Real Food Market, Covent Garden

Every Thursday, the piazza at Covent Garden comes to life with the appearance of stalls selling their culinary wares and the waft of food cooking greeting passers by.

Weather permitting, I made my way there over a number of weeks to sample what there is to offer.

I wrote a post earlier on Street Kitchen that was there in October. Really liking what I had, I went back to try some others.

Hot Smoked Salmon with Beetroot, Crushed Potato and Horseradish £6.50

This was ordered by my colleague and looked rather good.

 

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Home Made Organic Brioche £4.50

Hearty and wholesome, this was of a medium creamy texture.

Cheesecake with Blackberries and Shortbread £4.50

Apparently, they ran out of the cheese from the original supplier and had to substitute it with another on the day that I decided to try it. Was told by Jun Tanaka that this is creamier but still as delicious!

I don’t mind that the cheesecake was not as solid as it still went very well with the crunchiness that came from the shortbread with bursts of tartiness from the blackberries. My colleague prefers the more solid versions.

Some of the regular stalls:

Fresh oysters, anyone?

Paella

This is as fresh as it gets where the garlic is still literally in its shrubs from being picked from the garden.

There is also a stall selling organic vegetables.

I was very tempted to try the Salt Marsh lamb steak but the queue deterred me.

Truffle risotto – I sampled this and the flavour of the truffles definitely hit you strong. It is slightly more al dente than expected but was told that they have to slightly undercook as it continues to cook when you are bringing it somewhere else to eat it.

In the end, I settled for some vegetarian rice pilaf which was overpriced as this was only how much I got for £4.50!

Varieties of sweets and pastries, check out the dessert shots!

After much deliberation, I got myself an Alfajores as dessert. I’ve never had one of this before. These are cookies that are filled in the middle with dulce de leche and rolled in coconut, a South American snack.

I don’t really like coconut-coated stuff but I could forgive this one as the cookie itself is so airily light that crumbs literally fly in the air for a few nano-seconds when you bite into it. It almost feels like it melts into nothingness leaving behind hints of butter ending with the sweet caramel sticky dulce de leche!

I really like this one, might attempt to make it as I have a tub of Dulce de Leche sitting in my kitchen.

The Real Food Market will continue until Christmas. Good time to also check out KISS.

Description below from coventgardenlondonuk.com:

“Dubbed KISS, and designed by Paul Cocksedge Studio, KISS is activated when two people hold the mistletoe under the tree and kiss. The electricity of their touch spectacularly lights up the tree’s 50,000 red and white LED lights, creating a sensational light installation.

Merry Kissmas aims to raise over £25,000 for youth charity The Prince’s Trust, changing the lives of disadvantaged young people in the UK, through practical and financial support. We are encouraging visitors to donate a minimum of £1 for every kiss under the Christmas tree. Please give generously. Visit princes-trust.org.uk for more details.”