I was tempted to name this post as The Colour of Magic: for some reason the good old Terry Pratchett’s famous title is on my mind, and I am going to write about London, which is a magical city. But this post is only about my lunchtime walk around the streets of Shoreditch, and the amazing colours I have spotted during this walk. It’s so nice to step away from the computer screen and enjoy an hour of freedom strolling around the streets of the sunny city once in a while! Spring here is long overdue, so I thought it would be a good idea to go out and enjoy a leisurely stroll in the gentle spring sunshine, light breeze and find the hidden treasures of our great city.

I have spotted many different graffiti during my walk but I could not resist taking a quick snap of this one: it reminded me of a certain furry creature I share my home with – my chat noir called Nikki. This was just painted on the wooden fence around the building site. Beats the boling white or blue, doesn’t it? Apparently, there is a bar hidden somewhere nearby, and the rumors say that is makes best Margaritas in the city… Hmmm, I am not a big alcohol drinker but I sure do like a good Margarita.

How’s this for a colourful construction site wall graffiti?

And then I headed towards Shoreditch High Street and discovered amazing colours of nature. One could argue that the gifts that the nature gives us are indeed magic, and the humans who have selected and made the varieties of vegetables that are not just delicious and nutritious, but are also pleasing to the eye.

These baskets of beautiful vegetables are lined up against the walls of the cafe called Albion, they sell this beautiful stuff, as well as freshly baked bread and pastries – I did not go inside as I would then be tempted to buy something! Maybe another time…

Amazing colours of radishes, aubergines, purple broccoli, tomatoes, carrots and lettuces

Look at the fresh greens of celery and brassicas: cauliflower, Savoy Cabbage, Purple and green broccoli, Kohlrabi, radicchio and asparagus on the side! I simply love this

Those spiral cauliflower are simply amazing to look at! Those beetroots look delicious!

I took a couple of sneaky shots of these beautiful baskets full of colourful goodness and continued my walk along the cobbled Boundary street, then on my right I saw a round pergola in the distance and I headed toward it as I was curious to see what that area is like: it could be a potential lunch spot for those hot summer days when it’s too hot to stay in the office.

I walked on and discovered a beautiful Navarre street that leads to Boundary Gardens

It did not disappoint: there is a small but beautiful park there called Boundary Gardens with lots of benches to sit on and listen to the sound of leaves shaking in the wind. I can only imagine how nice it will be to have lunch there in the summer.

I have discovered another beautiful rustic, almost old-fashioned grocery store next to Boundary Gardens. Oh, my, Shoreditch is so full of surprises!

Gorgeous veggies outside the store. Look at the size of those leeks!

I popped inside as I thought I could well do with some fresh tomatoes or bread, and I LOVE browsing these unusual shops off the beaten track – they are usually full of real treasures.

Stalls inside the shop were full of beautiful produce

I was drawn towards the shelf with deliciously smelling artisan bread and the beautiful bakery items such as chocolate brownies, Alpine rye flatbread and even a Panettone from Italy!

Italian winter tomatoes did look too good to give a miss

I picked up a few Italian winter tomatoes, they are full of flavour and reminded me of Ukrainian tomatoes. I spied wild garlic there too, our local woods are full of this stuff – I really must go and get some at the weekend! £24per kilo! Wow. I had no idea.

Free range eggs – no, I do not need any, I could start selling eggs myself! My girls are good at laying delicious eggs regularly.

I was so amazed to see the machine for rolling fresh oats into beautiful flakes! That’s so neat!

German oats rolling machine

I did not get too close to see what’s in the fridge: Looks like smoked mackerels, and possibly meat. I think the other fridge has some butter and milk. Hmm, I must go back to see what else I can spy in the store!

Beautiful tomatoes – I simply could not enough of them 🙂

While I was browsing the store another customer bought some freshly milled coffee and I had to leave as the smell of THAT coffee was simply stunning and I had to get away before I bought some – I already had my two cups of the day! I have bought a loaf of the delicious rye sourdough bread, a pack of Alpine rye crispy bread, some garlic, Italian winter tomatoes and large italian tomatoes and I really should not get any coffee as I have plenty of it at home. So I headed back to the office with my wallet £16 lighter. A bit pricey but it sure is a treat: everything I bought there was so delicious and so full of flavour!

Well, after this amazing lunch hour walk all I can say is that Shoreditch rocks! I am definitely going to go back to Albion cafe and shop, as well as this little Leila’s shop (it happens to have a cafe attached to it too and I did not even see it!). What a gem!

Do you have any favourite gems hidden in the small streets of London?