Cheese trip to London

[riha]

I have a project to teach myself the dark art of blue mold cheeses. Just today it took a rather drastic blow when I learned that in Helsinki (which is the capital city) they do not sell stilton cheese. At all. Except in Christmas season. Would you believe that.

Luckily, I am about to travel to London next weekend. Therefore I'd appreceate any recommendations to a cheese lover who can't get decent cheddar (or stilton apparently) from his native country to save his life. I have four days to fill my taste buds with London's culinary experiences and 20 kilos worth of backpack space to carry home delights. So where to go, what to buy?

[linuxboy]

Go here

http://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/shops.html

You won't be disappointed :D

[DeejayDebi]

Ah you lucky boy! ENjoy your trip and all the delights of the country and report back as soon as you can with lots of pictures!

[riha]

Linuxboy, I will go there! :) Covent Garden seems to be on the top of my list. It's been recommended as a lovely place, there's pubs with good ciders and a place to get cheeses. Awesome.

Debi, this is my first trip to London and so far the journey plan seems promising. Pics, my camera's still out of order, I must borrow one. Will do.

[linuxboy]

Also check out the festival

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/tickets/cheese-and-wine-festival-1000007
Cheese & Wine Festival South Bank Centre, outside Royal Festival Hall
Friday 23rd - Sunday 25th October | 11:00am - 8:00pm (Sun 11:am - 6:00pm)

[riha]

Wow! I am so going there. Thanks linuxboy!

I seemed to pick a good weekend to visit London :)

[DeejayDebi]

Your going to have a great trip! Congrats!

[riha]

Well, I'm back. And not disappointed.

For some reason the airport signs tried to convince me that it's forbidden to bring meat or dairy products over a border. Don't know what's up with that. Customs webpage says it's legal for personal purposes. Needless to say, I did have some in my bag.

Pics will be posted soon. Just wanted to thank you linuxboy once again since your recommendations were the highlights of my trip (excluding the Tim Minchin concert that was the main purpose of it).

All and all lovely place. Too much traffic, but excellent pubs, great cheeses, good cider and friendly salespeople where ever you go, making me eat and drink their products no matter if I was going to buy anything. Very good policy.

[DeejayDebi]

I can't wait to peek into the windows of your mind.

[riha]

Debi, the windows of my mind are not necessarily a pretty sight... Not recommended.

Insides of my camera, that's another matter. Just got my pics downloaded. I sure have taken a lot of pictures of foodstuff. This being a cheese forum, I'll not post those with sausages, wines, hams, steaks, cakes, ciders, candies, brownies, veggies, fudges, chocolates, pies, fishes and fruits. Just cheeses.

London. Awesome. If you ever visit there, I strongly recommend two places: Borough Market and previously mentioned Neal's Yard Dairy cheese shop.

Pics from Borough Market.

[riha]

Borough Market #2

[riha]

Borough #3

[riha]

Still more Borough Market! #4

Seriously that place is brilliant. And the funny thing is I just stumbled upon the information of it's existence while trying to find good cider pubs. Just awesome :)

[DeejayDebi]

WOW! Nice pictures and alot of great looking cheeses! Bet you had a ball. I sure wouldn't mind checking out some of those sausage pictures. Making sausage is of my other hobbies. ;D

Hey did you try the komijenkaas? That's on my make list Looks interesting.

[Tea]

Oh wow  :o  Did you get to sample much?  I don't know where I would have stopped.  Probably when the money ran out.  It all looks such quality products too.

Thankyou for those pics.