Borough Market: Bread Ahead

It had been far too long since I had last been to Borough Market. Over a year. The last time was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning and the crowds got to me. I got stressed, couldn't move, queued for a Monmouth Coffee (yes, that queue was worth it), and then left.

It was the hundreds of rave reviews of the doughnuts at Bread Ahead that got me there again this morning.

B, T and I traipsed down in the pouring rain to find an enjoyably empty (given that it was a bank holiday Saturday in May) market. I mean, it wasn't empty. It's not like we had the whole place to ourselves (which would I think be my heaven). But we could move around at a reasonable pace. We didn't have to queue to buy things. I didn't feel like a hamster trapped in a wheel.

B was not going to let us admire anything, taste anything or buy anything, until we had sourced our doughnuts. So round and round we walked, until we finally found it. Bread Ahead's stand, piled high with sourdough, brownies, focaccia, cakes, and, of course, trays of doughnuts. One vanilla custard doughnut each and a loaf of sourdough purchased. Excitement all round, followed by many repetitions of 'so good', 'so fluffy', 'mmmmmm', all said with sugar and custard all over our faces. We contemplated a second, went back and gazed at the remainder of the tray lovingly, before deciding we'd do a market lap and come back later. 

We sipped on juices as we walked (juice + doughnut = healthy meal), picking at samples, grabbing vegetables for dinner, escaping the not-too-bad crowds to the comparative calm of Neal's Yard to buy ricotta and a bank-holiday weekend dose of Dorstone, before returning to Bread Ahead for an aubergine focaccia and an olive and cheese stick (T just couldn't resist those crispy bits of cheese hanging off the side any longer).

I think I could now put up with the heaving crowds of a sunny Saturday lunchtime if I knew one of those doughnuts was waiting for me. But if they'd sold out already, well, I think I'd break down and cry. I'd be heartbroken and have to go for some inferior treat elsewhere.