A wine bar with eclectic small plates is ideal for people watching, while quietly drinking and sinking into your chair.
I don’t like Borough Market much anymore; everything is poncy, it costs too much and even if you have the money you can’t get past the tourists to actually buy anything. It was great at first, but times change,
What I do like is the way lots of small, cute and characterful bars and restaurants are dotted about the area. Bedales of Borough is one such place, approached either via its market fronting entrance or from Bedale Street at the back.
Apparently it used to be a potato storehouse before becoming a wine shop/wine bar/bistro and you can feel some of that history still as there’s a kind of rough feel to the place, a bit spit and sawdust, but it’s natural and endearing.
Upstairs is an indoor terrace that looks out over the market, with a literally banging soundtrack of trains passing overhead, so we went up there. All the advantages of ‘outside’, but in.
Down below the market seethes and we play ‘spot the mask wearer’, and there still seem to be a few even now; what they think they are achieving is a mystery as they take them off to eat their purchases.
Wines by the glass range from around £6 to £10, so it’s easy to chop and change as you go along. We drank our first glasses accompanied by superb Marcona almonds and Gordal (Fatboy) olives – you have to love an olive that’s the size of a golf ball.
And I love salt cod fritters, here with a garlicky saffron mayonnaise that was restrained enough to not frighten any vampires. If I was being picky, and I am supposed to be, the salt cod could have been soaked longer as it was a bit over-salty.
Still it gives you a thirst, no bad thing in a wine bar.
It was, possibly still is, the season for courgette flowers which came still attached to tiny courgettes, battered and deep fried and served with a chunky sauce. At this size the courgettes have less water, more flavour, but it’s the flowers that amaze – concentrated courgette that comes in a melt in the mouth format.
A bowl of clams in garlic, white wine and chorizo went down well, although the chorizo could have been ‘meatier; the small pieces had dried out a bit too much, but the clams were fat and juicy.
Who can refuse a juicy lamb chop grilled just off pink? Well not me obviously, this had Moroccan spicing and came with a couscous that had its texture intact, it’s all too easy to turn couscous too soft. Pomegranate seeds brought sharp relief and the chermoula spicing was subtle to let the lamb shine.
We ate these with a bowl of deep fried potatoes smothered in a garlicky mayo, a real calorie bomb but totally irresistible.
Finally, a cheese board of largely UK cheeses was generous and well curated, coupled with a crema catalana that was rich and delicious it did us well.
We liked Bedales of Borough, the menu is full of good things, the wine list very interesting and the location is one of London’s most interesting spots.
Check out their online wine shop, their virtual tasting kits and wine tasting experiences in house