We are still here and eating our way through London and we are eating so many good things! This post is a combo of treats and meals, a little something for everyone!
KNOOPS
This place is a chocolate lovers paradise, becoming one of our favorite treat stops! Knoops is all about creating quality chocolate drinks. They only have three menu offerings: hot chocolate, iced chocolate, and milkshakes. What makes these special is that you can order them in a wide variety of chocolate percentages. Knoops offers percentages from 38-100% cocoa, a wide variety of white, milk, and dark chocolates, even the most bitter 100% cocoa.
The percentage of cocoa is the actual amount of cocoa bean products (cocoa mass, cocoa liquor, cocoa nib, and cocoa butter) in the mixture. Most chocolate that we eat is a combination of cocoa and sugar with some chocolates having added vanilla or milk powder.
Some chocolates have more ingredients (artificial flavorings, oil, emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners, etc.) but these can lower production costs and make a more “addictive” product. (I’m not a fan of this, the purer the better!) I’m getting distracted. Chocolate purity and the humanity of the chocolate industry are really complicated and complex subjects, that I can’t even begin to think I know the ins and outs of-- so back to what I do know: delicious-tasting chocolate.
Above photos from Theo Chocolate
My favorite item on the Knoops menu is either the 54% or 70% milkshake. It is a richly delicious chocolate that pairs perfectly with the sweetness of the ice cream. It is a thinner shake (drink not spoon) but I enjoy every sip!! (Except the paper straw, that really kills the vibe, but that’s an all over London thing.) We have already got these shakes three or four times and plan to go back a few more times before we go!
PIZZA EXPRESS
Pizza Express is a sit-down (or takeout) pizza restaurant all over the UK and actually, it looks like they have locations in other countries as well. It is a solid pizza that is easy to find around town. One thing that is super fun on their menu is the Leggera. This is a great option when you want pizza and a salad. It is essentially a ring of pizza with the inside circle cut out and filled with greens! I loved this combo and feel like I should offer this at a restaurant in the U.S. - the moms would go crazy.
My other favorite thing on the menu is the Hot Honey Dough Balls. Dough balls are baked balls of dough coated in a variety of things (pesto, cheese, etc.) but when I saw hot honey, I had to try them. The combo of sweet and spicy is one of my favorites!
GAIL'S
Gail’s is a bakery all over London. They specialize in making delicious breads (we eat them regularly for breakfast), along with a variety of other pastries and lunch items. So far I have tried
- the ham and leek quiche
- plain scone with cream and jam,
- caprese focaccia sandwich
- blueberry and custard brioche
- sea salt caramel banana and pecan cake
- chocolate chip cookie
- reverse chocolate chip cookie
Overall, everything has been tasty, quality baked goods. I loved the focaccia sandwich, simple and excellently executed. I would order any of the pastries again. The only thing I wouldn’t order again is the CC cookies. They were just ok, not very soft or sweet compared to the ones we like. We also have since found a few other scone places, so I think I would try something different in place of that. Overall, it seems like you can't go wrong with anything they have to offer!
DIN TAI FUNG
Din Tai Fung is known for their artful approach of traditional Chinese dumplings. They began in Hong Kong in 1972 (an inspiring story!) but more recently made their way to Europe in 2018.
Their menu has a variety of bao buns. They have the more bready bao buns, but also these little melt in your mouth bao soup dumplings. Everything we tried was delicious, very consistently executed. They have multiple locations, but the location we went to in Covent Garden is beautiful and has an area where you can watch them make the dumplings which is fascinating! It is an amazing, detailed process and the creators are truly talented!
BUNS FROM HOME
More buns... but very different! This place is so fun! It is a bun, dough, pastry haven! They are not traditional, fluffy cinnamon rolls like we get in the states, but they are more like flakey pastry. They also have some that are a bit fluffier dough, but filled with delicious, fluffy, velvety custard.
We tried nearly every flavor and all of them were spectacular. My favorite had to be the berry cheesecake (fluffy dough, filled with so much cheesy cream filling, berry drizzle, and graham cracker crumble.) My least favorite was the cinnamon, it had no real frosting, and the cinnamon flavor was a stronger cinnamon (not the sweet buttery cinnamon we are used to.) We also tried the focaccia which was also lovely.
We are hoping to go back and try the pistachio because it was out of stock and I am truly on a pistachio kick, so I must go back!
BOROUGH MARKET
Borough Market is a foodie paradise! It’s not a farmers’ market with some jewelry, and then some bread, and then soap, and some vegetables, IT IS ALL FOOD! At Burough there are booths to do your weekly shopping selling raw ingredients like fish, meat, cheese, breads etc. and then there is an additional prepared food area with dishes served from all over the world. Truly the diversity is incredible and mind boggling. We ate from a few different booths, and they were all delicious! We also got the TikTok famous chocolate covered strawberries which were fun and tasty! We are hoping to go back and try more soon, because there are so many options that all look amazing!
We are making our way through our food bucket lists, tasting our way through the city and all it has to offer! We are having a hard time narrowing down our lists to know where to take our mom because there are so many good things! It will just be a few days packed with food! Yay!!
Cheers to good eats!!
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