To the bored Londoner, it’s just another tube station but to me it is a beautiful cosy place with a wonderfully modern mall, a very alive and vibrant street market, great restaurants, and plenty for the hungry soul to do, to see, to absorb and soak in and spend a few hours enjoying the best that this place has to offer.

On my recent visit to Angel, I spent time walking around, enjoying the early spring sun, savouring the street food delicacies and discovering the joy of having a lazy cup of tea and an amazing cafe called Euphorium Bakery.

I walked around the street market and ate this awesome falafel wrap, it has the most divine crunchy fried falafel balls ummmmm and very, very tasty aubergines, cauliflower, spicy chilli pickled, fried potato dusted with the most amazing sauce and what not!

If you see the two blokes in the picture, one smiley and one err well Not so smiley ;), you know you are the right place for mind-blowingly tasty falafel wraps!

The street market has a butcher, a fishmonger, several fruit and vegetable vendors, carpet sellers, lingerie stalls, even a  makeup stall! It has all sort of world cuisine on offer, right from the local jacket potatoes and fish and chips to mid-eastern falafels, African jerk chicken, Bangladeshi kebabs, Vietnamese noodles, Thai crispy prawns, and so much more and yes a generous spattering of many pubs and cafes including the famous chains like Starbucks and Costa for the loyal followers.

Though I strongly suggest landing up without having had breakfast , picking up a falafel wrap as an appetiser, then walking around taking in the vibrancy of the place and then eating to your heart’s content at any one of the many food stall, then wandering around the massive mall, indulging in some shopping  , strolling around the quiet by lanes and plonking yourself onto an easy chair in one of the many lovely local cafes and sipping away on your latte’ or Indian chai and relishing an afternoon well spent .

A view of the massive ”Angels’s wings” at the entrance to the Mall and a View of the ” Angel’s Halo” at one of the exits ….

I even managed to get a steal-deal on a book I was looking to buy for some time now from a local charity shop ( I don’t know how she does it – By Alison Pearson, a must read for EVERY woman especially if you thrive on a huge guilt conscience of NOT being able to spare enough time for your family because you have a job that you love and are addicted to !, it’s a bible for one of my closest female buddies P)

A view of a beautiful flower shop located close to the bakery.

A little rain while I was safely tucked inside the cafe dropped the temperature by a few degrees and ensured I left to get home just in time to make hubbykins a steaming hot cuppa and share a long conversation about how I spent a lovely day out.

I also discovered a wonderful Fruit called Longan, it’s like litchi in the texture of the skin and the soft watery succulently fresh white fruit hidden inside but with a twist in the form of a sugary sweet caffeine kick concealed in the fruit that explodes with every bite that you take. I managed to gobble quite a large number of them, reluctantly sharing them with my better half 🙂

This is an image of the fruit, that what remains of the LARGE bag I got home I know, I know greedy me!

I have posted some pictures below of the fruit, it’s delicate skin that can easily be peeled off and globular succulent fruit inside.

In India there is a version of this fruit called Litchi or Lychee, it has bright red or dull brown skin, and the appearance of the fruit inside looks very similar to the Longan. Lychees are more oval in shape though and very different but equally delicious and sweet to taste and also are very succulent, every bite releases a delicious sticky liquid ummmm.

Some images of the Litchi or Lychee I got off the net :

It’s at times like this that I imagine how much of effort God put into creating this planet and all that is there on the planet , it is such small everyday pleasures that make me smile.

To those whose mouth is watering after seeing those images please head to China Town or any proper Chinese shop in London and ask for Longan . If you love them as much as I did , write back to me !Please !

I have posted a few images of my day out below, hope you enjoy seeing them. Oh yes, How can I forget the highlight of the day ?! I touched a LIVE snake and that too a BOA CONSTRICTOR (screaammmmmmm EEEEEEECHHHHH,yelll, shiver shudder shake shake ..none of that happened, even little kids were touching the slippery guy who seemed to be basking in the glory of so many curious human eyes set on him !), it is called a Common Boa Constrictor and inhabits rainforests, the other two animals I saw were an African spurred tortoise and a lizard which I think is the Bearded Dragon, a word of praise here for the handlers of these animals who work with a company called the Zoofari.

These handlers were gentle with the animals , very knowledgebale and great with kids too, they also ensured each and every fascinated child and adult got a blob of hand sanitiser after they touched the animals. Kudos to them ! Good work guys and I loved the concept of a mobile zoo and how they raise funds for wildlife ,a very noble thought and deed ..Indeed 🙂

The Zoofari Van :

The crowd around the display area :

Say hello to the Turtle , it’s quite massive isn’t it ??

And now the BOA…….

Ok that was me hesitating and touching the snake after all, so scale-eee , err never mind !

Well After those animals , feats your eyes on some images of the awesome Euphorium Bakery .

And just as I had left the area the taste of chai still lingering in my mouth, I was offered a free sample of the New Almond Latte at Starbucks, worth a try I say!

I managed to stuff my camera back into my bag and dragged my exteremly drowsy self to the tube station , but had to click this last one snap as I laughed aloud and people around gave me the look as if to say ”Crazy woman laughing all alone ..grumphfh ” well you would smirk too after seeing it wouldn’t you ??

Hahaha a quirky laugh at the end of a fab day, all I needed to inspire me to get blogging again!