Went to Market Review

May 3, 2016 by Rich - Foodie Reviewer

Went to Market Review

For those who work day in day out at an office, or other environment must look on quite enviously at the likes of me who work from home. Yeah it does have some quite unique advantages. My daily commute consists of getting out of bed, strolling across the landing in nothing but my under crackers, and in to our back bedroom, which is my office. I can wake up at 6.30am and be in the office working by 6.35am. Of course I never do that, I try and make at least a little effort by washing, doing my hair and putting some sensible clothes on. But the option to do the former and let it all hang out is always there if I want! Not being chained to a desk does give you a little more freedom. For example, if I need to nip round to the dry cleaners at 4pm to pick up one of Lou’s dresses, I can. What’s even better, when I finish work for the day, I’m already home! But I really think the dis-advantages can sometimes out weigh the advantages; self-discipline is the big one! It’s oh so easy to be distracted; the temptation to have a little nose on Twitter or Facebook never escapes me! But one thing I love, is being able to up sticks, chuck my phone and laptop in a bag and head out to a nice little coffee shop or café. I just have to hook up to their Wi-Fi and work away; my office can be anywhere, even the beach!

Anyway, last Friday I was busy in my office at home, but I was getting a little bored, I hadn’t had any human interaction all day, so I thought it would be nice to pop out for a bit of lunch; a working lunch. So with my laptop under my arm I wandered down to a little deli I hadn’t been to in quite a while; ‘Went To Market’. I could’ve of picked from any number of cafes or coffee shops in Leigh, but I’ve always liked the look of this place. Located on Elm Road, its as a good deli should be, packed full interesting foodie curiosities. As soon as I walked through the door the place was buzzing with conversation and the smell of fresh coffee and Panini’s!

The blackboard above the counter listed the sandwiches, toasties and wraps on offer. No boring sandwiches here, these are real gourmet treats, which included Pancetta, rosemary chilli and mozzarella toasted Panini’s. Even my food nemesis; goats cheese, sounded appealing with tomato, basil and pesto! I cannot stand goats cheese! I’m a foodie and I will eat anything, and often do. But I cannot stomach goat’s cheese. I know it sounds harsh, but I hate it! So, naturally I did not choose this goaty nightmare! I went for a chicken, chorizo, pesto and rocket Panini. How nice does that sound! Anything with chorizo is a winner, I bloody love the stuff. I’m a firm believer; add Chorizo to any dull or mundane food and it will liven it up; but I’ll draw the line at goat’s cheese, nothing with that would get my taste buds rocking! Its not just lunchtime sandwiches here, they had a Greek salad special, and also some amazing looking sausage rolls. If you’re after something sweet, the rocky road, strategically placed at eye level on the counter was bloody tempting. I sat down on a stool at the bar, which is a great vantage point to see the comings and goings along Elm Road. But I wasn’t there to gaze out of the window, this was a working lunch. So, I opened up the laptop and got stuck in to some emails.

My lunch was soon to arrive and it looked and smelled great; piping hot too! First bite in, I was impressed. Chicken, chorizo, pesto and lovely peppery rocket, it all went together well. The addition of pesto lifted the Panini to another level! But for me it was all about the chorizo! Layers of thinly sliced glorious chorizo made me a happy man, or should I say a happy pig! Overall I was impressed. Not just with the food, but the whole ambience, it made for a real pleasant change to my usual homemade tuna salad, normally consumed whilst staring in to my laptop. Just one other thing, they had copies of Trawler on the counter. If you haven’t seen Trawler, you really need to grab a copy. It’s a wonderful paper put together solely on contributions by local writers and photographers etc. Yours truly wrote a piece all about the wonders of Old Leigh, check it out if you see it on your travels (page 5!); anyway, Trawler plug over!

Well, I know what some of you maybe thinking; he’s reviewed a bloody Panini this week, a flipping sandwich! Yes on the face of it, reviewing a sandwich is a pretty lame effort, and I couldn’t agree more. However, Went to Market make a damn fine sandwich. They’ve made what’s essentially a lunchtime staple in to a gourmet treat. I like a cheese and pickle or ham sandwich as much as the next man. But, if you’re after something a little more special in your lunch hour, you could do far worse than popping in to see the friendly Panini perfectionists at Went to Market. Oh, I didn’t mention, they also host evening events such as cheese and wine tasting, now that sounds like fun!

To read all of @foodierich's previous reviews please click the link https://www.leigh-on-sea.com/tag/listing/blog/restaurant-review