My Trip to Borough Market

I must admit I was a "Borough Market" virgin till recently! I heard so much about it and it had its rightful place on my to do list. It became an imperative when at a dinner party at a friend's house in Turkey; I was told it was full of delicacies including "pistachio oil". Considering myself an expert in anything "pistachio", I set out to find out more...As far as I knew, "pistachio oil" was that lovely smelling natural green oil that rose to the top when our "pistachio paste” sat in the pot undisturbed for a while. I had an inkling that it might be something very special used by top chefs. I was talking to Ryan Simpson of Orwells the other day who confirmed my suspicions - it belongs to a category of rare and elusive ingredients.

Although I haven't found the "pistachio oil" I was looking for in the Borough Market, I found it in an online gourmet French website called "Bien manger" - quelle surprise (?). These French are quite amazing when it comes to food, you can find weird and wonderful stuff there! Anyway I bought a very expensive, 10 ml bottle of Huilerie Beaujolaise Pistachio Oil - as I had to try it! I must admit, it is very nice and adds a wonderful nutty aroma to salads - apparently with its rich flavour, this oil is perfect with raspberry or balsamic vinegar and on avocados, endives, prawn cocktail, green beans, and also potatoes, pasta rice red mullet and seafood...



Virgin Pistachio Oil by Huilerie Beaujolaise

Having high expectations -in anything really- raises the bar considerably high. So although I loved the Borough Market, I was a bit disappointed - I felt, is this all, mainly in terms of the size of the market. When you look at the website, you expect to see many more stalls. The smells and tastes were nevertheless delicious. I had a lovely duck bagel with wine in a plastic cup for lunch - devouring it standing, eyeing the foie gras on the shelves and thinking about the poor ducks - can't be said exactly double standards even if I am not a vegetarian...

How cute is this duck ! Shame on me!

I also bought some lovely "granola". Despite the sophisticated sounding name I was glad to discover that it was quite simple in its contents. It is delicious as a topping on yogurt or I like it just eating on its own...

I was still looking for anything pistachioey...I found a counter selling desserts and sweet things -French obviously. They had a something like a pistachio flavoured custard, which I bought and tried - again disappointment as it only had a flavour of pistachio and not the real thing - didn't taste anything like pistachio...Anyway, they at least tried :)

Cigdem holding Pistachio Flavoured Custard

I also stopped at "Greedy Goat" as the name suggests, they use Goat's milk for their ice creams, tasted nice and light.

Cigdem before eating her Pistachio Goat's Milk Ice Cream

You could wonder if I was asking total strangers to take my pictures. It was actually my brother-in-law who was visiting London; I convinced him that it would be a nice day out for him as well! He must be surprised with my enthusiasm for the humble pistachio!

Finally, I realized, one of the things I love about London is its markets; they are places of wonder and joy. I first discovered them when I was visiting London in my gap year long ago. I will never forget the buzz, excitement and freedom I felt during a first visit to such a market. I hope you have days as colourful as a London market !