Tuck into a tasty tour of London’s
London has a quite bewildering array of restaurants showcasing food from all corners of the globe, from greasy spoons to Michelin-starred celebrity hangouts.
So getting a little help uncovering the secrets of this culinary mecca is really rather useful, a lot of fun – and very tasty.
Enter Eating London Tours, a foodie odyssey around two of London’s iconic neighbourhoods: Soho and the East End.
The latter starts in the morning at Spitalfields Market, kicking off with that most classic of English breakfasts, the bacon butty. On the four-hour walk that follows, an enthusiastic drama graduate guides your small group through the fascinating history of an area that has seen waves of immigrants over the centuries. Huguenot refugees, Irish weavers, Jews and Bangladeshis have all left their gastronomic mark alongside the traditional Cockney fare.
The tour is a mix of family places that have been around for decades – fish & chips at Poppies, a perennial favourite; Mr Sammy’s famous salt beef bagels at Beigel Bake; a half of bitter at proper boozer Pride of Spitalfields – and modern interpretations of classics, such as the indulgent briocheand-butter pudding at The English Restaurant, and a bril- liant lamb pathia at Aladin in Brick Lane.
There are eight stops on this tour, so I suggest you arrive hungry.
The Twilight Soho Food Tour is a slightly more decadent affair, with each tasting washed down by a tasty tipple (so over-18s only). The six destinations here reflect the global melting pot of the capital, from delicious Mexican tacos and frozen margaritas to dim sum and jasmine tea in Chinatown via pintxos and Txakoli wine, jamon and Spanish reds, meat pies and gin.
On top of the stop-offs to taste London’s finest morsels, the tours are highly