Loving cake at the Southbank

Guest post by Read_and_dream

The Southbank in London is good at fun and food. At the moment it's got a "Festival of love" going on, to celebrate the Same Sex Couple Act, and yesterday I unknowingly stumbled into this while heading for the food market. The festival involves fun installations, pop-ups and performances celebrating seven different kinds of love, from "agape" (the love of humanity) to "ludus" (flirting, playful affection) and will be on for the next two months.

Among all this there lies the delightful-as-ever Real Food Market (open Fri-Sun), with an amazing range of street food and gourmet delicacies from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds...Indian, Italian, Egyptian, Ethiopian...you name it, it's there!

Studying near London as I do, I've visited the Real Food Market quite a few times before, (including one amazing time where I and one of the Crumbs to Crunch sisters literally sang for our supper; being rewarded with free strudel for singing "My Favourite Things" from The Sound of Music) so I knew how mouth-wateringly delicious it is already, but being a bit low on funds (savoury food starting at £5) I came to the obvious conclusion...I would have to have cake for lunch, quel dommage!

There were several tasty-looking cake stalls, but the most tempting of all was Ion Patisserie's stall, on which a smorgasbord of scrumptious treats were just begging to be bought. What really stood-out to me though, were the cheesecake berry parcels, as I'd never seen anyone put cheesecake into filo pastry before. I bought one for the handsome sum of £3 and sat down on the wall nearby to enjoy my spoils; and enjoy it I did! The cheesecake itself was rich and creamy, so rich indeed that I had trouble finishing it, and it was beautifully accompanied by the summer berries and delicate, flaky pastry. I thoroughly recommend going and checking them out, and if you're feeling lush, you could even start with a savoury course!

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