The lights of Broadway!...and the bread...and pies...

Another day, another market. But oh boy, was this a market! Where the Borough Market is the big, grand-daddy of markets (think Granville Island, with equal amounts tourists, gourmet shopping foodies and lunch-seeking office workers), Broadway Market is the neighbourhood market that residents actually shop weekly at (think Moss St. Market if it was three times its size).

It's a great balance of varied vendors - artisan loaves of bread, fancy pastries, organic vegetables, exotic spices, marinated olives, and, to keep you alert while shopping, individually dripped cups of coffee.

This stall has a plywood shelf with holes cut to hold ceramic filters, so each customer gets a freshly ground and brewed cup of coffee:

The selection of baked goods and cakes was fabulous - both high-end bakery style as well as rustic tarts and flans, and these gourmet two-bite delectables:

And if you need some sustenance while you're perusing all the stalls, they are near endless choices to fill your tummy. This place had lamb pies and sweet potatoe pies - and mini versions to have as an hors d'oeuvre until you reach the next stall:

If you have a bit of a need to appease your sweet tooth, this fudge selection was both wide-ranging and beautifully displayed:

And apparently it's not just the residents from the nearby streets that frequent the market. His Royal Highness is pictured chatting with the baker/owner of this stall. He has his head down when we snapped the photo - but his hat is the identifying element:

At another stall serving snacks while you shop, the owners were slicing the salmon while you watched:

And creating a mouth-watering aroma were these roasting chickens - sold in wholes or half. There was also sliced leg of lamb that had been roasted earlier.

The actual stall that brought us to the a Broadway Market was Eat My Pie, selling the scotch eggs created by Andy Bates. Currently he runs stalls at the Broadway Market and White Cross Street Market. He is also involved with a street-food network show that's just begun here in the UK. We heard and read all of this background after we'd already planned our visit.

We had been having a drink and dinner in a local pub in Kensington (Brad having a steak and Cassie a scotch egg and fish) when a gentlemen at the next table remarked how great the scotch egg looked and added that there was a bloke at the Broadway market who did eggs that were pretty good too. So the search was on. Little did we know it would lead us to such a fabulous market.

Some of the scotch eggs (soft boiled egg surrounded by sausage meat) included chorizo, Thai red curry, black pudding and Mexican three bean. Here is the Eat My Pie stall:

And here's Cassie's scotch egg (which they properly slice open for you and sprinkle with coarse salt and cracked black pepper). This one was the "Breakfast Egg" - soft boiled egg, surrounded by sausage meat and small bits of crumbled bacon.

Eat My Pie also served up a very British dish in an unusual way. Slices of rare roast beef with horseradish tucked into a yorkshire pudding. We managed to snap this photo before they all sold out - which was only another minute later:

And to prove the diversity of the market, it's not just your weekly loaf you can hope to find here. You can also pick-up a classic ride:

We're already planning our next visit.