It’s saturday and the sun is shining, unusual for London. I have become used to the grey and my unmistakeably ghostly pallour. Now the sky is bright and I feel a warmth across my back. I am wearing slippers but I soon discard them and walk barefoot around my small patio. At intervals I bend down to pull up weeds from the cracks between the bricks as they too force themselves from the darkness and into the light.

What is one to do on a rare precious day like this this? I have made no plans. I’m a free agent with endless possibilities and with all this choice before me there is only one thing I can do… have a cup of tea. I sit in the courtyard with my English breakfast and trawl through Instagram for inspiration. The hours tick by. I have another cup, sunny side down eggs on toast, another tea, more Instagram. And then I see it – Broadway Market’s Instagram telling me to get out of the house and pay a visit to Truffle, who are cooking up some beef shin nuggets with house pickles and truffle mayo…

I’m not entirely sure what has happened but I am already half way down the street. Then I am at the market.  I am walking past flowers and coffee, a pig on a spit, raw protein balls and Deeney’s haggis toasties (delicious, but not this time). I turn left, and there I see
it, past the Vietnamese and the vegetarian pastries. It shines out at me, as my skin absorbs the rays.

I walk toward it and then – “Hi! Fancy seeing you here”. It’s my friend, he is picking a chickpea pastry. He’s vegetarian.

“What are you up to?”

“I’m here for beef shin nuggets” I tell him.

“I would totally go for that if I wasn’t a vegetarian” he says enthusiastically. He’s my favourite kind of vegetarian. We sit by the canal, food in hand, out feet dangling towards the water. I start on the first nugget. The shell of it crunches and gives way to the most succulent meat, perfectly seasoned and melting in the mouth. I just about swallow it whole in my eagerness but sense dictates that I chew my food. I also love the pickles
which look like something out of Avatar but taste like… well, pickles.

We sit and eat, talk about the world and watch the boats. Then the beef shin nuggets are gone and I almost feel a sense of loss, until my friend looks at me. “I really to do fancy a glass of Rosé,” he says – and I don’t need any convincing.

You can find Truffle at KERB! West India Quay  Canary Wharf E14 4AZ and other food markets around London – check their facebook @trufflelondon for updates.