Boxpark Shoreditch and Whole Foods

Shame on me for lack of consistency, but at least I can rhyme?

It's been a while, hasn't it? The month of May has brought on a plague of stress via exams, moving out and copious expenses for travel home/a deposit on a house/summer plans. Wah, cue breakdown. But, amidst all that anxiety-inducing nonsense, I have found time to indulge myself in the city I so keenly craved to belong in.

I visited the Boxpark and Whole Foods on two different days, but I felt that although they were both amazing experiences, they just didn't have enough meat for a blog post each. So much goodness in one great (here's hoping) blogpost.

First and foremost, Boxpark. A little background, if you will: Boxpark is situated in Shoreditch (ooh la trendy) not too far from Brick Lane. It's unique in that the pop up 'mall' is made solely of shipping containers, giving birth to the name. 

You can see more photos of my day on my Instagram!

I decided to visit Boxpark after stumbling upon the DumDumDoughnuts Instagram and oh lordy am I glad I did.

(Sidenote: DumDum Doughnuts are BAKED spheres of deliciousness and so worthy of a try they even sell them in Harrods! Ow fancy, eh guvna?!) 

The main reason was indeed to sink my teeth in the calorific joy that is a Dum Dum doughnut, but I stumbled upon many gems on the way. A tiny Nike store, a Gap, little boutiques that sold far from mainstream goodies? Yeah yeah YES. But my favourite, by far, was The Guardian coffee shop. Yeah, it's affiliated with The Guardian newspaper (tablets on the coffee table, woah woah, let you access news on the Guardian webpage for super efficient learning-on-the-go) but it's quaint and eccentric in its own right. 

Fuhfuhfuhfirstly, friendliest. staff. ever. Lookit, they posed for me.

Secondly, great mocha. No frills, straight to the brain caffeine. *Shiver*.

All you could possibly need in a coffee shop, no?

What about the other part of the collocation, 'food and drinks', ya say? Let's talk about Whole Foods shall we?

The Whole Foods I visited was in Piccadilly Circus, but if you want the holy grail, check out the one in Kensington... but only if you're ready for it.

I think that in this case, pictures will definitely speak louder than words and you can just soak in all the goodness. I have a feeling we all know about the Whole Foods fad. (If you don't, let's let the most reliable* Internet source give you a couple of their best answers... 

closed parenthesis. Hahaha.

Now onto the gooooooodddd stuff.

Seriously? Did an aisle in a supermarket ever look as good to you? Nah.

I hope you enjoyed this blogpost on, well, mainly things you can digest.  But let's not pretend that 1) I do anything but eat and 2) you don't either. 'Til next time.

L.

Borough Market

It seems a bit unforgivable that I live in close proximity to Borough Market, but have yet to write about it in my blog post. I hang my head in shame. But don't fret - for I spent my late Saturday morning enjoying the hustle and bustle with my good friend Kiara.

We set off at around 3, which seemed like a 'safe' time to go. By safe, I don't mean protection from obscure weapons or burly looking members of the public that are far too sketchy to hold conversation with. No no no. I mean, safe from tourists.

It was not.

(I can't quite be so judgmental against tourists because I'm not a "proper Londoner" - I myself am just an 8 month-long tourist. I feel like I can classify myself as 'one of the people' after at least one year. Am I straying from the point? Yes.)

Despite the chaos of Borough Market on a Saturday and feeling like nobody knows how to walk properly, it's worth the trip every. single. time.

I felt a little too lazy to make lunch so I decided to silence my stomach by taking a trip to one of the food stalls. We perused the long line of selection until I had made my choice: The Boston Burger. Yeehaw. I was drawn in just by its name: the smells, the look, and the sound of the beef patty sizzling on the grill were all salivating bonuses that were definite deal sealers for me. At £5 (£7 if you want a double!) the Boston Burger is your non-standard, 'special' burger. It's no McDonalds fake or Burger King wannabe… it's the Macbook among Dell's, if you will.

Mouth watering beef. Melted ooh-la-la stilton cheese. Wiggle-inducing rocket (and I don't even like rocket!). Eye-opening onion chutney. All of these flavours tucked tightly in a white bun? Can I get an AMEN?!

Don't mind my tuft of hair. It can't be tamed.

Chow dat burger.

They also do a sausage equivalent?!?! If that's not
diversification, I dunno what is.

Seriously, great stuff. Especially when you had a tummy full of alcohol the night before.

We then perused a couple more stalls and the vitamin D soaked into our skin. Yay for a natural mood boost!

We ended our little trip at a juice bar. I hadn't yet tried these juices, but the smell of crushed fruit and veg emanated from the stall made it a done deal. I wanted the apple, mango and cucumber juice but they had no cucumber?! In a market?! Surrounded by vegetable stalls?! Shame. The juice I had (pineapple, mint and something I can't remember… oops. Turning 19 must be affecting me already.) was so refreshing but I didn't like all the mint leaves that made themselves comfortable in between my teeth. Ew. But at least it was fresh, and for £4, was a nice treat. My tummy did feel the tinge of acid after a while, but it can make do.

I had such a nice time at Borough and all though it is so close and the novelty has kind of worn out, it's still such a pleasure to visit with company. Yay for food-orientated activities.

L.