London Diaries: Food Snapshots

Assorted food photographs from a summer 2026 trip to warm and cheerful London. Strawberries and olives, shapely tomatoes and flat peaches, tea and a vegetarian Sunday roast!

1. Pulpy pineapple at Portobello Road Market

Freshly crushed pineapple pulp / juice served in a scooped-out pineapple shell.

A tall chunk of fruit is left intact in the center – why, I wonder? Maybe aesthetics, maybe to help balance the straw?

At £6 a piece, this was far from a steal, but it was the most delicious antidote to the hot sun we could have had on that bustling Saturday.

2. Vegetarian Sunday roast

While others delight in their traditional Sunday roast, non-meat-eaters need not despair – thoughtful London restaurants make vegetarian Sunday roasts, complete with all the trimmings.

Here’s a gorgeous version served at Blacklock, Shoreditch, with cauliflower chop as its main component.

The gravy at Blacklock was different for vegetarians – and I have it from others at the table who tried both gravies that the vegetarian one was tastier.

[Aside: Can’t help but notice – this dish uses the same veggie makeover inspiration as our in-house gobi musallam.]

3. Marinated mixed olives

Olives of myriad sizes, colors and tastes, combined with herbs and spices, oil and vinegar, at times garlic or cherry tomatoes.

In resplendent display at Portobello Road Market.

4. Strawberries and chocolate at Borough Market

Tall mounds of fresh strawberries, surrounded by scores of glasses stacked with the tempting fruit. They can be bought as-is or with melted chocolate poured over the top.

A long queue winds around this stall, one of the busiest in Borough Market. We were pressed for time so didn’t queue up, picked up a box of strawberries at the nearby Turnips produce shop instead. More on the wonders of that shop, next!

5. Shapely tomatoes

Turnips had the most eye-popping collection of tomatoes I had ever seen.

A couple of exhibits: the beautifully ridged heirloom tomatoes, and the torpedoesque Torino tomatoes.

6. Flat peaches

If tomatoes can be oblong, peaches can be oblate!

The “flat” peach (also called donut peach or Saturn peach, I learn) is a rarity in India, so it was a treat to see them accessible and abundant in London. These were much sweeter than regular peaches; we munched on them throughout our trip.

Here they catch the morning light, in all their inviting glory, at Turnips.

7. Tea

“Tea” and “London” are famously paired, usually in the context of the full-blown afternoon tea experience.

I refer instead to our more modest outings between the larger lunch and evening meals.

Labeled left to right (or shall we say, West to East): (left) pot of Earl Grey tea, with butter cookie on the side; (right) cupfuls of Indian masala tea, from the lovely Chai Guys at Covent Garden Seven Dials Market.

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Enjoyed this article? You might then like this 2018 write-up on our newbie adventures navigating the street food scene in VV Puram Bangalore, or this 2013 nostalgia piece on the linguistic challenges we faced during food talk after relocating from Bihar to Delhi.

New here and want to learn about Indian vegetarian cooking? Head over to our recipe gallery.