First full day in London

Today we did a Viator excursion, Eating London: Brick Lane, Shoreditch & Spitalfields Food Tour. We had to be at the meeting point, the Old Spitalfields Market, at 11:00 AM. We had to take 2 trains to get there and leaving about an hour beforehand so, we wouldn't be late because they don't wait for you. There was only 7 of us so, nice and small group. We started with the Monte Crisco sandwich at one of the vendors in the market. It was a good size sandwich and very cheesy. We then went to Wentworth Street to a tiny "hole in the wall" bakery and tried their specialty, a unique and delicious Chinese egg custard tart. I liked it better than the ones in Portugal because instead of plain I choose one with blueberries. I am not a fan of custard and the blueberries helped limit all the custard filling. We went to Aladin Brick Lane where we went to an Indian restaurant and sat down and tried 3 different dishes. I have never tried Indian food before, and it was pretty good. I didn't try the spicy one though. Can't go to London without trying the fish and chips. We went to Poppies Fish & Chips both the fish and chips were very good. A very popular place is Beigel Bake there was a line of people, and our guide was able to go to the front of line and order our salt beef beigel sandwiches. I'm not a fan of salt beef, which resembled corn beef, so I just ate the bagel, and it was very good and chewy. They have a full menu, offering an irresistible selection of freshly baked bagels, stuffed beigels, and mouthwatering desserts and pastries. Because it was a Sunday the market on Brick Lane was open when we walked down the street. Brick Lane is famous for its eclectic mix of vintage shops, street art, and a variety of restaurants and on Sundays the most famous market in east end is open. We also passed by the Soup Kitchen for the Jewish People, a heritage listed architecture, it was founded in 1854 and closed in 1992. It is a historic London institution to help impoverished Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution, offering soup, bread, and groceries. The last stop we ended back at the Spitalfields Market at Humble Crumble where we had The Classic, there most popular crumble. If you have never had a crumble it tastes like a delightful contrast of warm, sweet, spiced apple and cinnamon, meeting a buttery shortbread topping and hot custard. When we were finished, we took a vote on what was the best food that we tried and the crumble won.

The tour lasted around 3 1/2 hours afterwards we went back to the hotel to do laundry. The hotel washers were quick, but the dryers were very slow and took a few hours to get the wash and drying done.

Monte Crisco Sandwich

Fish & Chips

Where we got the Fish and Chips

Soup Kitchen for Jewish People