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The most expensive sandwich in London

Sandwich shops are everywhere in London. Pret A Manager seems to be popping up on every streetcorner, every Tesco and Marks and Spencer sells sandwiches, so what does the seasoned sandwich lover do that is looking for something new? Head over to Selfridges for the most expensive sandwich in London. Here are the details:

* 600 grams
* over 2500 calories
* cost: 85 pounds sterling
* available at Selfridges deli counter

For those eager to recreate this ate home, the ingredients are:
* Two slices of freshly baked sourdough bread
* Roquette dressed with avocado oil
* Confit of sweet peppers and grain mustard
* Unpasteurized Brie de Meaux
* Sliced English plum tomatoes
* Fresh lobe foie grase
* Wagyu beef

Makes my lunch of pita bread with mustard and roasted chicken seem a little... well, cheap, in comparison ;-)
Here's the article in today's Guardian about the sandwich.

Recreating Paris in Marylebone

Back from Paris, I decided to let that Paris-feel linger a little longer, and re-create a little bit of Paris in Marylebone (the area I currently live close to). Marylebone High Street has been voted 'Britain's best High Street' in the past, and I have to say it is the nicest High Street I've ever seen in the UK, with excellent shops, both food and otherwise. One excellent feature of Marylebone High Street is that it's easy to recreate a little bit of Paris right on my doorstep.

The best time I think to visit MH street is Sunday late in the morning. The Street is buzzing with posh cars from which even posher families pour out to do their shopping. All shops are open on Sundays, and the Farmer's Market runs between 10 and 2 pm, behind the Waitrose supermarket.

La Fromagerie is a cheese treasure-trove. Filled to the brim with cheese, but also selling a host of other deli-type gourmet food, it even offers (some) room to have a brunch or lunch. The other day, I walked into a book store and saw the store featured on the cover of a book on worldwide fabulous shop interiors.

Both Paul and Le Pain Quotidien offer fab spaces to sit down, have a coffee with a croissant, and taste fabulous french bread. Both have store areas and sit-down areas, and if I had money enough, I'd have breakfast at either every single weekend!

The little sister to Conran's Orrery restaurant (I took that off the website, no way I can afford to eat there yet), Orrery Epicerie is a cute little store that is a combination of a small cafe and a traiteur.

On Marylebone Lane (which is just off Marylebone High Street), you can find the ultimate entrocote (or so I've been told) at the first London branch of Paris restaurant Le Relais de Venise. A few doors down, you can learn how to cook the entrocote yourself at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school.

La Fromagerie
2-4 Moxon Street (just off Marylebone High Street)
London
http://www.lafromagerie.co.uk/

Paul (boulangerie et patisserie)
115 Marylebone High Street
London
Website

Le Pain Quotidien
72-75 Marylebone High Street
London
website

Orrery Epicerie
55 Marylebone High Street
London
Website

Le Relais de Venise
120 Marylebone Lane (just off Marylebone High Street)
London
www.relaisdevenise.com

Le Cordon Bleu
114 Marylebone Lane
London
www.cordonbleu.edu

For more information on London shopping streets, including really good maps of exactly which stores are where go to Streetsensation.

Bonjour Paris -- last day

My last day in Paris was designated Marais Day, discovering all this part of Paris has to offer. I had to pinch myself a couple of times to assure myself I hadn't inadvertedly taken the train to Disneyland Paris, 'cause it sure felt like an open air amusement park. There were tons of tourists around trying to find that Marais magic. Nevertheless, and not minding the slight drizzle that started on the walk over, I had a nice time.

I walked into the Marais on the rue Rambuteau, which is filled with supermarkets, greengrocers and boulangeries. One of the shops lining this road is Au Pain Sucre, where I gawked at the little artworks in the display. Since I'd already had so many pastries this week, I decided to give this one a raincheck (no pun intended).

Down the rue des Archives where I stopped at a magazine store and picked up three French food magazines to read on the train back. My French is just good enough for me to get the gist of the recipes and stories, and what I don't get, I'll have to ask one of my French classmates to translate.

At the end of the rue des Archives is an entrance of BHV, the department store. Great selection of books and stationary, and a swoosh designer look restaurant. Shame it wasn't quite lunchtime yet. Just a few doors up on that same street is the Cafe BHV, which is a cafe cum epicerie cum flower shop. Very cool, very nice products and very swanky place to sip your coffee.

Next two stops were tea and tea. I went over to the Mariage Freres and the Palais du Thes. If you like the traditional style store, Mariage Freres is your store, but bring a wad of money. Don't get me wrong, I like my tea, but I felt hesitant to buy anything, since I've already got so much tea at home waiting to be brewed. Palais du Thes is slightly more modern, and the staff are slightly friendlier. They serve tasters, and their prices are lower than Freres Mariages.

Of course, no day in Paris for me is complete without some art, and this time I'd picked the Maison Europeene de la Photographie for my fix. I struck it lucky, since there was an mesmerizing exhibit on Dutch photography and another exhibit on the Dutch photographer Johan van der Keuken. I loved the architecture of the building, which was a skillful combination of the old, wooden floors and large windows, and the new, swish marble floors and all white walls. The picture at the top of this post is of one of the pictures I enjoyed most.

On to books. Food on the rue Charlot is a foodbookstore cum gallery, and has sections with English and French Language books. I liked the concept of the store, but if you're really after cookbooks, you might be as well off in the basement of the Lafayette Maison store, which has a sizeable selection of cookbooks (mostly in French).

I decided that I couldn't leave Paris without one more treat, so I took the Metro over to the Galleries Lafayette, to visit their Maison and Gourmet departments. The Maison section had some great deals, and I struggled hard to remind myself that I don't have my own kitchen and I'll be moving at least twice in the next year and I don't want to be lugging around cast-iron Le Creuset pans. So I ended up buying pain au chocolat from Eric Kayser's outlet in Lafayette Gourmet to have on the train back tomorrow as breakfast. The two pictures here are of the chocolate aisle in Lafayette Gourmet, yes, they have a separate aisle just for chocolate. The pin-up chocolate was definitely one of the strangest wrapped foods I've ever seen... I wonder if these sell like hotcakes?

PS And today was memorable in another way as well, I saw people in a branch of Oliviers and Co, hurrah!

Practical details:
Au Pain Sucre
14 rue Rambuteau
Paris

BHV
52-64 rue de Rivoli
Paris
(take the exit at the back, at the book section to end up on the rue des Archives)
http://www.bhv.fr

Mariage Freres
30 rue Bourg de Tibourg
Paris
http://www.mariagefreres.com/

Palais des Thes
64 rue du Vieille-du-Temple
Paris
http://www.palaisdesthes.com

Maison Europeene de la Photographie
5-7 rue Fourcy
Paris
http://www.mep-fr.org

Food
58 rue Charlot
Paris

Bonjour Paris -- day 5

I feel an addiction coming on... OK, so I'll admit it (with my cheeks red with shame): I'm addicted to crepes! Today was my fifth day in Paris and it started off with some long overdue bookshopping. I went to the rue Rivoli, to the Galignani and WH Smith bookstores. I especially loved Galignani, who have a large English section and lovely artbooks (well, they would, wouldn't they, they're a short walk over from the Louvre) and a great wooden interior. The WH Smith was different from its British counterparts, much more civilized. If you're in Paris and looking for British and American magazines, WH Smith is your store. Both stores carry a selection of books about cooking, the WH Smith branch has a slightly bigger assortment.

A quick stop in the Louvre shopping mall for a crepe avec pommes cannelle (crepe with cinnamon apples, yummie!), and then off to the Louvre once more, where this time I plucked up the nerve to battle the crowds in front of the Mona Lisa.

After the Louvre I walked over to the site of the old Bibliotheque Nationale and had a quick peek inside (marvelous reading room, reminded me of the old British Library reading room) and a browse round the store to satisfy that other addiction of books about books.

Last stop for the day was grocery shopping at rue Montorgeuil. So far the weather had been on my side today, but the last time I visited rue Montorgeuil, it poured, so I was afraid that the raingods just don't like me going there. I was wrong. It held til I reached the front door of my apartment! I bought some olive oil as a gift for the friend who donated her two Louvre tickets to me at Oliviers & Co. As an aside, I don't know why every time I passed one of their stores, I don't see anyone inside... I kinda like their stores.

Tomorrow's the last day in Paris, which I'll spend in the Marais (which is close to where I'm staying in the 3rd arrondissement).

Practical information:
Galignani
224 rue Rivoli
75001 Paris
1st arrondissement

WH Smith
248 rue Rivoli
75001 Paris
1st arrondissement

Oliviers & Co
(branch I went to)
90 rue Montorgeuil
Paris
http://www.oliviersandco.com

Bonjour Paris -- day 4

I woke up to gorgeous Parisian spring weather, the sun warming my face and blue skies providing a suitable backdrop to the magnificent archicture. Today was Quartier Latin-day, and I walked down to my first stop the Maubert-Market. It was small and cozy, and definitely not as impressive as yesterday's market, but I still liked it. What can I say? I love the hustle and bustle, the chatter of the market-men and women and displays of fresh produce.

Second stop was the Pantheon. Ever since reading Umberto Eco's 'Foucault's Pendulum' I've wanted to go to the Pantheon and today I seized the opportunity. What a magnificent space, full of contradictions. Built as a church, but it hasn't been used as a church for over a century, it is now the resting place of French heroes. It was so cold inside, and empty. That struck me most: it was empty. Without the normal trappings of a catholic church, and with only a few tombs filled in the crypt, it felt like this was too empty. Either they have too stringent criteria to be buried here, or there just aren't enough famous French...

Off next to get the ingredients for a picnic lunch. Eric Kayser's bakery is on the rue Monge, so I decided to take a slight detour through the rue Mouffetard. Of all the market streets I've seen so far, I was least impressed with this. Only the lower bottom end had some nice stores, the rest seem to be tourist trap-restaurants. On to Eric Kayser's and I wasn't disappointed! I bought a couple of croissants, some madeleines and a piece of chocolate-noisette cake. The boulangerie smelled fabulous and if I could've, I would've bought one of everything.

Since I'm a bibliophile, I headed over to the Librarie Gourmande to see if I could find anything that took my fancy. And boy did I! Unfortunately, all the books I liked were way outside my student budget, so no go. But I can highly recommend the store.

A quick stop at a local supermarket to pick up something to drink (not the vin au verre that are on the picture on the left... how cool is that? You can buy glasses of wine to have with your picnic lunch!) after which I was off to the Jardins des Luxembourgs for a picnic.

On the way there I was sidetracked a little bit by the Gilbert Joseph bookstore. I had a little browse and found two delightful pocket books, both in French: Paris Chocolat and Cuisiner comme un chef a Paris, detailing all the chocolate addresses in Paris (although I must say I'm missing some) and how to cook like a chef, including good places to get your foodstuffs (again, I'm missing some stuff here). For 6 euros each, I think they're a great deal (although you'd need to read some French to get the most out of them).

Last stop was La Grande Epicerie, (on the way I passed the Sadaharu Aoki patisserie, stepped in, and was amazed by the wonderfully tasty looking little works of art, but I really couldn't buy any more pattiserie today :-( ) to buy the ingredients for tonight's dinner. I don't know why, but I felt the sudden urge for chili con carne...

Practical details:
Eric Kayser
14 rue Monge
Paris
5th arrondissement
http://www.maison-kayser.com/

rue Mouffetard
5th arrondissement
Wikipedia entry

Librarie Gourmande
4 rue Dante
Paris
5th arrondissement
http://www.librarie-gourmande.fr

Sadaharu Aoki
35 rue Vaurigard
Paris
http://www.sadaharuaoki.com/

La Grande Epicerie
38 rue de Sevres
Paris
7th arrondissement
http://www.lagrandeepicerie.fr

Books:
Safia Amor/Laurent Chiapello, Paris Chocolat, 2005, Parigramme
Corinne Crolot, Cuisiner comme un chef a Paris, 2004, Parigramme
See the publisher's website for more details.

Bonjour Paris -- day 3

The love affair continues. Today I set out to visit the collections at the Musee National des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, and I was very impressed. The building is light and airy, with wooden floors and white cotton roman blinds and the whole feels incredibly serene (how much of that is architecture and how much can be attributed to the Buddha statues displayed I don't know). The displays are well laid out, and the audioguide proved interesting and informative, although they could've added a few more entries to my admittedly gluttonous taste. One thing about the audioguides though, I wish they would use the headphone-model and not the hold-the-phone-to-your-ear model, they're so uncomfortable.

On the way over to the Musee, I couldn't resist and visited the market at Avenue President Wilson. If there's one thing I want to take with me back home is a market like this. It has all you need, from cheese, vegetables, fruits (see left) and meat to olives, bread and flowers. Nice as the market was, with the rain and the cold I made a mad dash for the Museum to dry up and heat up.

Final stop for the day was the rue Cler, a 10 minute short hop over the Seine. By the time I got there, the rue looked a bit like I suspect I did: washed out. But if the sun is shining, I'm pretty sure the rue Cler is positively vibrant and alive. Nevertheless, I managed to get some of my dinner-shopping done, and discovered the Lenotre store (just between the Metro stop Ecole Militaire and rue Cler) which wins the medal for 'friendliest staff'. The man behind the counter helped me with my French, in the kindest way, making me feel wonderful instead of a dunce.

Bonjour Paris -- day 2

I had decided last night not to set an alarm so I woke up fairly late this morning. Foolishly, I hadn't heeded the advice about the Musee d'Orsay (it has long lines, especially on Tuesday since on that day the Louvre is closed and tourists need to go somewhere), and when I arrived by 11 o'clock, the line snaked its way across the little square in front of the entrance. By this time I was cold and thirsty so I decided to shelf the art for the day and make it a foodie-hunt day in Saint-Germain. After a quick tea, I was off.

First stop was Laduree on the rue Bonaparte, which is famous for its macarons. However, I was tempted by a small cake called Succes Praline, which I took home with me. Laduree is steeped in history and it was interesting to see how many people walked in buying the macarons by the dozens (and they are euro 1.30 for a small one), including the almost obligatory Japanese tourists (I see them everywhere where good food is sold... coincedence? I think not!).

I discovered a new hobby today: chocolate hunting. Much cheaper than being addicted to for instance old books (very expensive) or wine (can be very expensive too). Most tablettes (bars of chocolate) only cost a maximum of 6 euros, so this addiction is fairly cheap to have as long as you stick to tablettes and don't go astray on the bonbons.

First stop was Cacao et Chocolat on rue de Buci, a brightly colored shop smelling of chocolate (apparently their hot chocolate is really good). After some browsing and getting high on the chocolate odour, I decided to buy some 100% chocolate, I've never had 100% pure chocolate before, and I'm quite interested to taste what it tastes like.

The second stop was Pierre Marcolini, a short walk from the rue Buci on the rue de Seine. This very swanky shop was slightly intimidating, so swanky, and I was secretly relieved to see that even this chique shop sold chocolate easter bunnies. I settled for a tablette again, leaving this fashionable boutique to head over to the next stop.

I've heard that Patrick Roger is considered by some to be the best chocolatier in Paris, so I had to go there. This one definitely earns the prize for friendliest service, with a very kind assistant letting me practice my poor French on her. Here again a group of Japanese women, which I've come to see as a good sign (it means good food)(well, not always). Again I decided to focus on tablette, and this is the one store where I dithered from my rule of only buying one tablette per store, they just looked too good.

Last chocolate shop for the day was Pierre Herme on the rue Bonaparte. This was a head-to-head battle with Marcolini's store for the most-swanky-store on the block. It looks like a fashion boutique, outside and in. The cakes looked amazing, but I couldn't really buy one, since I'd already promised Laduree the cake of the day. So I 'settled' for a tablette and bringing home the catalogue.

The chocolate shopping for this trip done (and having enough chocolate to last me a long long time), I decided to make one more stop on the foodie trail: La Grande Epicerie, Le Bon Marche's food store. Wow. Aisles and aisles of all the possible foodstuffs you could want, clearly labelled and attractively displayed. The bread section looked scrumptious, and I nearly succumbed to a spanish ham-sandwich. I'm definitely coming back here to shop for some nice foodie-souvenirs.

Laduree
21 rue Bonaparte
75006 Paris
6th arrondissement
www.laduree.fr

Cacao et Chocolat
29 rue de Buci
6th arrondissement
www.cacaoetchocolat.com

Pierre Marcolini
89 rue de Seine
6th arrondissement
www.marcolini.com

Patrick Roger
108 boulevard Saint Germain
6th arrondissement
www.patrickroger.com

Pierre Herme
72 rue Bonaparte
6th arrondissement
www.pierreherme.com

La Grande Epicerie
24 rue de Sevres
6th arrondissement
www.lagrandeepicerie.fr

Bonjour Paris

First things first... after arriving on Sunday afternoon and settling in, I headed out to find something to eat, and I found that Paris favourite: crepe! This one's filled with Nutella and it was positively yummy.

This morning top of my bill was visiting the Louvre. A friend kindly gave me two free entry tickets, so I get to go for free twice this week. I suspect I might be one of the few tourists that didn't head straight to eyeball Mona Lisa, instead I headed for the Rubens' paintings. And they were magnificent. I can also highly recommend Napoleon III's apartments, which give the words decadence and opulence a new meaning.

After art came food, so I grabbed a quick galette complete (egg, cheese and ham, see left) before heading out to rue St. Honore for some chocolate shopping. First stop was Michel Cluizel's for some of his 1er Cru chocolate squares and a bar of 2003 1er Prix award winner at the Salon Chocolat Mangaro. Second stop was Jean-Paul Hevin's shop a few doors down for some more chocolate shopping. I'd seen a picture of his chocolate lollipops and I wanted one, plus I couldn't resist a bar of Colombie chocolate (although I ended up not buying the 45 euro chocolate pump, see picture, that was on display).

A short walk from the rue Saint Honore is the Place Madeleine, home to magnificent and grand Eglise de la Madeleine, but also to two of Paris' most famous foodshops: Hediard and Fauchon. I stumbled upon Hediard first, and it was like stepping back in time. The store itself is beautiful, with wood furnishings, and carefully displayed, with big baskets filled with tea, mountains of easter eggs and carefully selected (they looked almost fake and sculpted) fruit and veg. There was plenty of personnel around (who looked slightly bored, Monday afternoon is definitely not the busiest time for them), and I took my time to walk around and admire the riches. Well worth a visit, but bring a big purse if you want to do your weekly shopping here.

[As an aside, a few doors down from Hediard is Paris' Minamoto Kitchoan shop. If you're looking for some great tasting and nicely packaged sweets, this is the spot to get them.]

Across the square is Fauchon. I walked into their secondary store, next to the main building and that was quite enough. Even more expensive than Hediard, it also has a more haughty feel than the latter. All black and pink, it feels decidedly more designer-y whereas Hediard is more homely. The prices are a tad more designery than Hediard too. One thing I did like about Fauchon was the counter with fragrant fresh spices which you are allowed to weigh yourself to get exactly the quantity you want.

A short hop north are two of the biggest magasins in Paris: La Printemps and Lafayette. I went into Lafayette for their Gourmet department and wasn't dissappointed. Unlike Fauchon and Hediard, it is possible to get your shopping here if you're on a budget. I saw booths selling Eric Kayser's bread, and Sadaharu Aoki's pastries, along with cheese, meat and fish counters. I love shopping in supermarkets, especially abroad, because they give you such a good feel of what the country values and loves eating. I'm amazed at the amount of high end (foie gras, expensive cheeses) that you'll find in even run of the mill supermarkets here.

By this time it was time to give my feet a rest and where better than Cojean, the high design fast food (well sort of) chain? I loved the feel of the place, which combines high design (see picture) with great looking sandwiches and friendly staff and I spent a while resting and writing my notes for the day.

Last stop on the way home (by this time it had started raining and I hadn't brought my umbrella with me) was the rue Montorgeuil, a market street. Since it was raining I rushed to the supermarket to do my shopping, but I did see some interesting shops on my hurried return home.

PS All pictures taken with my mobile phone, apologies for the poor quality.

Addresses:
Michel Cluizel
201 rue Saint Honore
75001 Paris
1e arrondissement
www.chocolatmichelcluizel.com

Jean-Paul Hevin
231 rue Saint Honore
75001 Paris
1st arrondissement
www.jphevin.com

Hediard
21 place de la Madeleine
Paris
8th arrondissement
www.hediard.fr

Fauchon
26 & 30 place de la Madeleine
Paris
8th arrondissement
www.fauchon.com

Minamoto Kitchoan
17 place de la Madeleine
75008 Paris
8th arrondissement
www.kitchoan.com

Galleries Lafayette Gourmet
40 boulevard Haussman
Paris
9th arrondissement
www.gallerieslafayette.com

Cojean
17 boulevard Haussman
75009 Paris
9th arrondissement
www.cojean.fr

rue Montorgeuil
2nd arrondissement

Paris preparation

This Sunday I'm off to Paris for a week. That single sentence brings me so much joy that I'm mentally jumping up and down every time I think about it. There's a Dutch saying which roughly translates as 'A party is most about preparation before and the memories after' and I wholeheartedly agree. The preparation is as important as the event itself.

So here's an overview of my preparation for my trip to Paris:

* Chocolate and Zucchini weblog and in particular the Paris City Guide section, written by Clothilde who lives in Paris and is one of the best food-blog writers around.

* Barrie Kerper's The Collected Traveller's Paris. This is not your run-of-the-mill travel guide, I'd call it more of an inspiration guide. I have a copy of her guide to Italy and I enjoyed that so much that I decided to buy a copy of the Paris guide for this trip. Mrs. Kerper has collected a large number of articles into one book, divided into several sections, which include food, neighbourhoods and history (but with much nicer names). Many of the article have first appeared in Gourmet Magazine and I must say that it's kinda US biassed (although I don't mind, since there's something romantic about Americans and their love-affair with Paris). I love this sort of book. It makes you feel like you're in the place, without going there.

* Gourmet Shops of Paris. An Epicurean Tour by Pierre Rival and photographer Christian Sarramon. This is the best book a foodie-traveller to Paris could wish for. Highly informative, divided into sections like sweet, savoury, wine and small snacks. The photography is absolutely stunning and I've fallen absolutely head over heels in love with this book.

* Bought a Moleskine Sketch Journal (with two Pilot G2 pens) to write down recommendations and to keep a journal.

* The copy of 'Paris in a Basket' that I picked up at Borders a while back is coming with me too.

* A Rough Guide for Paris. I figure I need a few practical details and find that Rough Guides are most suited to my kinda eclectic needs. They feature almost every single museum, no matter how small, and I love the history section in the back.

* My own travelguide. I'm a geek, I'll readily admit that. So not only do I take this mountain of paper with me that I outlined above, I also make my own guide. Plucked from various resources off the internet, I collate the details that I want (opening times for museums, tips I read on forums etc) into one .pdf file, which I then print and take with me.

Now all I need is a good map, but I usually pick one up at my destination itself. I've rented an apartment for a week, near the Centre Pompidou, and a stone's throw away from the Marais.

Japanese food shopping in London

Last Friday I went to the Japan Centre on Piccadilly which has a Japanese supermarket in the basement. A Japanese friend of mine invited me to go along with her and translated for me (you can do without translation if you know what you want/need, but I'm a novice in the Japanese kitchen, so it was great having a my friend guide me round). My Japanese favourites at the moment: udon noodles and any other thick noodles I can find. I bought some miso-soup base last night, so I'm going to try to combine these two into some tasty miso-udon noodle soup.

Some addresses for Japanese food shopping in Central London:

* Arigato on Brewer Street (Soho), which has all the basic Japanese foodstuffs you'll need, plus a small restaurant area.

* Japan Centre Food Shop on Piccadilly (West End), in the basement of this very popular place there's a supermarket, slightly bigger than Arigato. Again all the basics you'll need, including a nice sake collection, and take-out sushi. The restaurant on the ground floor is supposedly quite nice too.

* Minamoto Kitchoan on Piccadilly (West End), a little bit further up from the Japan Centre, on the other side of the Street. Sells beautifully packaged Japanese confectionary (Wagashi), a feast for the eyes and tongue. The shop interior is breathtaking and sweets are like little works of art. Their website has a history of these beautiful sweets.

Another stop on a Japanese shopping trip in London is the JAL Igirisuya on Hannover Square. This is a store intended for Japanese tourists who buy their London souvenirs here, but they've also got a small section with Japanese food and utensils, and a sushi restaurant.

If you're looking for a great Japanese restaurant, head over to the Baker Street Tube Station, exit on Baker Street, cross the street, and head into the small shopping area to visit Nambu-Tei (reviewed here). I went here with a group of Japanese friends and we sat down in our of their special group-rooms downstairs, which felt like we were in Japan proper. Since I didn't do my own ordering (and bumbled around with my chopsticks, I definitely need more practice), I can't really recommend any specific dishes, but I remember loving the tempura, yakitori and udon noodles. Not cheap, but certainly not expensive either.

If you're looking for bowls or chopsticks, Loon Fung supermarket in Chinatown can help you out, not only do they have a wide variety of Chinese food, but they also stock Thai, Korean, Indian and Japanese food and utensils.

Borough Market

This is heaven. Last weekend a friend and I tubed down to the London Bridge station, to visit the Borough Food Market and it was magnificent. There are so many stalls selling everything from cheese to olive oil, bread and cakes to olives, fudge and cider, polish delicatessens and chorizo sandwiches (judging by the huge queue that must be a great sandwich, although I'm not sure if I'd like it, they put in a large wad of rocket and I eat rocket, but only in tiny amounts since I'm not particularly keen on its nutty flavour). There are a few food shops lining the Market itself, and I particularly loved Konditor and Cook's shop, with its sleek design and great cakes. I ended up buying a small pecan pastry at Sally Clarke's, a millionaire shortbread at Konditor and Cook and tasting every single product that was offered to taste.

Today I decided to go back to do some more serious food shopping. I stopped by at the Flour Power stall (easy to recognize, they have a brownie mountain) to buy a croissant for breakfast and a delicious smelling sourdough bread. Next stop was Borough Olives where I got some lovely ansjovis-filled olives and a stall that was unnamed and sold the best chocolate truffles I've tasted in a while, and I got a bag of rejects (the shape was off, what do I care about the shape if the taste is divine!)for £1! Last stop was Turnips, where I bought my fruit and veg, apples and plums, a huge red pepper and some tasty looking mushrooms (more expensive than my own Farmer's Market in Marylebone. Lesson learned: go to Borough early and buy only that stuff you can't get anywhere else).

Dinner tonight: mushrooms on grilled sourdough bread. Lots of it. Yum.

I confess: I'm a foodie

I never realized. I'm a growing into a foodie. All the ingredients have been there all along: my grandparents owned a hotel/restaurant, my mum is one of the best cooks around and I love hanging around when she cooks (and help out whenever she lets me), and I spend a disproportionately large amount of money on food and books about food (and travel) and an equally large amount of time on cooking. I'm a budding foodie! Here's my personal journey of small steps to adult-foodie-dom.

Today I went foodie-shopping (definition: to shop for food AND food-related items) in central London. Here's what ended up in my shopping bag:

* A copy of Olive, a magazine published by the BBC, featuring recipes, restaurants and travel. I bought this issue partially because of the Food Lovers' Paris article (written by Clothilde of Chocolate and Zucchini fame), since I'll be going to Paris next month.

* a bamboo steamer. I've always wanted one, and found one for 3 pounds today at the Loon Fung supermarket in Chinatown. And whilst I was there I picked up some Thai rice noodles. Never cooked with these, so that's a nice challenge to come up with a recipe that these would fit nicely in to.

* Udon noodles. I *love* udon noodles, they make for great comfort food. There's a Japanese Supermarket in Brewer Street, called Arigato (this is where my new copy of 'Food Lover's London' comes in handy, the store itself has no name advertised anywhere as far as I recollect)

* A copy of 'Paris in a Basket. Markets -- The food and the people' at the Borders bookstore for 7.99 pounds (only to find out that Amazon has a better deal ;-). I'm going to Paris next month, so this is homework!

* A copy of 'Food Lovers' London'. I've wanted to buy a copy for a while now, but always hesitated. I took the plunge today.

* A brownie from Fresh and Wild. I went to the one on Brewer Street, conveniently located opposite the japanese supermarket (see above). I've been in there a couple times but never bought anything, but I was hungry today and the brownie looked soooooo good. And it was reasonably good. Moist in the middle, and very chocolat-y, a little dry on the edges.