I absolutely adore the Brick Lane area of London. It is a street in East London which is the heart of London's Bangladeshi-Sylheti community and is even known as Banglatown. It is famous for its many curry houses. I spent Sunday with a friend wandering around Brick Lane area including the famous Spitalfields Market and also the wonderful .
It was the first day in ages that it didn't rain which was a blessing. We headed off from Balham around 10.30 and stopped for coffee along the way. After wandering around the Spitalfields Market we headed to our favourite Thai café for lunch, Rosas Thai Café. The food is fantastic. I had the Salmon Soup — a wonderful clear and spicy soup with chunks of salmon and veg — followed by a green papaya salad.
We wandered along Redchurch Street in Shoreditch. They call it the East End's answer to Bond Street! This street has some amazing shops and restaurants including an Australian tea chain called T2Tea which recently opened in London. Also the superb Kiwi coffee shop Allpress Espresso. They are a coffee roaster and espresso specialist established in New Zealand in 1986 when Michael Allpress decided to chase his love of espresso rather than his career as a chef. He built a coffee cart and began serving this largely unfamiliar brew in a local Auckland market. Very quickly, his obsession with flavour led him to source his own coffee and begin roasting. This fresh approach to flavour quickly generated interest from cafes and restaurants across the country and Michael's focus shifted from cart operator to speciality coffee roaster.
As the business grew, Michael built a team of talented and passionate individuals many of whom were old friends. The launch of Allpress into Australia in 2000 was an ambitious move, but in partnership with lifelong friend and well-known Sydney restaurateur, Tony Papas the expansion across the Tasman developed with an instinctively like minded approach and a likeminded team. By 2010, the knowledge and skills learned from so many years involvement in the cafe industry down-under, motivated them to take on a tougher challenge - taking Allpress to the UK.
Tony Papas made the move to London opened the Shoreditch Roastery & Café. We tried to find a seat in Allpress but it was chocker with people and even queuing outside so we ended up at the Maison Les Trois Garcons which is a lifestyle café in Redchurch Street surrounded by a bar and dining area. There is an eclectic assortment of gift items, fashion and accessories, antique and contemporary furniture pieces, home accessories and lighting sourced from around the world. Les Trois Garcons started their collaboration with an antiques and interiors shop in Notting Hill and then a restaurant, followed by Loungelover bar.
Below are photos mainly of the food stalls in Brick Lane which have the most fantastic assortment of cuisines. It really is the best place in London to head for in the weekend; there is something for everyone, not only in food but shops, market stalls and the most superb vibe. Here is a small taster of some of the food on offer:
The following three photos were taken outside The Albion Café, a cafe and small shop in Redchurch St with an in-house bakery and cake counter, where the vast majority of the food and drink products are British. It's a foodie heaven and has the most fantastic selection of produce. Unfortunately there was a queue waiting to be seated in the café area so we just wandered around admiring the produce. Check out all these gorgeous organic British fruit and veg.
