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
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.
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.
I loved this tour when I did it with the Glam Londoner to introduce him to his new area. We were on the tour with a really diverse bunch of people from all around the world, it was friendly and fun. GG
It's such a good idea – history and culture with lots of food stops in between!!
Great to be a tourist in your own country and learn so much! Thanks for the interesting post.
I have been to the East End many times but learned so much in a laid back and fun manner.
Such a great idea for a tour (and I adore the Cockney cash machines, making a trip up to the East End just for this reason!)
Sometimes there is so much happening around you that you don't see it. It was good to be a 'tourist' for the day.
I'm excited now, I'm going on this next week – a lovely insight!
Hope I didn't spoit it for you Fiona but you will have a great time. Say 'hi' to Emily for me!
It's very easy for me to get here from Walthamstow and we often take train to Liverpool Street to wander around Spitalfields on a Sunday – a couple of bits look familiar but it's time I went again.
It is such a rich place and so much more than I remember from years ago when I last visited!
This looks like a really fun tour. I like that you get to hear the history of London and sample some delicious food. A really good day out.
We were certainly full up when we finished! I would recommend anyone to try this tour.
Great tour Heidi! I love London, there is always so much to discover!
I tend to forget just how much there is in London – have discovered so much since writing my blog!
Looks like a great tour with some fantastic food. yum!
A thoroughly enjoyable tour, I am not a great tourist with museums and points of interest generally but really had fun on this one!
What a fabulous tour. Would love to do something like this. When I was a student in London back in the 80s, the East End was a regular haunt for cheap food.
I was so impressed how clean everything and everywhere was too!
That looks like a great way to see London, especially as I go so infrequently I'm never sure where to eat.
Janie x
Brick Lane has soooo many restaurants and I would never venture into the unknown but now I know a great one!
Great tour looks like you had fun.How did you manage to eat so much food?
We did a lot of walking in between tastings!!
That's one almighty tasty and fun day out! Such a good idea for tourists and infrequent visitors like myself!
I go to London a lot but you miss so much rushing around – so great to have someone point out things
That part of town is so interesting. I used to work on the edge of Spitalfields and have lovely long walks at lunchtime!
The area has changed so much since I used to visit regularly – its so clean and modern now!