We took our first trip to the Marylebone Summer Fayre on Sunday. It was great to see the whole community come out and participate. We ended up eating our way through the streets of Marylebone. 

Sausage Sandwich from Galileo Organic Farm: Our favourite sausage of the sandwich of the day (yes, we had two).

Fresh Strawberry Smoothie from Edgebank Organics: What I would deem a ‘proper’ smoothie - none of those blended mixed juices, but actual fruit + ice blended into perfection and all for £1 (what a steal!) 

The small cupcake on the left is Pink Lemonade and on the right is the Cherry Bakewell cupcake from the Riff Raff Cake Co. We hadn’t planned on getting 2 cupcakes, but I was really intrigued by the Pink Lemonade and had to try it out! They had lots of interesting flavors like Pimm’s & Bailey’s - we’ll definitely have to find them again.

Having first tried Anna-Mae’s southern style mac n cheese at Zoo Lates (where we each had to have our own mac because we couldn’t share) we were really excited to see them again at the Marylebone Summer Fayre. This time around we got the ‘Spicy Juan’ it’s their original mac n cheese w/ chipotle, jalapenos, sour cream & coriander (except we had it without the coriander). We’re big fans of spicy and mac n cheese so we absolutely loved the Spicy Juan!

The second sausage sandwich of the day - this time from the Parson’s Nose.

We were walking down the street and saw a sign for Rainbow Cake Pops from Blueberry Blue. It was layers of of sponge cake & buttercream icing. We thought it was really fun & tasty.

We ended the day with a Strawberry & cream cupcake from the Yummy Boutique .  We also took one of their millionaire shortbreads home for a snack!

It was a greet weekend for hitting up markets & festivals and we did both!

We have been hearing a lot of buzz about Maltby St. Market near London Bridge so we decided to check it out. It’s open on Saturdays from 9AM - 2PM. It’s tucked away under old railway arches and we took a round about way of getting there, which was supposedly quicker (about a 10-15 minute walk from London Bridge). 

It was smaller than we thought (space & traders-wise), but everything looked delicious. We grabbed a ‘duffin’ with jam filling (a donut in the shape of a muffin) from Bea’s of Bloomsbury’s stall. We thought it was interesting concept, but we weren’t completely sold on it. My thing with muffins is that they need to be moist and this donut-muffin combo didn’t live up to our expectations. 

We then headed over to Borough Market to grab some lunch. The carnivore half of London Foodies had a veal burger from Baxter’s since they were out of beef burgers. While he usually loves Baxter’s, he wasn’t the biggest fan of the veal burger.

While the Veggie half grabbed a toasted cheese sandwich from Kappacasein (you can see my thoughts on it here). I’ve heard some people call it the best-toasted cheese ever, but as a self-professed toasted cheese aficionado I wouldn’t go that far. I would say that it is one of the best in London (another good one is from the Norbiton Fine Cheese Co).

We finished our trip with Chocolate Brownie ice cream from Real France. It was very creamy with HUGE chunks of brownie. 

The US classic grilled Cheese or as the Brits called it ‘toasted cheese’ or ‘cheese on toast’ is my absolute favourite food ever. All of my friends make fun of me for my love of anything that includes bread and cheese. In the US, grilled cheese is really trendy with food trucks and grilled cheese restaurants offering gourmet options. Unfortunately, this trend hasn’t caught on across the pond.

There is however Kappacasein in Borough Market. They do a great toasted cheese with a cheddar and onion mix. The bread is nice & crispy while the cheese/onion mix is super gooey. The price is a little steep —£5, but it is great for a treat every once in awhile!

The weather this weekend was AMAZING and we decided to take full advantage of it. We hadn’t been up to Borough Market in a couple of months so a trip there was long over due. We hit up our favourite vendors to make a perfect picnic.

• The Flour Station’s London Loaf
• Mushroom Pate from Pate Moi
• Our favourite pesto from Borough Olives and their chilli stuffed olives & chilli marinated olives. 

We also decided to celebrate the sunshine by grabbing some Sangria in a to-go glass!

After we had everything for the picnic we headed to Battersea Park & spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing & catching up on some reading. 

We finished off our Saturday night with drinks at the Windmill on Clapham Common’s beer garden.

On Sunday we decided to head up to Hampstead Heath, but first we grabbed some lunch at Giraffe near Belsize Park.

The Full English 

Then headed over to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring Hampstead Heath.

The Swimming Pond

View from Parliament Hill

On a side note we also found a Starbucks in Belsize Park that serves Passion Iced Tea, our all time favourite summer drink! It’s a staple in American Starbucks, but it’s difficult to find in London. They seem to only serve it in areas with high ex-pat populations. We wish more places did fruity iced-teas in London! 

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

We absolutely love eating out on St. John’s Hill - some of our fav places are there (the Plough, Powder Keg Diplomacy) and many more we want to try! That’s why we were excited to hear about the Fabulous Feast! It runs from May 14^th – May 20^th and there are tons of events and select venues are offering set menus for £15 per person (menus & venues below).

 One of the main events, ‘Open Kitchen,’ is this Saturday (May 19^th). Events will be going on all over the hill including:

• A farmer’s market (Ben’s Canteen)
• Cooking with fresh fish classes (Fish Club) book ahead
• Beer tasting, cooking demonstration, a magician, jazz music (Powder Keg Diplomacy)
• Eritrean bread making class (Adulis)
• Pizza making classes (Tutti Tucci)
• Cocktail making lessons 12-6 PM (Knights of St. John)
• Indian food tasting (Curry Leaf)
• Bread making classes 3PM & 4PM (Deli Boutique)
• Taste of Sri Lanka Tea Tasting 2-5PM (Experience Travel).

 All weekend long (Thurs-Sun) The Plough will be hosting a mini festival with live bands and DJs.

 We can’t wait to check it all out!

 £15 Set Menus

 Fish Club:

• Starter: Potted Dorset crab served with toast and baby leaves


• Main: Filleted mackerel with beetroot salad and horseradish dressing

 Ben’s Canteen:

• Ben’s Canteen Board: a Scotch Quail’s Egg, a Beef Slider and an Eton Mess.

 The Plough

• Small Plate Sampler: Chunky Black Bean Chilli, Herb Corn Cakes with a roasted garlic mayonnaise, Dingley Dell Prok Slider with a London Ale & Raisin Chutney
, Ceasar Salad with crispy bacon & parmesan cheese, Smoked Haddock Croquettes with a Bloody Mary Tartare sauce, Bayou Breaded Prawns with a margarita salsa


 Curry Leaf

• Poppadoms, Main Course, Rice or Naan bread, Glass of wine (small) 

Adulis

MENU 1:

• STARTER:
• HOMOUS (Chickpeas and sesame paste served with pita bread)

          or

• AWAZE HOMOUS (SPICY chickpeas and sesame paste served with pita bread)
•  MAIN COURSE
• BEB’AYNETU MEAT (Assorted meat dishes selected by our Head Chef.)

         or

• BEB’AINETU VEGETARIAN (Assorted vegetarian dishes selected by our Head Chef)
• House Wine (175 cl)

MENU 2

• MAIN COURSE
• BEB’AYNETU MEAT (Assorted meat dishes selected by our Head Chef.)

            or

• BEB’AINETU VEGETARIAN (Assorted vegetarian dishes selected by our Head Chef 
• House Wine (175 cl)
• DESSERT

We went to Spring Fest at Bavarian Beer House (Old Street) last weekend and had a blast!

Here’s some pictures from the evening!

Kasespatzle!

Jager Schnitzel 

Oompah Band!

Had a DELICIOUS brunch at the Breakfast Club in Angel on Saturday. The line for a table was out the door, but it went pretty quickly. The atmosphere was great and so was the music - who doesn’t want to listen to Beyonce while eating pancakes?!

We’ve been craving/searching for a decent smoothie—and we found it, lots of it! At the Breakfast Club you can get an entire PITCHER of smoothie! We had the Pommy Granny (pomegranate, blueberries, raspberries, apples & ginger). We thought the ginger added a nice kick to the smoothie’s aftertaste. 

We also had the Pancakes and Berries with maple syrup, vanilla cream, fresh raspberries and blueberries. And the pancakes were American style, just the way we like it. They were a little too sugary, but overall they were delicious! 

The service was great and the waitresses were all very friendly. It was really hard to pick what to have because everything sounded so good— we’ll definitely be going back!  

EDIT: We went back! The first time I went to The Breakfast Club the other half of London Foodies wasn’t there. I knew he’d love it, so on his birthday when he was craving a full english breakfast at 2 in the afternoon I knew exactly where to take him.

This time we went to their Soho branch and had the same charm as the Angel branch - we loved the decor. 

This time we had the banana milkshake & mango go smoothie (mango, strawberry & orange).

Followed by the Full Monty (bacon, sausage, black pudding, eggs, fried potatoes, mushrooms, beans, grilled tomato and toasted multigrain bread) for the birthday boy.

And the veggie burger with smoked applewood cheese, portobello mushroom & caramelised red onion relish and a side of chips.. 

The birthday boy loved his breakfast — we’ll definitely be back again!

Alpine Adventures

Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Soup w/ Crusty Bread

Pierogies!

Fresh Mozzarella Pizza

Apple Crumble