Food tours usually focus on local cuisine, or some aspect of it, along with insights into the history of the people whose food it is. But this on, in London’s East End, was different. After all, it’s an area of London whose population has been shifting with each new wave of immigration for 200 years or so.
So this one had a bit of everything, matching all the people who live or lived there, mostly in poverty. The tour, run by Eating London, begins in the Old Spitalfields Market, once one of the major wholesale meat and vegetable markets. When the markets moved out of the city, it became a venue for restaurants, shops and an arts and crafts market.
Once the group had gathered, we started with about as non-traditional a traditional food there could be. There it was, an English pie—lovely crust surrounding meat, potato, gravy and peas—and delicious. But it was square! And indeed, there was no hiding it; the vendor is called the Square Pie Company. I’ve still not seen any real explanation of why they made it so.
Dessert is an important part of the day, and you can have it early without guilt if it’s at The English Restaurant, a 17th century heritage-listed restaurant that’s been spiffed up a bit over the years. And since it was a bread-based pudding leaving nothing to waste, there’s even less to worry about. Some of us added extra custard or cream to the top.
As promised, not everything on the tour is English. One of our early-on stops was at the Androuet Cheese Shop, a shop started as a branch of a century-old Paris shop, and originally selling mainly French cheeses. But they’ve partnered with Paxton and Whitfield, the oldest cheese shop in London, and are also specialists in an amazing range of English cheeses. We had a good number of samples, including the best Stilton I’ve ever tasted. One of the partners served as our docent.
As we walked on through the neighborhood, our guide pointed out signs of the past and signs of change, including the increasing number of large new buildings hulking over the edges of the East End. Among the hints of the past were this Night Refuge for Women (which had a separate entrance for men) that is now a residence for London School of Economics students and the Soup Kitchen for the Jewish Poor, which operated as late as the 1990s.
Our next stop was at Poppie's, which is nowhere near as long a tradition as the Soup Kitchen, but it serves the quintessential London working-class meal: Fish and chips. It opened in 1952, and consistently wins awards (although I always wonder who gives all those awards). But it certainly got our award for delicious! Crisp, fresh flavor, not oily, and not dry.
Note in the case below...fish and chips are not all the treates that go into their fryers! And yes, it's not a local 'chippie,' but a chain. Couldn't care less, after the first bites!
Brick Lane, not far from the Market, has become an incredible ‘restaurant row’ with over 50 restaurants in a three block stretch, serving an amazing variety of food, although the biggest population of the area these days is Bangladeshi.
We stopped at Aladin's on Brick Lane for curry, three delicious ones. It appears from the sign in the window we're not the only ones who approve! Below, our meal of mild Bhuna, Pathia with lamb and Madras chicken.
Across the road is Christ Church and its school; they date to when French Protestants were the new settlers, and Anglican churches were built to try to win their allegiance. Below, narrow lanes in the area, and a reminder of the area's role as a market center.
A pub stop is a necessity; this one's fairly modern in an older building. In the "old days," you wouldn't have found a yuppie pub like this in the East End. Our tastes here were Gypsy Queen ale and Truman's Cider.
Back on the street, we passed this cart, which is definitely not part of the tour, even though it followed us for half a block, trying to tempt us into sinful ways.
But we were on our way to our last stop on Brick Lane, and for me one of the highlights of the tour: a chance to try the East End version of the bagel, paired with the East End version of pastrami/smoked meat. It was so good, and so overwhelming, I forgot to take its picture before eating, and had to borrow this one from an online ad.
And, at the end of the tour, a chance to sit together for a bit and talk about food, and London, and home, and food. And food.
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