London

This weekend was a big weekend of partying in London, but I also used my time in the city to soak up some of the amazing food that's going down and coming up and that people are down with and up for.

First thing on Saturday we went for a pretty amazing coffee at a new shop called Allpress (rubbish name) on Redchurch Street. The actual coffee shop feels a little cold in terms of atmosphere and interior design, but as soon as that coffee hits your lips the clinical lines of the furniture disappear, especially because we sat on the bench outside. They roast all the beans in the premises and make the coffee with a La Marzocco espresso machine, so it's hard to make a bad coffee with those winning factors. Although I probably could cock it up if I tried hard enough.

We next headed to Maltby Street in Bermondsey for a breakfast of more coffee at Monmouth HQ, cured meat and beer from the Kernel Brewery, which turned out to be one of the best beers I've ever had. This is a really interesting food market and if you can't stand the crowds of Borough market it's worth a visit, however I feel it won't be too long before those crowds, or shall I say cunts, spread their middle-class labia from London bridge to Tower Bridge. 

Whist on the subject we then encountered another breed of the middle-classes on fixed-gear bikes at Broadway Market, but they're alright really, no they're not. It is actually a pretty good food market, but lacked the Dickensian charm of Borough. I bought a really good Vietnamese sandwich called a Bánh mì, so so good. I'd heard about these on the Food Programme on Radio 4 a few weeks ago. After scoffing some average brownie I was still hungry and decided to get a native Oyster, but suddenly noticed they were selling clams as well, so I went for both and had a mollusc off. Surprisingly the clam was a clear winner, with more flavor, better texture (if you like to chew) and larger in volume. The clam was also less than half the price at only £1.20. To be honest I didn't know that people ate clams raw and there must be plenty more shell fish in the sea, ready to be scoffed in an uncooked form and they're beckoning me with their buttery sweetness.

The rest of the weekend mainly consisted of potato based conversation, but that's another story.