Dear Reader, I stood outside this butcher shop and charcuterie at 110 Holland Park in London and gawked.
And then I went inside C. Lidgate’s and gawked some more.
Oh, to have a local butcher shop like this nearby when planning a dinner party or Christmas feast! It’s a carnivorous cook’s dream (with apologies to all of my vegetarian friends). There’s a huge selection of meats, fish, poultry, sausages, cheeses, house-made pies and casseroles, condiments, cured meats and deli items (even Scotch eggs!), and everything is displayed beautifully, looking almost Victorian in its lushness.
From a review by author and food writer Hattie Ellis on the Lidgate’s web site:
Chefs, dedicated carnivores and the locals of this foodie neighbourhood come here for anything from a lunchtime sausage roll to a magnificent rib of grass-fed beef for a dinner party.
The staff are super-friendly and were quite welcoming to this Texas foodie gal, telling me that the shop has been in the same family for 5 generations since it originally opened in 1850. They didn’t mind my gawking at all.
I refrained from snapping photos inside Lidgate’s, because there were customers eager to be waited on, and I was something of an interloper, a traveler who could only window-shop and imagine what it would be like to have a neighborhood butcher shop like Lidgate’s where I could source all of my meat. I think I may have emitted a bit of a jealous sigh when a man asked for a chicken carcass to make stock, and the butcher said, “Right away!” That just wouldn’t happen at my local grocery store meat counter.
But if I’d been willing to annoy those regular customers going about their meat-shopping day with my shutter-bugging, I’d have gotten images of the house-made pies for you. They were things of beauty. So for you foodie-tourists, here are some of the photos from the Lidgate’s Facebook page.
Oh my goodness! Can’t you just see this bounty on your holiday table?
Just a reminder, Glover Gardens is not a commercial blog and has received no compensation from Lidgate’s. I’m just sharing as a public service, so you can window shop along with me.
And for the family, I’ve put Lidgate’s cookbook on my Christmas list. 🙂
© 2018 Glover Gardens
Sure you have a similar shop. You just haven’t found it. Houston is huge compared to the swamp. And, we have two great butcher shops.
“Shutter bugging?”
I know working photographers aren’t respected any more, but really? Sheesh…
LOL…I actually was bugging people; I had so many questions and the staff were so engaging and talkative…the regular customers just wanted the tourist lady with the big camera around her neck to get out of the way so they could get on with their meat procurement. I was “that person”. So I think “shutter-bugging” refers only to clumsy amateurs, not you cleverly unobtrusive working photographers.
And no, Tomball, TX does not have a meat market like Lidgate’s. Houston might, but it wouldn’t be my neighborhood butcher. Let me have my envy. 😏
Patience, that’s what working photographers know. That’s why we return a couple of times. The people doing the job get to know us and we start to understand the ebb and flow. Sheesh, one of my mentors spends about a week in some coffee house just sitting outside and watching the world go by. He starts making pictures and then he’s ready. I know. I know. Not everybody has that luxury.
I doubt Lidgate’s would be your neighborhood butcher. If my SIL wanted to shop there it would be two tube transfers for her to get there. If the trip is worth it, it’s worth it. But, you can be envious… if that’s what you want. Me? I’d rather eat the meat. 🙂
Take your time. Watch the flow. That’s al we do. That, and use smaller cameras so we aren’t so obtrusive.
I doubt you’d that Lidgates would be your neighborhood butcher. My SIL lives in a great section of London. It would take her at least two tube transfers to get there.
That said, I’d rather eat the meat… 🙂
I missed the comment before about the great butcher shops in your area. Next time we come, we’ll be stopping in. The last time, we brought home an ice chest full of farmers’ market goodies; why not make it a carnivorous bounty on the next trip?
Why not, indeed? Given that there is an outpost of Neeyoh’s in Houston — classic Creole/Soul Food — there’s got to be good butcher shops in the city. But, there are three good butcher shops in NOLA, and one out in Harahan/Elmwood that caters to commercial cooks, but at which anybody can shop. If you stopped at that one, you can stop by Danny and Clydes on the way to the interstate. That’s a gas station. Their po’boys are about as good as they get. Better than Parkway in my opinion. But, what do I know? I’m either from Brooklyn or Los Angeles depending on which hour you ask. 🙂
LOL, both of those “towns” have great food, so you’re entitled to expound upon the quality of the joints. 🙂
Yeah, but all I know is bagels and lox, and Peter Lugar’s steaks and Chinese food and….
Oh My! That does look good, I might have to have a trip down there and gawk myself!
Take some photos, if you do! And come back here and tell us all about it, Nick.
I will!
The pies look really good! We used to have a local butchers and a nice bakery too but they couldn’t compete with the big supermarkets. It’s nice to see some still exist 🙂
I know! With the challenge in the comments from Ray that we must have something like this around here, I plan to do some recon in the Houston area to find the closest local “real” butcher. If/when I do, there will be another post.
Great advice, @Ray – I think I was at Lidgate’s at the busiest possible time, early afternoon on a Saturday. Waiting patiently, making friends, using a smaller camera – as soon as I retire I will follow all of these excellent suggestions. In the meantime, I’ll probably still shutter-bug some folks, as hard as I try to be charming. 🙂