1932 MB's Cafe & hidden Roman & Medieval treasures in the City of London -- celebrating Shakespeare's 450th Birthday Week!

Off we head to St George's Day celebrations at Leadenhall Market in the City of London just above London Bridge. We hop on the 21 Bus heading to Newington Green via London Bridge.  After crossing the Thames we decide to remain on the bus a few extra stops, finally disembarking at Old Street -- in a new section of London for us. We find ourselves in the business district of The City, people bustling to work. 

No cafes in site, and the espresso bars and franchise eateries we check out are charging double for breakfast (as much as £9.40!). We're tempted to duck into a Wetherspoon in an inviting old pub, "The Mask," but trudge on. Finally, about 45 minutes of searching, very-hungry Husband spots what looks like a Cafe sign board on the kerbside of a side street near Liverpool Station, and following our noses we find ourselves at MB's Cafe at 6 Harrow Place E17 DB. 


Definitely "can't tell a book by it's cover" experience at MB's!  The owner, Peter Baldacci, greets customers with a smile, and many by name. Turns out his father opened the cafe in 1932, and Peter's been working here for 55 years!  Today there's a second cafe nearby, and Peter and his son, Matthew, share the ownership and management of the two.  
Everybody seems to be a friend of Sam's -- those clad in business suits and those in reflector vests, as well as a group of London City coppers (who were happy to pose for a pic) and a local riding a wheelchair.  Already, we're feeling pretty chummy!  
The decor is minimal, a couple antique-looking metal beverage ads and two framed pictures of French or Italian piazzas.  But the eggs...perfectly soft soaking into "granary" bread.  Hot strong tea tops off the meal.  Worth the wait.

Sated, we bid farewell to our new friends, and visit the second MB's Cafe, just around the corner.  Sure enough, there's Matthew, Peter's son, and several photos of Grandpa and the original cafe.

Turns out we've found the centre of the City of London without knowing it.  Spitalfields Antique Market, though housed in a drab modern attempt to create a covered market, entertains us for an hour -- a place to find anything retro, WWII or iconically English. 

Then on to Leadenhall Market, a maze of arcade, filled today with English flag bunting marking St George's Day (patron saint of England).  Definitely a place to have the rellies bring us when they offer to take us out for a meal.

Next stop, Guildhall Library.hosting a "Shakespeare Week" to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the bard's birth.  A First Folio of Will's plays, printed in 1623 steals the show!

But that's not the find of the day...beneath the Guildhall Library lies the ruins of a Roman Ampitheatre -- unearthed in 1988 and opened to the public in the 1990's.  Seating for 6,000 they surmise -- where human death was the entertainment, so they explain on the sign boards.
And the cause of the downfall of the Roman amphitheatres in the 4th century?  The rise of Christianity, the curator surmises.  

On that positive note... it's been a pleasure to share another Breakfast in Britain!
One never knows what one will discover in London!   

Breakfast at the New Covent Garden Flower Market in London

The early morning light warms the upper deck of our bus -- No. 436 heading for Vauxhall.  The traffic crawls through the crowded streets of Southeast London.  We're grateful for the periodic Bus Lanes that allow public transit vehicles and cabbies to swoosh by the standing traffic.

The spectacular view from our upper front row seats reminds us, as any double decker bus ride does, how much we love living in London! We pass the Oval, home of Surrey County Cricket.  MI6 loom ahead...

visions of Daniel Craig and the building exploding in "Skyfall." 

We hop off at Vauxhall Bridge, turn toward Battersea, and stroll in the shadow of the highrise residences lining the Thames. Parliament and St Steven's Tower feature in the skyline behind us.

Our destination...the Village Cafe at the New Covent Garden Flower Market.  The cafe opens at 5:00 am, to feed those workers who start their day at the Flower Market at 4:00 am. (Flower Market hours are 4:00 - 10:00 am).

But first a sneak peek at the posies on parade in the Flower Market "where 75% of London's florist choose to buy."
Boxes, trays, cartons bursting with colour!
Easter lilies by the dozen.
Even a dinosaur skeleton for your garden or fancy-dress party!  Photo ops seem endless.

Out the side door of the main warehouse, but still within the Flower Garden walled perimeter, we find the Village Cafe.  Drab and modern on the outside, integral to the Flower Market architecture.

Sadly, this Flower Market, erected in the early 1970's, replaces the original flower market first laid out as the "Covent Garden" Piazza in 1631 by the architect Inigo Jones, further developed in 1829-30, and more recently refurbished in the late 20th century into a trendy tourist spot in the City Centre.  Such beauty housed within a framework reflecting the epitome of the 1970's--functionality without imagination.   The photo-history of the Flower Market lines the walls of the cafe.

We situate ourselves in the back corner, next to a box holding 30 dozen eggs for the day ahead.  We enjoy four of them fried "soft" (learning the lingo!) with runny yolks soaking into thick slabs of toast.
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Two crossword puzzles and a newspaper  later, we venture out, across the Vauxhall Bridge, gasping at the antics of daredevil window washers high above the River Thames.

We meander through the streets of Pimlico and Kensington. Spring flowers, these uncut and free for all to view, fill traffic islands and small park places.  The finale is the glorious spray of colour filling Hyde Park flower garden -- magnificent!

Breakfast in Britain: Home can be heaven!

Sometimes the best place for breakfast is Home.  We enjoy a bit of a lie-in and gather in our dining room overlooking our London garden -- brilliant with a blaze of yellow blossoms.  Our regular feathered visitors drop by:  robins, Parrots, tits and woodpeckers.
Leaping squirrels and sunning foxes make a morning of it.

Happy Husband, enjoying a hot mug of tea, reminds me of an egg poacher we purchased at the Bodiam Castle National Trust Gift Shop a while back.
 Inspiring hope with its sunshine yellow glow, the poacher hooks over the side of a pot and holds the two eggs just above water level inside.  A dab of butter keeps the eggs from sticking.

I remember to create a pleasing geometric pattern with the bread triangles, and voilà! two poached eggs on toast with a flare! Yes, they are runny!

As for the decor -- fascinating spoon collection framing a large map of Britain.   Then there's the wall dedicated to the offspring, the cookie cutter display that reminds us of Happy Husband's Mum, and a recently acquired English country scene painted by a local artist.

And an item hanging in the window, over the sink, that always moves with us, a plastic bag dryer -- for the hard-core re-user of all those veggie bags from the grocers.