October 8th: London, Day 3

It's a long foodie day so grab your stretchy pants and get ready!

Borough Market

I decided to sleep in a little and headed to Borough Market after I got up. I took my time getting ready and headed out. It's a huge market full of different food vendors and I was very excited. I took the Southeastern Line from Embankment to London Bridge and then walked to the Borough Market, It took me a couple minutes to find the market itself but it was definitely worth the wandering.

My first stop was the Bread Ahead stall to get a vanilla custard filled doughnut. I used to work at a doughnut place that sold these style of doughnut and I was feeling a little nostalgic. It was great and I definitely would have gotten a few more flavors if I wasn't going to be eating anything else at the market. I wandered around a little until I found Khanom Krok, a little Thai stall, where I got a mango sticky rice which was absolutely amazing. It had butterfly pea tea rice, champagne mango pieces, and a salty sweet coconut sauce that I could drink. I then found La Tua Pasta where they handmake their pasta at their local store and then serve it on site. I got the black truffle and burrata tortelloni with a creamy mushroom sauce and it was sooo good, it was worth having to take the 2 lactaid beforehand. The pasta was chewy and fresh and the filling was delicious, especially paired with the mushroom sauce. Then I got to the big hitter. A literal cup of strawberries doused in melted chocolate. It was the last thing I got from the market and it was a great thing to end on. I had seen it online and it definitely lived up to the hype. The strawberries were so differrent from the ones we have in the US, they were small and sweet and even better with the chocolate.

Vanilla custard filled donut

Mango sticky rice

Tortelloni with mushroom sauce

Chocolate and strawberries

After the market, I went to a Pret a Manger again to get a Diet Coke and a water before I wandered around some more. While in the Pret, I texted my mom about starting a travel blog and she said "I told you to do that already" and I finally got around to it that's how Aimless Adventures came to be. In the basement of a Pret a Manger in London.

Too Good to Go

Even after Borough Market, I wanted to maybe get a pastry or dessert for later in the evening so I decided to use the Too Good to Go app again. I should honestly get them to sponsor me since I'm doing all this free promo for them. I ended up finding Amelia in Covent Garden which was only a block or so away from where I was staying. When I made my way back to the hotel, I stopped in to grab my order. I flashed them the code and it took them a moment to choose what to put in the bag but I ended up getting whatever they had the most of which was 2 sesame bagels, 4 mini baguettes, and 2 mini orange loaves. For around $5 again, I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of things they gave me. I walked back to the hotel and put them off to the side before taking a quick nap.

Din Tai Fung

The Din Tai Fung Mascot

I told y'all it was a foodie day. After my nap, I had a late night reservation for Din Tai Fung, my family's favorite place to get the best Xiao Long Bao, i.e. soup dumplings. This was the place I had walked by earlier in my trip and I was so excited. I was still basically full from earlier in the day but I was going to put down some XLB no matter what. I got seated very quickly, walking by the area where you can watch the soup dumplings being made, and was handed a menu (that I didn't need because it wasn't my first rodeo). I flipped through it anyways and consulted the family group chat on how many XLB I should get. My mother suggested 20 and my father said order 5 then go from there. I followed my father's advice on this one and it was definitely the smart choice. I also got the shrimp fried rice along with the 5 pork XLB and it was absolutely enough for me. They have a great shrimp fried rice and the pork dumplings are a classic, 100% recommend both if you ever have the chance to go there. They have a bunch of other flavors of soup dumpling and other amazing dishes, but those are my must haves.

The Pork Xiao Long Bao

My half-eaten fried rice

There are many ways to eat a soup dumpling, but I think that my way is obviously the best way. You start with a small dish of black vinegar with a small amount of julienned ginger, an Asian soup spoon, and chopsticks. You dip the dumpling in the vinegar and place it on to the soup spoon. Next, poke a small hole in the dumpling skin so the soup drains into the spoon. You then pick up the dumpling, drink the soup, then place the dumpling back down. After that, you put a piece of the julienned ginger on top and pop the whole dumpling in your mouth. It's savory with a little hint of the ginger that keeps it from being too heavy and it's *chef's kiss*. My sister and I could eat several dozen if left to our own devices.

The proper way to eat a XLB

A classic: milk tea with boba

After finishing off the steamer basket and rice, I was full again, but you know, the dessert stomach is a thing that exists and I went to go get a boba afterwards. It was a great foodie day and I was absolutely ready to get to bed after packing. I got all my stuff put away and got ready to head to Paris in the morning.