Recipease

Ok, this is embarassing. So school has been kicking my ass and I actually almost forgot I had a blog and a lot to post about. And then I remembered I haven't even talked about my amazing time in London yet!

I went to London mid-December to visit a friend and some family and it was great! I ate so many delicious things, and visited so many places I had never even dreamed of seeing in my life. Now that i think of it, the entire time I was traveling (read: all 4 months I spent in Europe) everything felt so dreamlike that it seems very distant now. But I've only been back for a little more than a month, which is crazy - feels like forever.

Street art at Brick Lane

Back to what I saw and ate. For me, the best thing about London was the Brick Lane Market. My friend took me there on my first day and she could not have made me happier. The "market" is basically a flea market all over the street (Brick Lane). They sell everything and anything. But the best part is the big warehouses in the middle (or sides) of the market. Inside each warehouse you find dozens and dozens of food stands. From all over the world. It's insane. Right next to one another, you have Venezuelan food, Vietnamese food, Turkish food, Chinese food, Japanese food... the list goes on with much more exotic "food" than I could think of. I loved it and at the same time hated it.

YUM

 I loved because, duh, there it is, the most diverse selection of cuisines I will probably see in my entire life, and all of it is cheap and looks delicious. The environment is super chill, even though it was really full you never feel overwhelmed - unless you're like me and love food then you were just overwhelmed by the amazingness of the existence of such a place. 
But I HATE it. I hate it because it's so far from me now. And also because there is no way I could've chosen what I wanted to eat. Thankfully, my friend already had two places in mind, a Turkish crepe and a Japanese omelet. Sweet Jesus. I don't have any pictures because honestly I was starving and wanted to eat that so bad. But trust me: they were delicious. The Turkish guys at the crepe place were really funny, they would shove samples of their food into other peoples mouths... hilarious! Stuff like that could never happen in the US... :(
For dessert, we shared this beautiful and delicious carrot cake, from a booth called Sweet Food. The rest of the day we spent walking around the area, taking crazy pictures in a photo booth and designing our own Christmas cards...

Big Ben and Parliament

My last day in London we decided to go for a walk around Notting Hill. I love the movie and was really curious to see that part of town. My friend knows every single thing there is to know, including the best bookshops! We also went with a tip from a Brazilian blog, Escapismo Genuíno , to go visit Jamie Oliver's Recipease.

Recipease is a store/market/restaurant/kitchen where everything is happening at the same time. It is beautiful, its outside walls are all made of huge glass windows. When I walked in, the first thing I saw was food, basically sandwiches and small bites for sale. Beyond it, there was a huge kitchen island with chefs in the hollow middle. Around the island, on the countertops, there were several place-sets full of ingredients, tools and containers - for the class that was about to take place. Recipease offers cooking classes for everyone, and has a variety of options on what cuisine you can learn about too. And afterwards you get to eat what you cook, with a glass of wine. I thought it was really nice, but kind of expensive - for special occasions, I would say. It must be an amazing experience.

I wanted to dive in.

Besides the finger food and kitchen, there was also a market of fresh imported produce AND a kitchenware store (sold everything kitchen, from aprons to knives - there was even a heart-shaped chopping board.) Upstairs, There is another huge kitchen island like the one downstairs, and the restaurant. First, the decoration of the whole place is genius. It is so cozy and comfortable inside, even at the market and shop parts. The restaurant part has little niches full of sofa pillows for people to get comfy in and shelves full of books (by Jamie Oliver and others.) 

The decoration

More decoration - restaurant part

The choice was hard to make, but I wanted something different and inexpensive, so I went with carrot pancakes with hummus, feta and mache (or flowerdale sprouts?) salad. Delicious!!!! The meal in itself was filling but not stuffing and I loved the presentation. I like hummus, but too much of it can be dangerous, because I feel it can get tiring. However, the feta cheese and the salad balanced it out perfectly and the meal was delicious! For around £8, I thought it was reasonably priced. Definitely recommend it! 

Preeetty

Restaurant/Market/Cooking Lessons/Kitchenware shop: Recipease
City: London, England
Food: Good
Service: Good
Price: £