partnership with the guides to reflect their interests and knowledge of the area, so with David joining us as a new guide our London Bridge tour is having a refresh.”
Unseen Tours aims to provide income and opportunities for the homeless, and for formerly homeless individuals trying to get back on their feet, but it also aims to challenge perceptions of homelessness, which are often based on stereotypes. “Homelessness can happen to anyone, for all sorts of reasons such as redundancy, relationship breakdown, or illness,” says Shields. “Our hope is that by spending time with Hazel, David or another Unseen Tour guide, people may rethink those stereotypes.”
The tours, and their guides, continue to gain rave reviews on TripAdvisor with previous participants calling it “incredible“, “mind blowing” and “inspiring“. One reviewer said “having never been on a tour like this I wasn’t quite prepared for just how fantastic it would be”!
Formerly homeless guide, Hazel with a tour group in Brixton
Not-for-profit social enterprise Unseen Tours was set up in 2010 and has been recognised with a Responsible Tourism Award and an Observer Ethical Award. There are now six tours, in Brick Lane, Brixton, Camden, Covent Garden, London Bridge and Shoreditch. The tours get excellent reviews and offer a unique insight into London life – while giving visibility and a voice to people who often feel unseen and unheard.
To book any of the tours mentioned, and for more information, visit www.unseentours.co.uk.
This post is sponsored by London Serviced Apartments
Food markets – street food, real food, slow food or farmers’ markets – are enjoying boom time right now.
The capital boasts dozens of food markets, from newbies to the well-established, meaning you can barely make it through a weekend without sipping a craft beer while wolfing down a grass-fed lamb burger with truffle coated fries ‘on the go’.
Urban Food Fest, Shoreditch, London
Here’s our pick of London’s food markets to try in one weekend:
Friday lunchtime
KERB– A favourite with office workers in its regular locations of Spitalfields and at The Gerkin in the City. But it’s at Cubbit Square, King’s Cross, where you can find KERB 12-3pm every weekday including Friday. From the regularly changing line-up of stallholders, you could be grabbing lunch from Spit & Roast, Fundi Pizza, Club Mexicana, Oli Baba’s, Moto Yogo, Original Fry-Up Material, Vinn Goute, Horn OK Please, and many, many more! An outdoor swimming pool is also promised to accompany KERB at this location….!
Friday evening
Summer Tales – The tropical pop-up from the Night Tales crew, Old’s Street’s Summer Tales runs throughout summer with street food, five bars and renowned DJs. Enjoy the jungle surroundings featuring hammocks, rope swings and a large sun terrace. Sample the cocktails at the Lazy Flamingo Bar before feasting on fare from Burger & Lobster, Forza Win, Bonnie Gull and Morty & Bob’s.
Saturday morning
Broadway Market – A favourite with London’s Field’s residents, this lively market can get crowded but it’s more than worth a visit. Buy organic fruit, veg, eggs, meat and more from local producers, take away delicious homemade cakes and pastries, and snap up one-offs from clothing and gift stalls. Artisan street food vendors cover everything from Scotch eggs to Persian tagines, and don’t miss ordering a Vietnamese coffee from Ca Phe VN. The market is also home to a host of cool indie shops, cafes and the infamous Cat & Mutton pub.
Saturday afternoon (from 5pm)
Street Feast – The mighty Street Feast is going from strength to strength. With ‘Feasts’ in Lewisham, Dalston, and the brand new 1,000 capacity Dinerama in Shoreditch, this is one hip street food happening you really need to experience! Depending on the market you plump for, you’ll have around 20-50 street food vendors to work your way around including Mother Clucker, Yum Bun, Up In My Grill, Crabbieshack, Meringue Girls, Killer Tomato, Som Saa, Luardos, Mama Wang’s Kitchen, and dozens more. The plentiful bars serving crafts beers and cocktails and the “vinyl gooves” keep up the good vibes.
Saturday evening
Urban Food Fest – If you’re not staying at Street Feast into the evening (and you can if you haven’t had your fill), hot foot it to Shoreditch for the Urban Food Fest until midnight. Described as “achingly cool” and an “amazing street food party” in the press, this Shoreditch night market boasts free entry and plenty of amazing global gastronomy to feast on. Chow down on Chinese jian bing crepes, pulled pork burgers, Austrian specknoedel, Mexican tacos, Portuguese desserts, fresh gyoza, Spanish tapas and much more… Live music and entertainment accompanies the feasting.
Sunday morning
It’s Sunday so let’s bring the pace down a bit…
Alexandra Palace Farmers’ Market– What better way to spend a lazy Sunday morning than by strolling along to your local farmers’ market for a great coffee and to pick up some local outdoor-bred pork sausages for brunch? This lovely market is full of local stallholders meaning you get to grab fresh veg, meat and fish to take home, or sample delicious treats from small artisan food producers – homemade granola and local honey anyone?
Most areas of London, particularly in the suburbs, will have a small farmers’ market so check your council website for details.
Sunday afternoon
Slow Food & Living Market – This new market in the serine courtyard of the Rosewood Hotel is an absolute gem. The organisers aim to recreate the sense of community that a local market brings by featuring local producers and artisans selling top quality, fresh produce that is in-season, free from GMOs, responsibly farmed or caught, and grown to high environmental standards. Sustainable gifts are also on sale, and a children’s area keeps little ones entertained. Shop from stalls including Oliver’s Bakery, Moonroast Coffee, Seaforth Chocolate Co., Greedy Goat, Chef & Butcher, Petersham Cellar, Wild Country Organics and Being Sophie.
If you eat like a local, why not live like a local? If you’re visiting London book yourself a stay at an apartment through London Serviced Apartments and really make a weekend of it. With access to over 1,400 luxury private homes, serviced like a hotel, you can rest any full stomachs in real comfort!
