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London food tasting crawl

28/7/2015

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Sometimes all you need is a strong will to get off bed on Saturday morning in order to see some ''hidden'' places in London. And then that's it.
London gives you options and opportunities to go around and enjoy food and coffee.
Now all neighbourhoods have some food markets, delis and independent coffee shops. There is always time to explore.
So we have decided to taste the food being offered and sold in South London. We visited Druit St Market, and Maltby Street market and Ropewalk and then we walked towards Shard.
We placed some photos for you to get triggered to do the same.  
What we have seen was a circus of colours, food smells and people, all well mixed. 
We tasted ice cream, cheese, fried duck, and fruits, in other words foodporn.
We believe Londoners that have not had the chance to go for holidays yet have a great opportunity to enjoy themselves going around in food markets, thus forgetting life concerns and sorrows for a while.
 

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London taste: the art of coffee making 

25/9/2014

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Several years ago, I did a marketing strategy report for one of big coffee shop chains that we might all recognise. I learnt a lot such as there are only two varieties of coffee in the world, Arabica and Robusta, and the various tactics that the coffee buyers monopolies used to distribute the coffee around the world. Since then a lot of things in the coffee making industry have been changed where new smaller companies are able to source coffee of unique flavour from around the world. I hope the coffee producers have managed to earn a little bit more money than before. 

You might wonder why I have written all this. It was Saturday when I was about to meet my friends, somewhere in St James Park. At that time I was wandering around Angel, until I stopped at a book shop. I love books, I have got to admit, and once I saw it, without any hesitance, I grabbed the opportunity, and bought the book:     '' The world of encyclopedia of coffee '' . (See further below the front cover)
After a few pages reading on the tube trains, I realised that I knew nothing but few things about coffee. 
My conclusion: Coffee making is a science and:  
- There is no coffee drink without coffee bean roasting, 
- Guatemala: a country with one of the best quality coffee beans in the world,
- Espresso: coffee beans that have undergone extra roasting process (and not pronounced as expresso), 
- Kona Coffee: one of the best quality coffees in the world, too 
- Frappe: a the cold drink, originated in Greece, made from instant coffee and ice cubes, and sugar if requested, using a shaker. Milk is added after making the coffee drink. The end result is a frothy drink. The so called ''frappuccino'' along with other paraphrased ''frappe'' drinks are just milkshakes. 

Coffee drink making is an art, therefore the best coffee is not found in the big chains, there are mass producers and they just want to sell. Personally, I believe that the best quality coffee shops and cafes in London are two: the Doppio (Kentish town) and Monmouth (Borough Market). They sell coffee beans and coffee drinks. If you know an independent coffee shop and cafe, let me know: I will  visit them and we can write a few things about them, too.
Coffee drinking is a social event and not a shopping event. When I see cafes closing at 5pm or 6 pm, I ''worry'' that the owners might not have any relationship either with the art of coffee making and/or socialising. 

I love Quidco
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London taste: producing vegetables by Shard tower

11/9/2014

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London Living_Shard garden
It was Saturday morning when I was invited to a secret place to check ''something'' and then, I would be free to follow my usual morning routine: good coffee and walking into some "new" places in London.
I got my things prepared and I walked to the tube station: destination London Bridge tube station. I was fortunate to have my friend as guide, as we walked through the little alleys by the Shard tower and finally after 5 minutes walk , we found the "place".
A few metres from this gigantic glass tower, there is a garden producing fruits and vegetables. 

I could not believe in my eyes, not because of a garden but because of the existence of a garden in a such small distance from the industrialised office pool of high buildings. I managed to have a chat with David, the project supervisor, who was very willing to give us a tour. Neither fertilisers nor pesticides or any other lethal substance are used to cultivate these vegetables. Pure organic fresh produce! 
By the way, there are some hanging baskets with cherry tomatoes outside the garden where people can take off the basket for free. 
I was told that there is a restaurant which buys some of the fresh produce and they are looking for some new customers to support their project. Feel free to visit the garden and if you know a restaurant which can buy some of their produce, it would be of a great help.  
I placed some pictures to see the garden but also I placed a photo of the gift I was given by David: 
the London giant courgette, amazing!
London keeps alive by constantly providing innovation in food production and taste,
London taste is sky-rocketing.
I did not mention previously that the garden belongs to a team which helps homeless people.


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