Borough Market is to a foodie what Hamley's is to a child: colourful, exciting and overwhelming. When I was younger I dreamt of being let loose in a toy store; nowadays set me free in a food market and I am as happy as a child.
Yesterday was my first visit to Borough Market. Nothing could have quite prepared me for the cacophony of smells and sounds, the buzzing crowds of people and the sheer range of mouth-watering foods on offer. Visiting on an empty stomach was a bad move. Weaving in and out of the stalls and people the lion in my stomach growled out for the hot sausages sizzling at one stall, the fresh bread rolls at the next and a slab of chocolate cake at another.
When I pay a visit to Brick Lane or Portobello Road I find myself clothes-watching, my eyes honing in on interesting outfits. Here, however, it is all about food-watching: checking out what everyone is tucking their teeth into to decide what looks the tastiest. A man eating a hot lamb wrap over there, a girl with a slice of triple chocolate cheesecake to my left, a boy with fish and chips behind that stall...
After eyeing up paella, fresh fish, countless cheeses, oat cookies and tasting numerous samples of chutney the lion inside me won. I went for a burger.
My friend Amy and I sat under a blossom tree as all around us families and friends ate their Borough Market feasts. I could have eaten my way around the entire market but I may have had to be stretchered home. It made me think of something my friend said when she came round for Cake Day last week. She had just tucked into her second cupcake and turned to me with a huge smile: "If I were to drop down dead right now you should know that I will have died completely, utterly content." 
Libby
Next time you're there, there's a chocolate shop just outside the main market called the Rabot Estate. I highly recommend it. It's like the movie Chocolat - everything you can buy and eat in there has chocolate in it. :-)
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