Portobello Market & The Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Notting Hill

Last Saturday on my way to the HulaFit class I got a bit lost. I have no sense of direction and whilst mobile phones and sat nav make things a little bit easier, I still struggle. Especially when places are as rich in distractions as Notting Hill.

First off: The houses. The ones like you see in the movies, with rows upon rows of houses painted in crisp whites and glorious technicolour. Then there are the famous streets.

What you don’t tend to see in the movies is the bags of rubbish by every lamp post. I bet the Made In Chelsea producers must constantly stop filming to remove bags of rubbish from shot! (I shall be studying closely from now on).

Down one of these streets, a man walking in the opposite direction called out to me, telling me that I was very sweet and should go get lunch with him, he knew a wonderful place to go. I was suddenly acutely aware of the fact I was on my own, lost in London with my phone and camera on full display. Smiling politely, I said thank you and that I was in a rush to be somewhere, whilst practically legging it down the road.

At the end of the street I could hear bongos, various music and chatter and realised I was right in the heart of Portobello Market.

If I’m completely honest, it was something of a disappointment. It seemed like any other busy market to me, full of London souvenir sellers, fruit and veg stalls and batteries and plugs ‘3 for £10’. Not quite the trendy vintage haven I’d been picturing. However it was cheerful and friendly and I meandered through to take in what I could in the short space of time.

There were some things that caught my eye, like a wall of tin signs featuring all sorts of different designs, including various comic book covers, which I was tempted to take home for N.

10 minutes later I had been sucked deep into Portobello Market and was struggling to find my way out. Who should I bump into, but ‘let’s get lunch’ from earlier, brandishing a white plastic takeway bag.

“Lost?” he asked?
“Yes.” I said rather sheepishly.

He proceeded to give me directions to The Tabernacle, before shaking his head and saying “See, if you weren’t English you would have been more friendly, you would have come got lunch, I just had the most delicious soup!” I felt so bad, especially after he told me the directions 3 times just to make sure I was completely clear before he left me. And yet, as sad as it is, I know I did the right thing, because even though he turned out to be just a friendly Notting Hill regular, you just never know do you?

After my fitness class, we all headed back into Notting Hill to grab a bite to eat. Here’s a cute bench that we found outside a barber shop.

We came across a picture perfect side street full of blossomed trees. Oh to live in one of those houses!

Finally, we reached the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, where we all squeezed into our reserved spot. It’s a small joint, but all nooks and crannies were packed full of quirky decor, including a scrabble board on the wall that displays messages depending on the staff’s fancy.

Since we had just worked out, we all managed to convince ourselves that burgers with all the works, plus milkshakes were entirely justified. (To be fair, I used the same excuse for the whole of the Easter weekend – every time the chocolate came out: “But I did HulaFit on Saturday!”)

I chose the vegetarian falafel burger which came with a cucumber raita, chilli salsa, garlic mayo, red onion, tomato and alfalfa sprouts. I’ve been to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen twice now and both times I’ve been a little underwhelmed. I think it’s the sheer amount of sauce and dressings that are crammed in which mean that I can’t quite make sense of what I’m eating. If I go back I’ll order something plainer, or ask them to hold some of the sauces so that I can enjoy the main event.

On the positive side, they were happy to swop regular buns for Brioche Buns when we asked. If you haven’t had a burger with a brioche bun, go out and try some now. You’ll thank me, I promise!

Then there were the sides. Poppy had rosemary fries and declared them delicious, whilst I shared some sweet potato fries with Lou. I LOVE crispy sweet potato fries but have never perfected them at home, so eating them out is a real treat. I am also nicking the idea of serving skinny fries in a teacup!

Plus they came with baconnaise.

BACONNAISE.

This is everything that it sounds and more. Heaven.

Just in case I hadn’t already eaten enough calories to fuel me for the year, I finished it off with a honeycomb milkshake. I swear I must have drunk a whole tub of liquified icecream but it was so good that I didn’t care. Every so often there were little crunchy bits of honeycomb too. Mmm.

Of course I’m now having to force myself to do double squats each morning in an attempt to minimise the damage… but it was worth it!