Eating London - East End Tour

I would just like to say I love London and used to visit London a lot when I first came here as a tourist in the 70s but as my children grow up I went less and less however now that I write a food blog I have began to rediscover London and I really love it

When I first came here in the 70s London was not necessarily a great food place but now with the different diverse cultures living here London has become a fantastic place to eat.

I was invited to take a tour of the East End of London with Eating London Food Tours and met my guide Emily as pre-arranged at a small coffee shop just 5-9 minutes walk from Liverpool Street train station.

Our guide, Emily, had a great personality and was a pleasure to spend a morning with.  She certainly knew her facts about the East End and gave these to us at appropriate times and with a pleasant humour.

First off we met at the Old Spitalfield's Market in a little coffee shop and went straight to our first stop.  Emily told us that this was probably the best bacon buttie in London and I must admit it certainly was up there with the bacon buttie greats.  We were welcomed to St John's (housed in a former bank) known for it's 'nose to tail' culture. St John is a Bakery, Restaurant and Wine Shop.  Our bacon buttie was made with Gloucester Old Spot bacon on their own home made bread and their own ketchup (with secret ingredient!!).

Marching swiftly on - or should I say ambling, we stopped at our next port of call, The English Restaurant. Owners Peter and Kay take pleasure in offering good honest English food and we were treated to a truly fantastic Bread & Butter Pudding with a real 'to die for' vanilla bean and rum custard.  I could have eaten this all day long but there was so much more to the tour so had to contain myself with a small portion.

We heard about the arrival of the ethnic groups in the East End,  The Irish

 

The Jews

the wealthy Huguenots (members of the Protestant Reformed Church)

the contrast between old and new.

 

Our next stop was an artisan cheese shop called Androuet.  We tasted three cheeses, one from France and the other two from England, the cheddar which makes up around 51% of the cheese sales in the UK per year and a creamy and gorgeous blue stilton.

and their extensive range of cheeses.

We criss crossed streets and our next stop was a great fish and chip shop called Poppies.  I am not a great chip fan but these were fantastic. The fish was in a light and non greasy batter and extremely tender and the mushy peas a little bit of the old East End.  Mr R would love to come here. Cod makes up for around 60% of the fish eaten in the UK. It was made illegal to wrap your fish and chips in news paper because the ink was making people ill so Poppies had their own news paper printed so they could carry on the age old tradition and still be healthy! Make sure you get their loyalty card if you visit to build up points to get money off your meals. There are cockney rhyming slang words around the walls and there is even a nearby cash machine that will ask if you want to transact in English or Cockney!

We turned a corner and entered the well known Brick Lane and were ushered into a restaurant called Aladin and were treated to three curries, lamb parthia, vegetable bhuna and chicken madras all typical Bangaladeshi food.  This restaurant has won loads of awards and is one of the 15,000 curry houses in the UK and it is roumoured that there are more than in Delhi and Mumbai combined!

If you are thinking we had enough food you would be wrong! We carried on up Brick Lane to the iconic bagel bakery, a shop I have bought my bagels from for almost 30 years! They are open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week and consistently produce the best bagels I have ever tasted.  There are two bagel shops next to each other but the one on the right if you are facing them is without a doubt the best!! You have to try the corned beef with mustard and a pickle as we did.  I also bought some cream cheese and smoked salmon to take home to Mr R and a dozen plain for our freezer. (I have made many a midnight dash for bagels when I lived in North London!)

Then it was time for a nice cup of Rosy Lee (tea) and a slice of salted caramel chocolate tart at Pizza East.  A bustling restaurant in an old tea warehouse producing the finest chocolate tart I have ever tasted!

We said our good byes to new friends and made our way home after what seemed like half an hour but was in fact around 3 and a half hours of fantastic food and interesting history of the East End of London.

Eating London is a fantastic way to entertain visitors if you want something different to do with them in London or even just a family trip out.

I was the guest of Eating London but all opinions are my own. I was not required to write about the experience nor was I required to write a positive review.