Wndrlost

Borough Market Christmas fun

On Saturday, I took advantage of H&M’s proximity to Borough Market and spent a couple of hours there happily lost among the vast amount of food from all over Europe.  But first, I stopped off at Monmouth Coffee on Maltby Street, where I soon will be a weekend regular.  The scene outside their shop is worthy of a photo essay.  (I haven’t yet taken pictures.)  Wooden folding chairs are in small clusters against a stone wall.  There are no tables.  Neighborhood folks catch up with friends or lazily read the weekend paper as they drink a Finca La Fany blend from El Salvador (this Saturday).  Kids play.  Monmouth’s Borough location had a line around the corner, so I was quite pleased that H&M live a stone’s throw from “headquarters.”

D and his friends from Milan met me at Borough Market, where we sampled dark chocolate, jams, Turkish candy, roasted tomatoes, chorizo, olive oil,… I found the stand selling goat’s ice cream; H&M have declared it the best they’ve ever had.  As I was too full to try any, it’s at the top of my list for next time.

Contrary to my natural clock, I awoke early this morning and set out to H&M’s via tube, as we were planning to rent a car and spend the day in the countryside.  The designated renter, I arrived to pick up the car only to discover that none was available until Monday; so much for our reservation.

Our Plan B turned out to be pretty simple, and for me, that was just what I wanted.  We started with a return to Monmouth Coffee and St. John Bakery; I selected an Americano and a Custard Donut.  After spending some time back at H&M’s, we all headed to The Garrison for lunch.  It’s a friendly, little, neighborhood gastropub, the kind of place I’d happily return to again and again.  As we finished our meal, M had the brilliant idea to share the homemade ice creams and sorbets:  white chocolate, banana, and strawberry ice cream; blood orange, melon, and mango sorbet.

Had a delicious cup of coffee from Monmouth today.