If you live in London, you will soon notice just how difficult it can be to catch up with friends. Spontaneity might work if there are just a couple of you at a loose end but generally speaking, meeting up with a group of people requires serious project management skills. I blame it on the sheer scale of London; it might only take me 45 minutes to get into the centre of London but a visit to my dear friends in Ealing will set me back 90 minutes in each direction! Not that it is a set back, you understand, I love my friends, but I can’t wake up on a Saturday morning and decide to visit them on the spur of the moment.
So it was that following months of careful planning and coordination, a group of expats, bloggers and friends met up at the Ropewalk at the Maltby Street Market for a morning of culinary delights.
The Ropewalk is a tiny stretch of road leading alongside the railway arches in Bermondsey from the corner of Maltby and Druid Streets to Millstream Road. It is primarily a food market although you will see below that there are other traders too. My best piece of advice to you? Go hungry, very hungry. And definitely don’t make the mistake that I made – I arrived a little late and flustered (I do not like being late!) and met up with the girls in the coffee shop at the end of the walk. I immediately ordered both a savoury and sweet pastry with coffee and was too full to sample the rest of the culinary delights along the way. It was an amateur mistake but one which I will gladly fix on future visits to the market!
In the photos above, you can see Scottish smoked salmon from Hansen & Lydersen and a stall offering incredible falafels and Middle Eastern delights. That would have been where I ordered from if I had a modicum of impulse control that morning. The gentlemen above were making hamburgers and sausages.
Being the good wife that I am, I made sure to order some of this speciality Vegan chocolate from Dark Sugars Chocolates. These chocolates are very tasty and very rich so I ordered one of each of the chilli, orange, ginger and apricot brandy chocolates for Stephen.
I spent some time chatting to Krystal about her handmade selection of soaps and bath bombs. Apparently she has the nicest smelling house ever and it is all down to the natural ingredients in her products.I bought a fresh apple bath bomb and it was divine! It smelled good enough to eat and turned my bath water a beautiful pale green.I would return to the market simply to buy some more of Krystal’s wares!
We all thought that the Little Bird gin bar sounded particularly inviting. I’m sure most of you know that I don’t really drink much but I’d definitely be interested in a late afternoon tasting one day.
Don’t these fruit juices sound amazing? I would love the Liza Mintelli!
As do these bespoke beers? And isn’t the word ‘bespoke’ peculiar? I had never encountered the word before moving the the UK but encountered it when i started at my company because we offer bespoke courses. It is basically a pretentious English word for custom-made.
We tried savoury crepes in France but I have never tried a savoury waffle before. I think this would be straight where Stephen would head if I ever brought him to the market. The promise of slow-roasted duck and fresh plum sauce would prove irresistible to him.
Tozino’s selection of cured meats and Spanish cheese had my mouth watering. I’m a fan of cured meat and cheese anyway but this looked so fresh and inviting.
Before our visit to Ropewalk, I had not heard of tamales before but that all changed when one of the girls ordered one I knew that this could become one of my favourite Mexican dishes. It looked just yummy and I’d love to try the quesadillas too.
We had a super morning at the Maltby Street Market Ropewalk and I will most certainly return. The market is open on Saturday from 9am to 4pm and Sunday from 11am to 4pm and lies within walking distance from London Bridge and Bermondsey stations. The best way to keep in touch with the market is on their frequently updated Facebook page.
I got very lost on the way to the market (which was the reason for my lateness) so the full address plus postcode (if you’re using the maps app) is:
Maltby Street Market: Ropewalk
40 Maltby Street
London
SE1 3PA
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