WARNING: DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU ARE HUNGRY. GO GET A SNACK.
I’m warning you because otherwise you may be subject to uncontrollable hungers, strange desires to spend copious cash, a finger twitching to find Harrods’ mail-order department, or possibly even a desire to lick the screen.
I’m a fan of food fests of all sorts, of indoor and outdoor markets, and more. But none of them is quite like this, with its overwhelming cascade of variety and its carefully-curated displays of fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, confections, breads, beverages and more.
Sort of a champagne wonderland, even for people like me who don’t care for champagne.
To my surprise, the Food Hall is not a late-comer to Harrods, although its current form is certainly due to the growth of a gourmet market; Harrods actually began in the 1840s as a food store, adding the rest later.
Suited for a cosmopolitan city, the varieties are stunning. Where some stores might have sections organized by country or region, Harrods seems to tend toward blends: in a display of chicken dishes jerk chicken sits next to harissa and tandoor versions.
Even more typically British foods come in multiple varieties; Scotch eggs, above, are hard-boiled eggs wrapped in fried sausage. At Harrods, you can find them wrapped in at least four different kinds of sausage as well as one in pork and black pudding.
Plenty of quick grabs for lunch, but if you’ve a bit more time, but only a little bit, your skewers are available ready for the grill, along with packed salads and a tempting assortment of traditional savory pies.
Say cheese!
Or an assortment of caviar and little blini to eat it on…
And for those with champagne-and-caviar tastes, there’s also ‘designer fruit,’ such as this high-falutin’ melon that is carefully-grown, one to a vine, before being shipped to Harrods for sale at Marie Antoinette prices.
Of course, there’s also real-world fruit and vegetables…
And fresh meat and fish…
Bread, of course…
And tea in amazing varieties…
Coffee of all sorts…
Gifts for one’s host and hostess..
And, saved for the end, of course, dessert. And dessert. And more dessert!
May we serve your coffee and brandy now?
George, to be honest I didn’t check ‘eat-in’ prices, since I was there fairly early in the day; I picked and chose a nice lunch to take away and eat in the park a couple of hours later…
ProfessorAbe, I can’t say I avoid London, but we’re on the same page on Champagne!
Nice–went once in 1999 for my honeymoon–wish I could return.
There was a time when I had to travel to London every few weeks – and I always made time for a visit to Harrods’ Food Halls. They had continental food that you simply could not get anywhere else. It was not cheap, but the prices were within reason. That has changed and so has the range of products. It is nice to wander through, but these days I do not buy anything and my visits to London are now quite rare in any case. I actually try my best to avoid London – and have the same attitude towards champagne.
I know – that’s why I mentioned it!
I also used to go here for my lunch food. But back then, if you took it to go or Take Away as they called it, it was far less expensive then sitting at a table and getting waited on. Is it still that way? I used to take it out and eat at a park side picnic table with a locally purchased bottle of wine.