London Winter Market Crawl

London is a huge city and is taking me forever to really get to know it. Everyday I feel like I find out something new. The markets, for one, are endless and it seems like each weekend I hear about another one. A friend of mine offered to take me through west london’s finest and introduce me to a few of the people who run the stalls and get a general overview of what is available for when I do a dinner party or for my regular clients in the week. What is really cool about meeting some of the stall owners, especially the fishmongers, is that you can pre-order and collect it each Saturday. It also garantees that you are doing everything seasonal. This will make the produce taste better and the fish and meat as fresh as possible. Plus you are being naturally macrobiotic, which is great for your health.

My first stop was the market on Bute Street in South Kensington which is open every Saturday. Of the three markets I saw today, this one by far had the best veg. All seasonal and all looked as if it had been picked at midnight. Quite impressive.

At the moment I have noticed this craze for brussel sprout tops. I noticed first the chef Tom Kerrigan talking about them and cooking them on Saturday Kitchen. But I had gathered they were pretty rare to come across. Boy was I wrong. They were everywhere! I felt like I have been living under a rock. I am hoping this time next year we will see them in Waitrose, but for now just head to your local market apparently. Each veg stall was bursting at the seams with them. I will cook them this week and write up a recipe most definitely.

They remind me of Cabbage Patch kids.

The pumpkins were also stunning, in bright oranges and yellow ochre.

The fishmonger at this particular market had some really beautiful baby prawns.

The guy who runs the stall, Doc, told me they run out very fast so you have to get there before ten. The crabs were also stunning and as they are seasonal you need to buy them now while the waters are still cold. This crab was big enough for a family of eight.

Doc goes out himself and brings back exactly what he catches the day before. Therefore the fish is incredibly fresh and I love the idea that it is naturally quite sustainable.

The next market I went to was the Pimlico Market, which is also a Saturday edition. The bread stall really stood out for me here. I haven’t seen pretzels like this since I was in Munich.

The fishmonger here had a lovely selection of brown shrimps and some very beautiful whelks. I am a complete whelk nerd and eat them often. They have such an incredible taste of the sea and I love the beautiful shells. Something very mermaid-like eating them. The Cow does great whelks, over in Notting Hill, which I frequent. But now that I know they are sold here, I may do something with them on a menu.

I came across a great mushroom stall and the owner told me they were one of the last mushroom farmers in the UK who do not produce on a grand scale for grocery stores and mass production. They all looked beautiful. Bright and colorful and very fresh.

They had a large variety of seasonal birds and all kinds of cuts of pork, beef, and lamb. The pork belly I saw looked wonderful and my friend, an avid foodie and home cook, told me it was the best he had ever tried.

The last market I tried was over in Chelsea, on Kings Road. This market had much more of a take-away thing going on, with much less produce and much more cooked items. The fishmonger was terrific however, and they had very delicious oysters. Paul, the owner, was hand shucking them for us, and handed me a particularly fresh one to try. Was very impressed.

There is also a really great Ethiopian coffee stand which I recommend, as well as a few local cheese stalls with some lovely looking buffalo milk products.

Twas a lovely day getting to know my local markets and I am really impressed with what I have found. I am looking very forward to my brussel top experiment and my beautiful painterly mushrooms…