Now that Sam works on ‘our’ side of London, it’s super easy to pop into town with the kids, and combine it with a lunch time visit from Dada. We live two minutes walk from the train station and the fast train to London Bridge takes just 12 minutes. We also have the East London line for fast and easy access to Shoreditch and beyond. We are extremely spoilt for choice for good transport links in little old South Norwood.
The kids miss out on a fair bit of weekend time with Sam when he’s away with work, so it’s nice for everyone to spend a bit of extra time together with a weekday adventure. Our last lunch break adventure took us to the Sky Garden on the top of the Walkie Talkie, and this time, we were visiting Spitalfields Market.
Our stop was Shoreditch High Street, which is five minutes from the warehouse office of my pre-children days. Whenever I’m in this area, I’m always struck by just how much things have changed. For a start, there was no Box Park, and any part of the area that wasn’t East London line development was empty and quiet. Commercial Street has a vastly different feel these days. Not only is it five years and two children later, but a ten second daydream has me ruefully want to be working outside of the home again. It’s a fun area to be in, and I miss it from time to time.
Back to Spitalfields – we’ve been here several times with the boys before, usually for a potter on a loose end weekend. This time, we were here to try out Square Pie.
In our house, if you fancy a really good feed, you go for a pie. At Glastonbury, when we’d be living on a ‘one meal per day’ budget, everyone knew that the pie and mash vendor offered the most filling option for the same amount of money as every other meal. One meal from there would set us up nicely for a night of walking and dancing. That, and it was also very tasty.
Square Pie stays true to this filling reputation in that if you go for the full meal deal, this is a BIG meal. You choose your pie, and then you can choose two sides to go with it.
If, like me, you usually opt for a lighter lunch, Square Pie’s canapies range of mini pies are a great option for a less hefty lunch. Or you can choose not to opt for the meal deal and just pick want you want from any of the offerings.
I like that that Square Pie caters well for both people searching for a big meal, and those who are after something smaller. It’s not a one size fits all eatery, and it’s very easy to tailor your order to your specific desires.
There are outside tables available, directly overlooking all the action of Spitalfields Market. A great spot for people watching. Square Pie is counter service, which worked perfectly with Sam’s one hour lunch break time limit.
The biggest pie fan in the family arrived starving and left with his hunger more than satisfied. He gave a special mention to the mash, which he declared the highlight of his meal.
Fussy eater Arlo was very happy to find that there were also jacket potatoes and potato wedges on offer.
I had a very hard time choosing between three different pie options, which means I’ll definitely be going back to try the other two.
And Rory… well, he slept through the whole thing and would be devastated to find out he missed out on a good meal, so what happened in Square Pie stays in Square Pie. Until he learns to read.
I love sunny days like this in London. Sitting on the grass with our post lunch ice creams, I got a bit sad thinking that we only have a couple of months left before Arlo starts school, and our London adventures become confined to the weekends. Have we really made the most of this time when the children are young enough that our day-to-day isn’t strictly dictated by school routine, and we are able to pick up and go to London any day we fancy? Will it be strange to suddenly wave goodbye to that spontaneity?
But Sam rightfully reminded me that we will still have the school holidays. And I’m determined to live those days to the full. I’m already working on this year’s summer holiday bucket list.
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We were invited to review Square Pie. All opinions are our own, and honest, as always.
